AA 130 Outfires.. Coal feeding problems??

I believe the older manual has it at 1/4" (my manual that came with a 1954 boiler says 1/4") and the newer version has it at 21/4". You choose!

Of course based on your problem more would be better.

looking at your picture I can't tell how far the fliting sticks out but next time you have a issue feeding coal... look down through the tube when it runnig with a flash light and try to looking at the coal on the intake side...and this is what you should look for...#1 does it appear to fall into the tube or #2 does it look like it's turning with the tube... if it's #2 make the fliting flush with the end of the tube because sometime depending how far the fliting sticks out it will grab to much coal and pack in the fliting.

just thought I would throw sometime out there...

2 1/4" beyond the shield. That makes the end just inside the doghouse.

Freddy On: Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:42 pm

2 1/4" beyond the shield. That makes the end just inside the doghouse.

This is the way I set mine up upon install.

But it doesn't matter, this old worn out tube seems to be the main problem. I cleaned out the bin tonight to install the agitator and found that in my zeal to keep the feed tube cleaned out I actually mangled the end of the pipe pretty good. That tells me how close to "gone" it really was. The entire pipe was there when I installed it but it was really thin near the end.

I MacGyvered a hopper using a 25 gallon bucket and couple of 2X4 to drop coal directly into the transfer head. This will hold me over until I come up with a plan on how to replace this tube.

I think these ideas you all are throwing out are all valid and applicable. Tonight when I uncovered the end of the tube in the bin the first thing that I noticed was that the end of the tube was mangled exposing more of the screw flighting. The entire end of the tube was full of coal and fines and was only turning with the tube... not rolling/sliding up into the tube like it should. This is when I knew I was screwed...

...yea, I watched old MacGyver as a kid...

OldAA130 wrote:

Freddy On: Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:42 pm

2 1/4" beyond the shield. That makes the end just inside the doghouse.

This is the way I set mine up upon install.

But it doesn't matter, this old worn out tube seems to be the main problem. I cleaned out the bin tonight to install the agitator and found that in my zeal to keep the feed tube cleaned out I actually mangled the end of the pipe pretty good. That tells me how close to "gone" it really was. The entire pipe was there when I installed it but it was really thin near the end.

I MacGyvered a hopper using a 25 gallon bucket and couple of 2X4 to drop coal directly into the transfer head. This will hold me over until I come up with a plan on how to replace this tube.

I think these ideas you all are throwing out are all valid and applicable. Tonight when I uncovered the end of the tube in the bin the first thing that I noticed was that the end of the tube was mangled exposing more of the screw flighting. The entire end of the tube was full of coal and fines and was only turning with the tube... not rolling/sliding up into the tube like it should. This is when I knew I was screwed...

...yea, I watched old MacGyver as a kid...

You can either call AA for a new tube & flex auger. Or depending how much the tube is mangel at the end you could cut the bad piece off.Then cut the flight back to where it should be in the tube or leave it stick out of the tube if is not to
much. Or if you have a torch and a welder you could buy a new 5" tube cut the spot welds of the flights slid it out put it in new tube then cut off the sprocket and reweld it on the new tube .

http://www.axeman-anderson.com/energystar.html

http://www.hypeco.com.tw/p3.php

http://www.rch-theotherside.com/flexaug ... ystems.htm

http://www.brockmfg.com/uploads/pdf/BR_ ... ugerEM.pdf

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:xEK ... cd=3&gl=us

http://www.gillisag.com/poultry/pdf/CT_flex_auger.pdf

Need this? It holds 50 pounds. I'd loan it to you if you pay to ship it. I'm guessing $20ish would get it wherever it needs to go. Ohhhh, crud, now that I think about it, it probably wouldn't help you. I thought the coal would tumble down the center of the auger so I blocked off the flights at the top and hand ashed while using it. IF you could allow the auger to turn so it ashed perhaps this would help you get through a month or three.

Freddy On: Thu Jan 15, 2009 6:04 am

Need this? It holds 50 pounds. I'd loan it to you if you pay to ship it. I'm guessing $20ish would get it wherever it needs to go. Ohhhh, crud, now that I think about it, it probably wouldn't help you. I thought the coal would tumble down the center of the auger so I blocked off the flights at the top and hand ashed while using it. IF you could allow the auger to turn so it ashed perhaps this would help you get through a month or three.

This is really what I did last evening... It was either stay up till midnight and work out the solution or set my alarm for 2am. I will take a photo tonight and post it. Mine is not as pretty as yours though. Very nice. And the coal does roll down the tube but not very far and it feeds back up to the transfer head.

I also plan to rebuild the whole feed system here shortly which would include a partial replacement of the pipe. I slept throught the night last evening but the "bucket" hopper only lasts a day... I want to walk away for a week... (Really, I can't stay away for more than a couple hours.)

Tom

Freddy,

Is that a homegrown hopper or factory built? Upon further study... very nice. Here's my late night creation (will do the trick for a few days...). You can't see it real well but I cut a hole in the side and mounted it to the studs for the cover plate. It works. You can't imagine the relief of sleeping all night and going out in the morning to see the orange glow of fire.



I noticed right away that the boiler seems to be overshooting quite a bit. The Honeywell is set to 180f and it used to overshoot about 5 deg but now overshoots about 20 deg. It's getting quite a bit more coal all the time now due to the gravity feed. Could I counter this by cutting back on the ashing? Right now it's set for two clicks.

This is the fire with the fan off...



Tom

OldAA130 wrote:Freddy,

Is that a homegrown hopper or factory built? Upon further study... very nice. Here's my late night creation (will do the trick for a few days...). You can't see it real well but I cut a hole in the side and mounted it to the studs for the cover plate. It works. You can't imagine the relief of sleeping all night and going out in the morning to see the orange glow of fire.

2009-01-15 MacGyver Mod (4).JPG

I noticed right away that the boiler seems to be overshooting quite a bit. The Honeywell is set to 180f and it used to overshoot about 5 deg but now overshoots about 20 deg. It's getting quite a bit more coal all the time now due to the gravity feed. Could I counter this by cutting back on the ashing? Right now it's set for two clicks.

This is the fire with the fan off...

2009-01-15 MacGyver Mod (7).JPG

Tom

You need to make the fire deeper . Try ashing three clicks . The deeper fire will also help control the over shoot . Dave

OldAA130 wrote:Is that a homegrown hopper or factory built?

I built it last week just for a test. I wanted to know how much coal I was using and how it related to the weight of the ash. I took the belt off the auger & blocked it with a piece of tin so the hopper coal wouldn't fall down the tube. Come to think of it now, probably only a little would fall in, the it'd plug itself. Anyway, test over, if you have a need for it, let me know. It holds 50 pounds. It replaces the head cover, bolts right on.

My fire looks about like that sometimes. I'm running 135* and 3 clicks. I seem to run close to the head like that now & then, but usually a small layer of fresh coal is on top.

Freddy wrote:I'm running 135* and 3 clicks.

Do you run 135 due to radiant heating or do you have convective heat sources also?

One thing I've noticed on this site is if you were to count the number of folks that have this style of boiler you would also have an equal number of different ways to set it and operate it.

This latest bout with wet fines has finally convinced me to buy the agitator. I have had to have a friend come over and poke the pile between hand feedings (I had knee surgery the other day) and have heard enough cussing.

It's going on before next the frozen load.

The coal is supposed to fall into the dog house and be lifted, not drilled by the anthratube. All the more reason for installing the agitator to keep the crap stirred up.

OldAA130 wrote:Do you run 135 due to radiant heating

I'm sorry that I made confusion. The boiler water temp is set 155* low & 175* high (it overrides to 180*). The 135* is the ash temperature. The AA ashes itself, when the ash get's down to 135 the asher comes on, removing ash and allowing new coal to enter. 1/3 of my house is radiant, the rest is baseboard.

I guess I accidentally did a good thing when I bought my coal in August and it came dry. Very few fines and no clumps at all.

I bought coal in July but it came wet. Like a big pile of gravel... it will never dry out.

As far as the fines go, well, buying this much coal was a mistake. Cause if something is wrong...

It took me 6mo to make the decision and pick a supplier. The problem was that the many folks I consulted didn't know squat about buying anthracite coal. After many hours of reading here I know exactly what to ask for when I buy the next load... in five years.

So yesterday I was travelling up into northern PA. I stopped by AA while passing through Williamsport. Boy, they are great people. Pete spent a little time with me talking about my problems.

FINES!!!! Argh!

Looks like GregL was right onthe money. The fines are killing me and being damp is the clincher. Pete talked about getting a lot of calls this year from folks struggling with much the same problem. I need to start screening the fines out of the coal.

He took me into the shop to look at some new parts. The end of the coal tube is designed very specifically (and after many trials and studies) to feed coal a certain way. What seems to have happened to mine is that the flight was sticking out too far grabbing too much coal. The "wadd" of coal just sat in the end of the tube filling the entire circumference and not sliding up the flights like normal. Also, Pete said that according to the trials, if the flight sticks out too far and is "grinding" at the coal in the bottom of the hopper that it will actually make fines at that point.

They have a sleeve that they sell but I hesitated because of the price. I'm going to see what I have around the shop to replace the bad 5" tubing.

Very cool visit with the folks at Axeman Anderson. A real American company!