Field Upgrades Available and the Benefits to Having Them

My AHS S130 is 3-4 years old. Over the past few years AHS has offered optional upgrades and made improvements to the design. Would you list what in the field upgrades are available and the benefits to having them. The ones I know about are, the thermocouple grate controller, hopper temperature sensor and changes to the inspection port door. Are there others?

There are a few upgrades that are fairly recent;

Thermo Ash Control- Replaces timer for easier/more efficient run
Belt Driven Induction Fan- Displaces motor from the heat utilizing a belt as the wear item rather than the bearings in the motor
Modified Sight tube cover- allows entry of secondary combustion air
Heat switch for hopper- safety device, senses fire rising into hopper

There may be a few that I missed. These are off the top off my head.

Thermo Ash Control. What improvement in efficiency can be expected over the grate timer method?

Modified Sight tube cover. Well the plain flat flapper door also allows secondary air into the combustion chamber. What problem does the new cover solve and how effective is it?

Heat switch for hopper. Since it's a safety device improvement does it mean that previously sold Coalgun boilers without the safety device are unsafe? What are the operating conditions that the new safety device claims to solve? I'm concerned. Has there been a safety recall for old boilers?

Are all the described grades field installable?

I don't mean to chase you away with these questions but I think they are reasonable questions a manufacturer should be able to answer about their product.

Yanche,

I don't mind the questions a bit. If I didn't want honest dialogue, I guess I chose the wrong place to be huh?

Anyway to answer your questions...

Thermo Ash Monitor- The effenciency improvements I spoke of aren't any that we have numbers to support. However, it is simply my personal view that improvements are achieved throught not having the fire go out, as well as not wasting unburnt coal due to the grate moving too often.

Modified Sight Tube Cover- While the plain flapper allows air to pass over the coal in off-cycle, the new flapper adresses the issues caused by high volatile coal. The new cover allows an adjustable amount of secondary oxygen supply into the combustion area.

Heat Switch for Hopper- The previous boilers weren't "unsafe". Also, there was no recall, which we would have done if they were unsafe. However, we saw an area that could be improved, so we took steps to do so. Think of it like air bags... is a car with 2 side air bags not safe, or is the one with 4 simply more safe?

All these upgrades can be installed in the field.

I hope these answers help you out.