Hard Time Maintaining Correct Temps Using Coal Trol W /Hitzer Stoker

plumb-r · Post by **plumb-r** » Sat. Jan. 22, 2011 11:41 am

Temp set on coal-trol at 71. Temp will get behind to 69 by that time feed rate has got itself all cranked up in the 80's almost to the point of shoving hot coal off the plate. This finally catches the temp up and over the set point by one or two degrees. Then the stove goes to idle, which allows the temp to drop below set point again. It starts all over again. I guess a little info is required to help assess the problem. 2'nd year W /Hitzer Stoker, Heating 2200 sq. ft. ranch,stove in middle of home,no basement, very well insulated, 2x6 walls. I'm sure it is probably just a adjustment but not sure what to adjust. Min feed rate set at 8 max at 40. Does anyone have any ideas?

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Sat. Jan. 22, 2011 12:42 pm

Check the HLF factor in the Advanced Settings if you have it. Set to 1 to start, that will make the stove react quicker.

plumb-r · Post by **plumb-r** » Sun. Jan. 23, 2011 10:37 am

Thanks for the reply "WYN" I tried adjusting the HLF as you suggested. It seemed to maintain temp. for a longer period of time but the temp. still drops below set point by 2 degrees before it starts to rise than over shoots by 2 degrees. It took a longer time for the swing to happen instead of 2-3 hours it took about 5-6 hours for this swing to accure. This time feed rate got up to 96% and was close to shoving coal off the plate so I adjusted the max feed to 35. Hot coals now about 1" to 1 1/2" from the end. Still have the swing though, it just takes longer to happen. I'll try to call Syracuse this week maybe they have some ideas. Thank you for the help.

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Sun. Jan. 23, 2011 1:10 pm

Sometimes it happens, if you house cools down too fast. Do you have your blowers CFM or something set to come up higher, I think I have mine at 30 or 35.

Ours happen when the sun comes out, it maintains the temp and the FR drops down to next to nothing, then it takes forever to heat back up when the sun goes down and the thermostat has to catch up....

I hit the FEED=10 and let it feed for 10 mins to heat up faster, then turn the blower up to about 50% and it helps bump the temps up when needed in a hurry.

Yes, talk to the guys at coaltrol.

Post by **pvolcko** » Tue. Feb. 01, 2011 9:43 pm

You may want to lower your MAX setting. Try cutting it by 5-10 points to start out with, try more if you continue to see overshoot. This should minimize the overshoot your are seeing and by minimizing that overshoot you should also reach a steady +/-1 degree of control more quickly.

MURDOC1 · Post by **MURDOC1** » Tue. Feb. 01, 2011 9:53 pm

Just curious if you have gotten a fresh coal delivery and now you are having issues all of a sudden??? Says you are in your second year with the Hitzer so I assume all was well until now???

Murdoc

plumb-r · Post by **plumb-r** » Mon. Feb. 07, 2011 6:24 am

The coal is the same stuff as before, and even if it wasn't the thermostat should adjust itself anyway. I don't see where limiting my stoves max capability will change things but I'll try. I have allready lowered the max feed rate to 35 and the thing still overshoots, I'll try to lower it to 30 and see what happens. Do these have any kind of heat anticipator built into them. A plain old t-stat has one and it allows you to adjust for stuff like this.

MURDOC1 · Post by **MURDOC1** » Mon. Feb. 07, 2011 9:03 am

Reason I asked about the coal is that- NO the coaltrol cannot and will not make up for a change in burning characteristic of different coals... What I mean by that is that lets say the first half of the season you burned Blaschak rice then you called for your next delivery and you ended up with something different (even from the same supplier).... That something different may require more air/less air, more feed/less feed to burn complete or make a full grate without pushing hot coal or not enough coal to make a full bed... These circumstances usually require some manual adjustment if available, such as combustion blower restrictor plate or manually adjusting feed rate of the stoker to get the results that you had with the last load of coal... I just went through this with my Mag Stoker, new coal delivery, too much air and burned up much much faster leaving about 2 1/2" of ash at the end of the grate, barely enough to keep the place heated to 75 as I like it... Had to go 1 full turn on feed to fill up the grate to get the heat I had wit the previous load from the same supplier, a reputable supplier at that...

Thats what I was getting at with that question... Perhaps a re-do of MAX and MIN feed rate adjustment is in order to be sure you have things setup for maximum efficiency which usually equals maximum performance in the case of a automatic stoker... And I also agree with lowering your MAX on the Coal-trol and increasing the feed rate manually on the stove to compensate for the loss of feed (if that ends up being the case)...

plumb-r · Post by **plumb-r** » Mon. Feb. 07, 2011 2:39 pm

I appreciate the help Murdoc1 . Both min and max are set right and there is no air adjustment. Combustion fan is constant. I don't know why but the stove can'nt seem to find it's happy place.

Post by **nwaelder** » Tue. Feb. 08, 2011 4:18 pm

plumb-r wrote:Temp set on coal-trol at 71. Temp will get behind to 69 by that time feed rate has got itself all cranked up in the 80's almost to the point of shoving hot coal off the plate. This finally catches the temp up and over the set point by one or two degrees. Then the stove goes to idle, which allows the temp to drop below set point again. It starts all over again. I guess a little info is required to help assess the problem. 2'nd year W /Hitzer Stoker, Heating 2200 sq. ft. ranch,stove in middle of home,no basement, very well insulated, 2x6 walls. I'm sure it is probably just a adjustment but not sure what to adjust. Min feed rate set at 8 max at 40. Does anyone have any ideas?

plumb-r,
How are things working out? If you are still having problems, give us a call directly at (315) 299-3589.

plumb-r · Post by **plumb-r** » Sun. Feb. 27, 2011 10:25 pm

I finally broke down and called Automation Correct(coal-trol) a few weeks ago. Neal stayed on the phone with me for almost 1/2 a hour giving me insight and ideas to solve my problems. He explained that every house heats diffrent and what works in one may not work in another. He gave me several thinks to try. I've been testing things a few days before making other adjustments. Thanks to Neal, I think I may have this problem beat. Got to love the service. Thanks Neal!

Uglysquirrel · Post by **Uglysquirrel** » Mon. Feb. 28, 2011 7:33 am

As a backup if all fails with the maintaining the temp thing consider simply leaving it in the max setting while scrolling thru the parameters in the set up mode which will make the stove run at a 100% feed rate of what max you set. You can also adjust the convection fan speed in the set up mode but always leave the stove in the "max" setting as you walk away from the stove. Essentially a heat soak at a low(er) heat output. Yes, if it gets really cold you may need to maually adjust though with your well insulated house your heat loss is much less and slower and you likely be able to avoid wide temp swings. Mine is at a max setting of 16 right now at 28 deg out, very economical with coal though every house is different..

StanT · Post by **StanT** » Mon. May. 09, 2011 7:59 am

What works for me is the min setting. I use 4 when its in the 20's at nite. 6 when it gets in the teens and 8 when it gets close to 10.

Good luck, Stan

Shibby160 · Post by **Shibby160** » Wed. Dec. 21, 2011 3:03 pm

So I know that we want 1" of ash at bottom of grate. I have about 3". Min = 10, Max = 35. D & N temp 76. How should I adjust to get to 1"???

Post by **pvolcko** » Wed. Dec. 21, 2011 5:23 pm

Note that things will get hot while going through this procedure:

Use the MAX screen in SETUP. Leave it on that screen for 30 minutes or so. This will let the fire establish itself at that MAX firing rate. Once established and you find the ash is not close enough the bottom edge of the grate for your liking (as you mention 1-1.5 inches from edge is generally considered the closest you should get), start increasing the MAX setting with the UP button by a couple points at a time. After each adjustment let the fire settle out at that new rate for 15-30 minutes. Reevaluate and repeat as needed.