Coalpail.com Forum

Do you know how old the auger itself is? Bushing and sacrificial spline on the auger? Have you had any incidents of running out of coal or instances where the fire went down deep into the burn pot? With a chimney that tall, it should suck the chrome off a trailer ball , so draft isn't an issue. Worm part can sometimes be the problem, and you might know if the auger has razor sharp flights, or are they a smooth as silk? Any fusion of coal in the burn pot? All of these things could cause the gas problem. Still thinking about other possibilities......

CoalBurner5 wrote:I highly doubt that this house is to tight. I have the boiler in the basement which is a 2 car garage with 2 man doors and windows throughout. I am going to eliminate that idea. My main thought here is the barometric draft and I think that is what I need to focus on.

Please keep sending ideas.

There are holes on the auger tube, the tubes are the whole way around the tube, as this is an after market tube. Will the holes all the way around make a difference or not?

Thanks and keep suggesting ideas.

The Auger tube should only have holes in the top 5 to 7 of them they line up with the cut out slot in the pot pulls the gases up Thur the fire pot to burn them off Replace the tube with sec. 40 2" OD pipe or S.S. Drill 5 to 7 holes in it and cut two notches on the end to line up with the stop pin inside the pot make sure the holes are at the top to line up with the cut out slot in pot. also check your draft with a manometer or draft gauge then adjust your baro to the chimney draft

The newest pipes only have one notch and it's on the side opposite the holes. I made the change because of confusion about which way the pipe should insert. I don't know if the pipes were always that way or why they had two notches, but it seems like a mistake was made and then copied.

Any more holes than what are found at the top of the pipe are a waste.

I understand the newest pipes have holes in the top only. My question is will the fact that mine has holes all the way around have any effect on the boiler or the smell?

Tomorrow afternoon i'm going to take a reading in the firebox. Hoping that it's at .02 and then take a reading in the pipe (breech) hoping that my problem lies in the barometric draft. Right now it remains closed most/all the time. Hopefully by resetting that, my problem will be fixed. I have to wait for my furnace man to show tomorrow as I have no clue how to set the barometric draft. I'm sure it's an easy concept, just don't know how to do it.

I'm going to look for a meter to put on the pipe also. Hopefully it will help me keep a consistent draft. Thanks for the help and hopefully this will eliminate the problem.

I will update tomorrow evening or Thursday morning.

I don't know of any reason why extra holes in the pipe will harm anything at all. They wouldn't have any measurable effect on the draft. As long as the set screws have a solid surface to contact, which is probably why no holes were drilled on the bottom.

I had a strong sulphur odor when I fired up this year, It would make your eyes water and get sick at your stomach.

We quickly realized it was my Wife who had eaten too many hard boiled eggs along with bean soup! ( And butter milk, with sardines and bran crackers on the side)!

Make sure she is not at your house somewhere, if she is, you keep her!

Bk

Now on a serious note, It does sound like a draft issue to me. Dont give up, you will find it.

If your wife sees what you wrote, you might be the largest clinker ever made.

stoker-man wrote:I don't know of any reason why extra holes in the pipe will harm anything at all. They wouldn't have any measurable effect on the draft. As long as the set screws have a solid surface to contact, which is probably why no holes were drilled on the bottom.

The reason why you do not what any holes on the sides or bottom of tube is there is only one place for the gases to go back down the tube and into the bin The top holes line up with the cut out slot in the pot that pulls the gases up Thur the
pot to be burned off or vented out Thur chimney any sides or bottom holes will send the gas back into the bin especially with a bad draft condition or to much air going into the pot

stoker-man wrote:The newest pipes only have one notch and it's on the side opposite the holes. I made the change because of confusion about which way the pipe should insert. I don't know if the pipes were always that way or why they had two notches, but it seems like a mistake was made and then copied.

Any more holes than what are found at the top of the pipe are a waste.

Could it be that some of the order early pots had two pins in them and that's why you need two notches on the end of tube

I'll have to try to find out why there were two notches. I don't know why.