Emf 520 Boiler Coal Not Burning up All the Way
- stoker-man
- Verified Business Rep.
- Posts: 2071
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 9:33 pm
- Location: Lehigh Valley, PA
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: 1981 efm wcb-24 in use 365 days a year
- Coal Size/Type: Anthracite/Chestnut
- Other Heating: Hearthstone wood stove
How wide is the ash ring after it's been burning for 45 minutes straight?
What is the diameter of the dark spot in the center after it's been burning for 45 minutes straight?
Did this problem start with a delivery of new coal?
Does the pot glow completely orange when it's stoking and then turn to salt and pepper in the ash ring?
What is the diameter of the dark spot in the center after it's been burning for 45 minutes straight?
Did this problem start with a delivery of new coal?
Does the pot glow completely orange when it's stoking and then turn to salt and pepper in the ash ring?
- stoker-man
- Verified Business Rep.
- Posts: 2071
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 9:33 pm
- Location: Lehigh Valley, PA
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: 1981 efm wcb-24 in use 365 days a year
- Coal Size/Type: Anthracite/Chestnut
- Other Heating: Hearthstone wood stove
Does the burning coal in the pot glow completely orange?
we checke the draft and the best we could get was about 3 coming out of boiler with the air at about 3 1/2 but with it like that we had alot of unburnt coal in ash, we bumped the air back to about 4 1/2 could this be some of our problem
- Rob R.
- Site Moderator
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- Joined: Fri. Dec. 28, 2007 4:26 pm
- Location: Chazy, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Jr
I have a list of questions to try and help narrow this down. Here goes:
What size coal are you burning? Rice? Buck?
Do you know the source of the coal?
Does it have a lot of small pieces or fines?
Are you sure the "unburned" coal you are seeing isn't shale/bone?
How did you end up with the timer set to run the stoker every 15 minutes?
How much coal are you burning per day and what kind of load are you putting on the boiler?
-Rob
What size coal are you burning? Rice? Buck?
Do you know the source of the coal?
Does it have a lot of small pieces or fines?
Are you sure the "unburned" coal you are seeing isn't shale/bone?
How did you end up with the timer set to run the stoker every 15 minutes?
How much coal are you burning per day and what kind of load are you putting on the boiler?
-Rob
Rice coal
Not sure of source
not alot of fines
burning at feed on 4 and air on 4 1/2 ash looks pretty good kinda klinky
Not sure my brother got that info
When it is in the teens we burn at least 4 five gallon buckets a day/the house is about 3000 sq ft well insulated good windows, but the boiler is in the garage about 40ft from house and lines anr undergound in pvc not sure how deep
Not sure of source
not alot of fines
burning at feed on 4 and air on 4 1/2 ash looks pretty good kinda klinky
Not sure my brother got that info
When it is in the teens we burn at least 4 five gallon buckets a day/the house is about 3000 sq ft well insulated good windows, but the boiler is in the garage about 40ft from house and lines anr undergound in pvc not sure how deep
- Rob R.
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 18004
- Joined: Fri. Dec. 28, 2007 4:26 pm
- Location: Chazy, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Jr
If 4.5 air gives you a good burn, leave it there. As for the draft, as long as you have negative draft at the firedoor -0.03 at the flue will work. I also would change the timer to run the stoker for 2 minutes every 30 minutes, that is EFM's recommended starting point.
More questions.
Where do you live?
Does your EFM have an insulated jacket around the boiler?
Is the garage heated?
How well insulated are the lines?
Do you constantly circulate between the EFM and the house?
My thoughts are that if you have an uninsulated boiler running in an unheated garage, and you are losing some heat underground, 160 lbs per day is not impossible for heating a 3,000 sq. ft home in cold weather. As a means for comparison, do you know how much fuel/propane/wood/whatever it took the heat the house previously?
-Rob
More questions.
Where do you live?
Does your EFM have an insulated jacket around the boiler?
Is the garage heated?
How well insulated are the lines?
Do you constantly circulate between the EFM and the house?
My thoughts are that if you have an uninsulated boiler running in an unheated garage, and you are losing some heat underground, 160 lbs per day is not impossible for heating a 3,000 sq. ft home in cold weather. As a means for comparison, do you know how much fuel/propane/wood/whatever it took the heat the house previously?
-Rob
- Scottscoaled
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- Location: Malta N.Y.
- Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520, 700, Van Wert 800 GJ 61,53
- Baseburners & Antiques: Magic Stewart 16, times 2!
- Coal Size/Type: Lots of buck
- Other Heating: Slant Fin electric boiler backup
When did you last clean the inside of flyash? Flyash is one of the best insulators. If you don't clean the ash off once or twice a year your effeciency suffers. Mine was using way too much coal also. After I cleaned it , it cut my usage considerably.
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- Member
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- Location: Dalton, MA
- Stoker Coal Boiler: H.B. Smith 350 Mills boiler/EFM 85R stoker
- Coal Size/Type: Buckwheat/anthracite
I think Rob has asked a lot of good questions, and I agree the usage rate doesn't look that bad under the circumstances. I also agree with Rob that the timer settings may have been contributing to the incomplete burn.
Mike
Mike
markviii wrote:If 4.5 air gives you a good burn, leave it there. As for the draft, as long as you have negative draft at the firedoor -0.03 at the flue will work. I also would change the timer to run the stoker for 2 minutes every 30 minutes, that is EFM's recommended starting point.
More questions.
Where do you live?
Does your EFM have an insulated jacket around the boiler?
Is the garage heated?
How well insulated are the lines?
Do you constantly circulate between the EFM and the house?
My thoughts are that if you have an uninsulated boiler running in an unheated garage, and you are losing some heat underground, 160 lbs per day is not impossible for heating a 3,000 sq. ft home in cold weather. As a means for comparison, do you know how much fuel/propane/wood/whatever it took the heat the house previously?
-Rob
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- New Member
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Thu. Nov. 21, 2019 12:31 pm
- Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
- Coal Size/Type: Rice
I have no idea about drafts or meters or gauges but have the same problem. Rice coal auger fed and had it professionally cleaned out two years ago. February of last year it started to not burn a lot of the coal. It finally just went out, so I switched over to oil. I just switched over to another vendor and go 3 tons of blaschak coal but the same problem. ?? Live just a couple streets outside of Schuylkill Haven
- nepacoal
- Member
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- Location: Coal Country
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-4 / "Kelly" and an EFM 520 at my in-laws
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Harman SF-260 - retired
- Coal Size/Type: Buck
What are your settings? How many teeth, how much air? Are you cleaning the inside of the boiler and stove pipe every year?
- StokerDon
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- Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
- Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
- Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood
Professional or not, it needs to be cleaned more that once every 2 years.Budsnblues wrote: ↑Thu. Nov. 21, 2019 12:38 pmI have no idea about drafts or meters or gauges but have the same problem. Rice coal auger fed and had it professionally cleaned out two years ago.
What feed setting is it at? What air setting is it at? Do you pull the fines clean out lever once a day, or at least once a week?
-Don