efm outfire timer

Hello all. This is my first post on the board...I bought my first new home this summer and it had what I believe to be an EFM520 stoker which I love!! I've been able to run it well all winter but of course now that the weather is warmer I have been having problems with outfires. I have read other wisdom on the board that lead me to change my settings this morning for a "summer" mode that I have my fingers crossed will help. My question to the board is 2-fold. I was curious there is anything I can add inline that will cut the stoker out after a preset amount of time or a low temperature so if I do get an outfire it doesn't continue to feed unburnt coal all day long. Along with that does anybody have a similar device that measures either by length of time or low temperature that could sound some kind of alarm or buzzer when an outfire is coming. I was going to just wire a receptacle to the main level of the house that is only energized when the stoker is running but I don't know what I could plug into it that would alert me when it's be running too long. I could always plug in a clock but then I'd have to be watching it!!

Outfires haven't been a HUGE problem so far but I'm also setting up for next winter where a full bin of coal will cause an outfire because the coal will not flow towards the auger. I'm sure the original owner must have missed some design ideas with the bin because during the middle of winter I had to go out once a week to shovel towards the auger or I was out! But that's for another post. Thank you in advance for the wisdom of the board!!

~Jeremy

There should be a timer on the boiler, set it so that it fires your boiler 2-3 minutes every 1/2 hour and the thing will never go out. You can experiment with 3 minutes/hour if you have a strong natural draft and it might be OK (that's what I have mine set at). A Honeywell L6006 strap-on aquastat can be attached to the pipe coming out of the top of the boiler. Set it below the minimum temperature you will ever anticipate and wire it to the main power for the boiler and in the event of an outfire it will shut down the boiler. You will also need a simple bypass switch for the aquastat otherwise you'll never get the boiler fired up from a cold start.

rocketjeremy wrote:Hello all. This is my first post on the board...I bought my first new home this summer and it had what I believe to be an EFM520 stoker which I love!! I've been able to run it well all winter but of course now that the weather is warmer I have been having problems with outfires. I have read other wisdom on the board that lead me to change my settings this morning for a "summer" mode that I have my fingers crossed will help. My question to the board is 2-fold. I was curious there is anything I can add inline that will cut the stoker out after a preset amount of time or a low temperature so if I do get an outfire it doesn't continue to feed unburnt coal all day long. Along with that does anybody have a similar device that measures either by length of time or low temperature that could sound some kind of alarm or buzzer when an outfire is coming. I was going to just wire a receptacle to the main level of the house that is only energized when the stoker is running but I don't know what I could plug into it that would alert me when it's be running too long. I could always plug in a clock but then I'd have to be watching it!!

Outfires haven't been a HUGE problem so far but I'm also setting up for next winter where a full bin of coal will cause an outfire because the coal will not flow towards the auger. I'm sure the original owner must have missed some design ideas with the bin because during the middle of winter I had to go out once a week to shovel towards the auger or I was out! But that's for another post. Thank you in advance for the wisdom of the board!!

~Jeremy

Hi Jeremy you need a wil-bert honeywell or dayton 30min timer so the stoker will keep the fire going you can set it for 3 to 4min ever 30min that will keep the fire going in the summer months or warmer weather as for you bin could you post some photo's so we can see your setup then we will beable to help you better as for now you can look on the EFM site and see the dog house design for the coal bin Post some Photo's of you bin

http://www.efmheating.com/manuals/DF520%20Manual.pdf

Thanks for the advice so far. To clarify I do have a honeywell timer that I do have set for 3 mins every 30...that was the first change I made as the weather got warmer. Today I took the advice of another board and changed my HI to 190 and my LOW to 140 and I have the differential set at 10. I like the sound of the Honeywell L6006 as a way of shutting it down in the event of an outfire.

The hi/low spread should stop the outfires. You were probably shut down on high limit when the timer came on. Good luck.

Anybody know of a good place online I can order a L6006 aquastat. I was going to order through Grainger but as I read it I would have to be a business to order through them. Thanks!

Do you need the A or C model?

I now have a C model in my possession for strap mounting. Now to hook it all up I'm assuming it would go after the main aquastat? I appeal to the wisdom of the board but my gut instinct is telling me to wire in after the aquastat and have it run off the circulator contacts so that it would cut out the stoker at a low temperature (an apparent outfire) just as it would the circulator pump.

Thanks!

http://www.efmheating.com/manuals/DF520%20Manual.pdf

Scroll down to page 14 to see the hookup. The aquastat gets strapped on to the main feed pipe coming out of your boiler.

Stokerman...thank you very much for your help. I will have to investigate this all some more. I see what you mean in the diagram from the manual. I guess I should have looked there first!! Right now I have it strapped to the main pipe and simply have it run to a light bulb to give the system a "dry run." However the light only comes on if I turn to L6006 to it's lowest setting. In my understanding that is reverse of what I want. I should be having the light full time unless the temperature is below the setting. I have the unit strapped to the main pipe that comes out of the top of the unit that then goes to my heating zones. Does anybody have any thoughts on that?

See the bottom of page 14 to set the 6006. Refer to the directions about the wiring of the 6006. You wold use the NC terminal because you want power to flow thru until the temp drops too low and then it opens up.

Right now I have power (my hot) coming into my L6006 on the R side and leaving to go to a light bulb on the W side. I have the neutrals tied and the unit grounded. It seems to be getting a little better now but I don't know that the unit is picking up the right temperature. Maybe I just haven't given it enough time to adjust. It is still only passing power though the unit at 120 degrees or less. Below is where I had the unit strapped. I've since moved it below to the cast iron "T" directly to get better temperature sensing. The saga continues.

When I attached my 6006 to the pipe, I used a regular 6006A and secured the bulb to the pipe and covered it with the black foam pipe insulation. It is very accurate. Don't forget that you might have to calibrate the aquastat. If the surface is known to be a certain temperature, you can turn the dial setting inside the 6006 until it "clicks", unless it's electronic.

Thanks for the thoughts stokerman. I have a C unit but maybe I can do the same thing with the sensing bulb as you did with the A model. I will also pick up a surface temperature gun from work today and try and make sure the unit is calibrated. It's very possible that is an issue as well. There is an entire range that has the unit working right but at that setting you are off the numbers on the dial. Hopefully a few more minor adjustments and I can wire it into the main aquastat and stop worrying about lost coal due to an outfire.