Coalpail.com Forum

Where do you live? Perhaps there is someone nearby that can help. If not, you will have to call in a pro.

I am in central Pa. A pro is not an option because of cost. (Don't mean to plead poverty but its just my 18 yr old son and myself and simply cannot afford a pro, leaving all maintenance/problems to him and myself).

EM,
Have your son remove the bolt and round roller on the gearbox wheel. He should then be able to push the long flat arm back and forth and prove that the grate frame inside moves freely without binding. If the grate frame does not move freely the side rail installation needs to be re-checked, something is binding. If it does move freely the I would suspect that the gearbox is possibly slipping and/or coupler is slipping.
Hope this helps.
Dragonslayer

OK, thanks, I leave for work soon and he comes from work soon so I will leave a note. That sounds like a good idea to try. Thank you again

Em and dragonslayer, I see you're both in central PA. House call???

em,

If it's making a noise inside the fire box it is very likely something is jamming the grate. Dragonslayer's suggestion is a good one. Remove the feed adjustment screw and see if you can work the lever back and forth. If it's a piece of coal stuck between the grate and the side rail, you may be able to work it out by working the lever back and forth. If not, you may have to shut down and clean the coal out to have a look.
If you are still having problems by Saturday, I could come by and take a look at it. That is if you aren't more than an hour or two from the York PA area.

I will send you a PM later this week.

-Don

I think we are back on track....Hope so any how. I left a note for my son with the info from above and when I got home tonight it seems to be working right. He was sleeping (we have 2 different work schedules and I usually don't even get to see him until the weekends). Also Don, I am actually 1 1/2 hrs from York. I am just above Dalmatia. My other son married a wonderful girl from Brogue and he had lived in York a bit so I been in York (getting out of there is a different story because I have no sense of direction). Thanks for the offer but (knock on wood) lets hope this time it's going to work fine.

Ahh,,, Brogue, I am about 20 minutes from there.

I'm glad your running normally now. The Yellow Flame stoker is one very tough piece of equipment. It would have eventualy ground down what ever was making the noise and spit it out, then resume normal operations.

Hopefully I will be headed up to the Shamokin are this weekend to pick up some Yellow Flame spare parts for myself!

-Don

Have a great weekend and again thanks all who helped us with these great suggestions. So far everything is running great.