Axeman Owners: How Many "Clicks"?

Townsend · Post by **Townsend** » Wed. Feb. 29, 2012 11:17 pm

I was wondering what others have their ashing arm set to for driving the ash pan gear. How many clicks do you have it set for? Have you experimented with adjustments at all? I had mine set at 2 clicks but recently set it to 3. Hard to really tell with this change in weather.

AA130FIREMAN · Post by **AA130FIREMAN** » Thu. Mar. 01, 2012 12:35 am

3 , occasionally it will only do 2, when it's 64 years old, it's hard sometimes to count, shaft may not be 100% true, and bushings not as tight as a drum. What will become of me once I hit that age

Once you find a happy

spot with the adjustments, in my case I keep them the same. No outfires this season and real good results (once an hour for one minute on the timer). I will say the uae harmony coal has alot to do with it. Very little ash,better drafting with less ash, and I don't need to clean the flyash from the stove pipe every 6 weeks like I did the first year.

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Thu. Mar. 01, 2012 2:09 am

I keep mine at 2 clicks. It might run a bit longer during extremely cold weather, but it delivers the coal slower so the fire stays higher.

steamup · Post by **steamup** » Thu. Mar. 01, 2012 9:42 am

Mine is set at 2 clicks. One click under light load would probably be ok. With a heavy load or high ash coal, you may need 3 clicks. Check on how much your ashing solenoid cycles. If it cycles occasionally under load, it is probably ok. If it cycles alot you may be trying to ash too much. If it doesn't cycle, you may be ashing too little. (assuming your anthrastat is calibrated properly).

LsFarm · Post by **LsFarm** » Thu. Mar. 01, 2012 1:53 pm

3-1/2 clicks.. on the pull side of the notched wheel, when the grate is being pulled out from under the fire, and the clinkers are being jammed against the lower lip of the firepot, the linkage rebounds some, resulting in only 3 clicks.. on the push side it's usually 4 clicks.

My solenoid will eventually cycle, if the boiler's run is long enough. but it ashes every time the boiler fires up.

I do tend to get a lot of clinkers, I almost never have an ashpan without 4-6 fist or double-fist sized clinkers. Sometimes a phonebook sized one !!

I think the clinkers that get caught on the firepot lip, sometimes 'roll' around in the firepot as the grate tries to push them out of the fire.. this 'rolling' I think is one cause of the occassional piece or two of unburnt coal in an otherwise ashpan of nothing but powder and a few large clinkers. I have no way to prove this, but I just can't figure out how a bunch of pieces of perfect, shiney black coal make their way into the ashpan.. and avoid the fire completley..

Greg L.

mozz · Post by **mozz** » Thu. Mar. 01, 2012 5:02 pm

This sums it up perfectly.

steamup wrote:Check on how much your ashing solenoid cycles. If it cycles occasionally under load, it is probably ok. If it cycles alot you may be trying to ash too much. If it doesn't cycle, you may be ashing too little. (assuming your anthrastat is calibrated properly).

whistlenut · Post by **whistlenut** » Thu. Mar. 01, 2012 8:30 pm

3 clicks for me with the current coal I'm burning. Very typical this part of the winter. That is in 260's, 2 clicks most of the time in 130's. Damned...that 'steamup' doesn't miss anything. Jon is a very clever fellow.....nice guy too! I think he needs a Losch to play with next......perhaps a GJ.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sat. Mar. 03, 2012 9:07 pm

1 click... occasionally get 2 clicks in the cycle

burning UAE buckwheat with a light load.

Hold Fire Timer skips running because boiler is sitting above upper high limit alot. Never an out fire though.

Here is a bit of Axeman Trivia for all...It takes 42 clicks to do one complete cycle of rolling grate travel out and back...2 inches each way.

(At least on my 1959 130M it is.)

steamup · Post by **steamup** » Sat. Mar. 03, 2012 11:55 pm

McGiever wrote:1 click... occasionally get 2 clicks in the cycle

burning UAE buckwheat with a light load.

Hold Fire Timer skips running because boiler is sitting above upper high limit alot. Never an out fire though.

Here is a bit of Axeman Trivia for all...It takes 42 clicks to do one complete cycle of rolling grate travel out and back...2 inches each way.
(At least on my 1959 130M it is.)

Ok, Ok - Too much information - Who in the heck sits there and counts how many "clicks" it takes to travel the grate. I guess curiosity got the cat on that one.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sun. Mar. 04, 2012 4:29 pm

steamup wrote:
McGiever wrote:1 click... occasionally get 2 clicks in the cycle

burning UAE buckwheat with a light load.

Hold Fire Timer skips running because boiler is sitting above upper high limit alot. Never an out fire though.

Here is a bit of Axeman Trivia for all...It takes 42 clicks to do one complete cycle of rolling grate travel out and back...2 inches each way.
(At least on my 1959 130M it is.)
Ok, Ok - Too much information - Who in the heck sits there and counts how many "clicks" it takes to travel the grate. I guess curiosity got the cat on that one.

Sometimes a guy just has too much time on his hands.

Townsend · Post by **Townsend** » Sun. Mar. 04, 2012 7:48 pm

Glad you posted that interesting fact McG, I had always wondered about that.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sun. Mar. 04, 2012 8:24 pm

McGiever wrote:
steamup wrote: Ok, Ok - Too much information - Who in the heck sits there and counts how many "clicks" it takes to travel the grate. I guess curiosity got the cat on that one.
Sometimes a guy just has too much time on his hands.

Actually, I didn't sit there and count all the "clicks" while firing...I was lubricating the cam followers before it was put into service here, and still had the back plate removed and no coal loaded in burn pot...it was pretty simple to manually ratchet quickly and keep count while starting and finishing at one end of the grate's travel.