Bought A LEMON

 
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slabadie
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Post by slabadie » Tue. Dec. 09, 2008 5:28 pm

efo141

The coal burner is piped into the non working oil burner. There are two zones in the house. Zone 1 is the main living space, zone 2 is the kitchen. There are two zone values, 1 circulator off of the oil burner, and 1 check value.

 
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efo141
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Post by efo141 » Tue. Dec. 09, 2008 5:58 pm

slabadie wrote:efo141

The coal burner is piped into the non working oil burner. There are two zones in the house. Zone 1 is the main living space, zone 2 is the kitchen. There are two zone values, 1 circulator off of the oil burner, and 1 check value.
Do the two boilers run the same temp ?

 
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slabadie
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Post by slabadie » Tue. Dec. 09, 2008 6:03 pm

efo141

Other than using the L8124A aquastat on the oil burner to control the circulator, and the use of the water jacket for extra water storage there is no temp gage on the oil burner for me to read.

 
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efo141
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Post by efo141 » Tue. Dec. 09, 2008 6:35 pm

Can you set the circulator so it wiil pump water between the two boilers at maybe 150 ?

 
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slabadie
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Post by slabadie » Tue. Dec. 09, 2008 7:19 pm

efo141

Yes I can circulate at 150. Isn't that kind of a low water temp, especially when it's 10 degrees outside?

I have attached a picture of the firebox and the 3 aquastats for your review. You will notice that the fire is shrinking. Any idea on how to keep the fire even throughout?

Attachments

firebox.jpg

Firebox

.JPG | 22.6KB | firebox.jpg
furnace.jpg

Furnace

.JPG | 22.1KB | furnace.jpg


 
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efo141
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Post by efo141 » Tue. Dec. 09, 2008 8:02 pm

150 is what my oil aquast is set at if the coal cant keep up. I thought you should keep the same temp in both boilers. I would think if your coal boiler waits until 170 or 180 to start pumping, the water in your old boiler will cool down and take longer for the heat to come up in the house. I am not a plumber or heating pro. I am sure other members could give much better advice. I am giving you my set up which works great for me. If thats the coal level you are running in the pic you need to mound it up higher. I started with that and had no luck until I got the coal up above the bottom of the door. Build it up slow and adjust the air on the blower so it wont over heat.

 
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slabadie
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Post by slabadie » Tue. Dec. 09, 2008 8:27 pm

efo141

Since my oil burner isn't operational how will that work? The low end of the L8124A is set at 140, and I have no problem adjusting it up. Just so I understand I should set both the L8124A & the L6006A to 150. Just as a reminder I disconnected my fan. These 4 days are the first time I have had success with a fire not using the fan.

Is there an example some place on how to mound the coal. Do I bank off the back of the firebox and let the coal fall into itself as it cooks?

 
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Post by JRW » Fri. Dec. 12, 2008 6:35 pm

It seems to me my friends with the help of this forum we are on are way to getting these boilers fine tuned. I just went a week with no problems it must be all in the draft setting on the baro. aquastat setting, outside temp. And getting the coal load in at the right time, again thanks. JRW

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Fri. Dec. 12, 2008 8:02 pm

slabadie wrote:The low end of the L8124A is set at 140, and I have no problem adjusting it up. Just so I understand I should set both the L8124A & the L6006A to 150. Just as a reminder I disconnected my fan. These 4 days are the first time I have had success with a fire not using the fan.
Generally you will want the high and low limits at least 20* apart. If your low is @ 140*, the high should be around 160*. If your L6006A is an overheat control, add another 20* or so degrees. I would set it around 205* myself. It is common for these boilers to overshoot the high limit. Don't worry about it as it won't hurt them and it is a waste to keep blowing off the heat to your dump zone.

 
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Sting
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Post by Sting » Fri. Dec. 12, 2008 8:55 pm

150 degrees boiler temp is not too low if you can heat your house with it. I am very successful heating my little place with 150 degree water even at zero. For every three degrees you can lower your run temps - you will use 1% less fuel .. So if you have your boiler set at 180 and you could be set at 140 -- you could be saving - using approx 15% less fuel 8-)

Your mileage may vary!

yes you will run your circulation more and have a more comfortable house - but you will not have hot spots and noisy expansion/contraction pipe humping from the bang - bang on off cycles associated with running the boiler at load design temperature - all heating season. :idea:


 
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Post by efo141 » Sat. Dec. 13, 2008 10:43 am

Sting wrote:150 degrees boiler temp is not too low if you can heat your house with it. I am very successful heating my little place with 150 degree water even at zero. For every three degrees you can lower your run temps - you will use 1% less fuel .. So if you have your boiler set at 180 and you could be set at 140 -- you could be saving - using approx 15% less fuel 8-)

Your mileage may vary!

yes you will run your circulation more and have a more comfortable house - but you will not have hot spots and noisy expansion/contraction pipe humping from the bang - bang on off cycles associated with running the boiler at load design temperature - all heating season. :idea:
I thought I was saving oil with my 140-160 oil boiler temps but I didnt know how much. I did it mainly for the longer heating cycles, the house is much more comfortable. Of course the saving money part is nice too.

 
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Post by LeonMSPT » Sun. Dec. 14, 2008 7:52 pm

Just noticed in the original post, something frankly, alarming.

60 pounds of pressure?

Should have released through a pressure relief valve at 30 pounds. My contractor put two on, as he'd had one fail and the boiler a "Tarm" looked like it was pregnant and was definitely ruined. 260 degrees at 60 pounds is high pressure steam... the kind of stuff that kills people, even aware ones. Definitely want to get that checked.

My WC90 is connected with 1 and 1/4 inch steel, with a circulator on the return, expansion tank and check valve in the supply.

Aquastat starts circulator at 140 degrees. Fan comes on with power switch, shuts off at 175 degrees, and off again at 160 degrees.
Overheat zone is set at 190 degrees, allowing boiler to hover in 175 to 190 degree range without any action.
Automag valve is connected to main zone in house, to allow gravity feed in a power failure.

Must be a heck of a draft in your chimney...

Lighting process is simple, really.

Roll some newspaper up, and throw it in the firebox. Put some kindling wood on top of it. Light the newspaper on fire and close the door. Turn on the power switch and pull up a chair. Fire! Lots of fire!

Let it burn down to near coals, to red hot coals. I usually add some more wood and bring the boiler up to temperature to start the circulator, and allow the second load of small wood to burn down to coals.

Turn off the switch, so the blower stops. Add a couple inch thick layer of coal. Close the door, and turn it back on. Let the coal "light". Some red pieces around the entire area and blue fire over the whole thing... turn off the switch and open the door, put more coal on...

even layers of coal, up to the bottom of the door, then a little pile in the middle, toward the back of the boiler.

The idea is to not open the door and have burning coal spill out in your lap... otherwise, knock yourself out.

No idea why the blower would be causing such a disturbance you'd need to disconnect it and take it off. It has a shutter on it, you can close that...

 
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Post by efo141 » Mon. Dec. 15, 2008 11:02 pm

He must have two PVRs one on the oil boiler and one on the New Yorker. Both held @ 60 psi ? I think I will bench test one of mine just to be sure. I cut the power to my system and opened all flow checks to simulate a power loss. My coal boiler is 7 ft above my oil boiler and higher than my baseboard. Temp shot up to 220 pretty fast and no circulation. Even at 220 the gauge read about 23 psi.

 
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Post by LeonMSPT » Wed. Dec. 17, 2008 10:24 pm

I don't view the thing much different from a woodstove. I burn when I am going to be gone. I plan and load it, let it peak, and when it begins dropping off and everything is good, I leave. I'd never load the boiler or the fireplace insert and just leave. It's like flying... pilots will tell you that the most critical times are taking off and landing... with a solid fuel heater, it's just take off... landing is nothing.

PRV's can and do fail... the guy said he's never going to have it happen again. Two, side by side, should never fail at the same time.

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