Tri burner going out

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szembek
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Joined: Tue. May. 08, 2007 2:32 pm
Location: Upstate, NY

Post by szembek » Tue. Mar. 05, 2019 2:15 pm

My new-to-me tri burner of unknown manufacturer (details here: Help identifying a stoker stove) has overall been working great. Easy to adjust, tons of heat when I crank it, I love it. However twice now it has mysteriously gone out on me. Once I had the feed turned down to about the minimum I had previously had luck keeping it going for 24 hours at, so I chalked it up to just being too close to too slow of a feed. So the next time I went to let it idle, I increased the feed a full turn. At some point during the night the fire went out. There were still ashes on the grate, but everything was cold by time I checked it out. I'm running with no rheostat, so the fan is running at full power constantly, and I'm adjusting the feed only using the screw.

Will the min setting I can use to keep the fire going vary depending on draft? I don't have a barometric damper installed yet, so maybe this is causing a problem. This is being run in a detached workshop, I'd really like the ability to idle it as low as possible when I'm not using, and just turn the feed up when I need it. I also find it strange that there were ashes on half of the grate. Any advice?

 
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McGiever
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Joined: Sun. May. 02, 2010 11:26 pm
Location: Junction of PA-OH-WV
Stoker Coal Boiler: AXEMAN-ANDERSON 130 "1959"
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: BUCKET A DAY water heater
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Warm Morning 414A
Coal Size/Type: PEA,NUT,STOVE /ANTHRACITE
Other Heating: Ground Source Heat Pump and some Solar

Post by McGiever » Tue. Mar. 05, 2019 3:39 pm

Some thing is wrong here...normally if the fire went out you would of had NO ashes left on the grate, just raw coal...and possibly a ash pan with lots of that shiny raw coal dumped in it...sounds like your feeder simply stopped feeding, and the fire burned itself out, how does that sound???

The REAL question is then, Why did it stop feeding coal?

 
lincolnmania
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Posts: 2684
Joined: Fri. Jan. 26, 2007 9:55 pm
Location: Birdsboro PA.
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 350
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: reading allegheny stoker
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: alaska kodiak stoker 1986. 1987 triburner, 1987 crane diamond
Coal Size/Type: rice

Post by lincolnmania » Tue. Mar. 05, 2019 5:29 pm

the motor is dying. my 1986 alaska motor had gears stripped out.

get a dayton 3m095 gear motor and a broan 50 cfm bathroom vent fan. i gave some info on those mode in your other thread on the mystery stove.


 
szembek
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Location: Upstate, NY

Post by szembek » Wed. Mar. 06, 2019 7:02 am

Yeah that's what was confusing me too. The fact that there were coals on the grate. The motor was still turning when I checked it, but that's true it could be slipping. Luckily it's not in my house so maybe I'll keep experimenting with it for what's left in this cold season. Can replace the motor in the off season.

 
mgandzyk
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Posts: 2
Joined: Sun. Apr. 28, 2019 11:36 am
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Alaska 140 auger
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Alaska Kast-console
Coal Size/Type: Rice / Buck - Anthracite
Other Heating: Oil/Diesel/Propane

Post by mgandzyk » Wed. May. 01, 2019 3:14 pm

Far as the first portion of things... Tri-burner out of Orwigsburg here in PA (if that's what it is) is no longer in business, but from what the guys down at Alaska Stoker tell me, they purchased the narrow grate/ carpet unit and "guts" from Alaska so if parts or info are needed, pretty much everything except the actual stove body parts can still be purchased.

That being said, it can be treated and diagnosed pretty much as a small Alaska Kast-console. Far as going out/no coal feed, the carpet drive gearbox has a nylon gear that will often get a 'stripped' section in it... it'll get progressively worse until the drive gear 'slips' in that damaged section and it stops pushing coal down the grate... likely that's all that's going on.

A few items of note on that animal: Like a Kast Console, make sure there is a good, level seal where the grate meets the hopper, and the "carpet" runs level. Also, the smoke pipe connection, like the Channing, has small pipes clustered in the top of the stove... fly ash loves to build up there and can eventually block the outlets... mske sure you are cleaning and inspecting that area regularly.

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