Funny Thing Happened Last Night
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Clousseau
- Member
- Posts: 143
- Joined: Fri. Mar. 13, 2015 4:08 pm
- Location: Southern Berkshires
- Stoker Coal Boiler: KA-6
- Coal Size/Type: Rice Coal
Went to bed last night at 11:00 PM. Weather was lousy & somewhat expected to wake up during the night with the "no power" alarm going off. It did not go off and we did not lose our power. At 5:00 AM this morning my wife wakes me to say the fire is out in the Keystoker KA-6. It has been running non-stop since Oct. 24th with no problems. Went to the basement, water temp down to 140 degrees, usually 175 - 180 degrees. Open the ash dump and the bin has a few pounds of black coal. Coal shelf was full of coal, hopper had plenty of coal, coal is not wet. Started the fire, made sure the pusher bar was moving coal to the burner and it is burning just fine. What could have caused the outage?
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lzaharis
- Member
- Posts: 2379
- Joined: Sun. Mar. 25, 2007 8:41 pm
- Location: Ithaca, New York
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-4-1 dual fuel boiler
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: former switzer CWW100-sold
- Coal Size/Type: rice
- Other Heating: kerosene for dual fuel Keystoker/unused
When my power bleeped out for a while a few weeks ago the
fire died and then the power came back after the fire croaked I
found a mountain of unburned coal in the ash basket.
I had to restart the fire etc.
I wonder if your stoker motor has an internal reset in the wiring
on the motor rather than external one and it did not remain in
contact with the circuit?
Another place to check would be the triple aquastat to see if the
spring contact is sticking open if you have that type of triple
mechanical aquastat.
A quick spray of contact cleaner(with the power off) may be all you need.
fire died and then the power came back after the fire croaked I
found a mountain of unburned coal in the ash basket.
I had to restart the fire etc.
I wonder if your stoker motor has an internal reset in the wiring
on the motor rather than external one and it did not remain in
contact with the circuit?
Another place to check would be the triple aquastat to see if the
spring contact is sticking open if you have that type of triple
mechanical aquastat.
A quick spray of contact cleaner(with the power off) may be all you need.
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Clousseau
- Member
- Posts: 143
- Joined: Fri. Mar. 13, 2015 4:08 pm
- Location: Southern Berkshires
- Stoker Coal Boiler: KA-6
- Coal Size/Type: Rice Coal
Thank! The power did not go out though, all the clocks in the house were fine this morning. When I do lose power, the fire will burn for about 5 minutes before is goes out.
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lzaharis
- Member
- Posts: 2379
- Joined: Sun. Mar. 25, 2007 8:41 pm
- Location: Ithaca, New York
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-4-1 dual fuel boiler
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: former switzer CWW100-sold
- Coal Size/Type: rice
- Other Heating: kerosene for dual fuel Keystoker/unused
I guess I would invest in a can of contact cleaner
just to be on the safe side and zap the triple with
the power off when the main heating season is over
or sooner if this happens again.
just to be on the safe side and zap the triple with
the power off when the main heating season is over
or sooner if this happens again.
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oliver power
- Member
- Posts: 2970
- Joined: Sun. Apr. 16, 2006 9:28 am
- Location: Near Dansville, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: KEYSTOKER Kaa-2
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93 & 30-95, Vigilant (pre-2310), D.S. 1600 Circulator, Hitzer 254
Too small of idle fire??? Warm outside temps, and no call for heat. Small idle fire burns out. That's been my experience anyways. I'd have to add a pin, or two to the timer.
I have three groups of pins in my timer. When the weather is warm, and no call for heat, the smallest I can go on timer pins is two groups of 2, and one group of 3. If I go three groups of 2, my fire will go out.
I have three groups of pins in my timer. When the weather is warm, and no call for heat, the smallest I can go on timer pins is two groups of 2, and one group of 3. If I go three groups of 2, my fire will go out.