Got Lucky Today

northernmainecoal · Post by **northernmainecoal** » Sun. Mar. 16, 2014 4:57 pm

The wind is gusting 40mph with sub zero wind chills. I noticed the house temps starting to drop this afternoon so I went downstairs to check the boiler and found my first broken shear pin:( there was still a very small fire in the center of the pot maybe an inch or two in diameter. I replaced the pin and switched the override on the out fire control and watched the fire come back to life all on its own

This got me thinking does anyone have a high tech setup where they get some sort of notification in the event of an out fire? Text msg/email/phone call...sure would be nice if something happened while at work to know about it before you come home to a cold house at the end of the day.

freetown fred · Post by **freetown fred** » Sun. Mar. 16, 2014 5:00 pm

Never happened with the 30-95 did it???

northernmainecoal · Post by **northernmainecoal** » Sun. Mar. 16, 2014 5:08 pm

Nope not many shear pins on the trusty ole hitzers to worry about

matter of fact haven't had a fire go out by accident in years

Hambden Bob · Post by **Hambden Bob** » Sun. Mar. 16, 2014 6:39 pm

FFred,You have taken the Royal Cake on this one ! Poor Guy's just tryin' to make a Little Hot Water with the help of some sheer pins and a tea kettle and you gently blast 'em in the Caboose with a Hand-Fired Missile Shot ! We've got to get you out of that NY Upstate Mud! Now,as far as I can remember,there's been a few Folks trying to hook up some digital reporting systems and stuff of that sort. In this day and age,it probably wouldn't be hard to do. I'm thinkin' it all can tie into a Smarty Phone App. and some other Instrumentation feeding inputs into a Laptop with some of that there Softyware on it. Let's see if some of our Brighter Digital Individuals step up on a Sunday Evening to shed a wee bit of Light on the issue!

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Sun. Mar. 16, 2014 8:17 pm

I have a Honeywell wifi programmable thermostat at the shop.

http://yourhome.honeywell.com/home/Products/Therm ... 8580WF.htm

It does have built in alarms that send me e mail messages for low temps or hi temps. Comes right through on the smart phone.

Rick

Pauliewog · Post by **Pauliewog** » Sun. Mar. 16, 2014 10:28 pm

I have an auto dialer setup to monitor loss of power, over temp, and under temp . It calls my cell phone and my son's with a voice message when there is a problem.

There are a number of wireless security systems capable of sending text or voice notification to your smart phone. Some use land lines, others use wifi, and others have their own sim card.
Google auto dialers and wireless security systems
.
Paul

carlherrnstein · Post by **carlherrnstein** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 7:34 am

I got one of those Hausfraus she calls me and tells me of any problem real or imagined an also reminds me to pick up milk.

Post by **Rob R.** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 8:15 am

So why did the pin break? They normally don't break without a reason...I have been running the same one for 4 years, that includes 10 tons of buck.

My dad's EFM has broken two shear pins, first time was from a piece of nut coal that was mixed in with the rice, second time was because we didn't have the auger pipes fit together correctly and the pipe disintegrated. I consider both cases to be operator error...kind of like not having the hopper door tightly closed on the Hitzer and having a hopper fire.

tjnamtiw · Post by **tjnamtiw** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 9:18 am

Well, this topic sure was a bummer considering the TITLE!!!! It got my attention, though!

northernmainecoal · Post by **northernmainecoal** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 9:32 am

Rob
I don't know why the pin broke. I dug around the end of the auger and couldn't find anything. After I replaced the pin I turned the auger clockwise one turn and then counterclockwise several turns with basically no resistance. It's been running fine since.

PW
Do you have the autodialer hooked to your aquastat? How is it set up?

Post by **Rob R.** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 11:42 am

Are you sure that your auger pipes fit tightly together inside the coupler? this is critical.

northernmainecoal · Post by **northernmainecoal** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 12:11 pm

Well I guess I can't say I'm 100% sure...When I installed it I had someone come help with the wiring, he checked the pipes and there was about an 1/8" gap, I believe he fitted the pipes together tightly and put the coupler back in place. But I'm going to check tonight:) I knew it was important to have those tight together but I didn't realize how important it may be

northernmainecoal · Post by **northernmainecoal** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 6:41 pm

Rob
The pipes are butted up together as they should be.
I can't figure out what caused it to shear

dmcd · Post by **dmcd** » Fri. Mar. 28, 2014 5:48 pm

Lacrosse Technology makes a monitor you may be interested in.

rberq · Post by **rberq** » Fri. Mar. 28, 2014 6:16 pm

carlherrnstein wrote:I got one of those Hausfraus she calls me and tells me of any problem real or imagined an also reminds me to pick up milk.

And no special installation skills required!

Got Lucky Today

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