Boiler Pressure 24 Now With 4 Clicks?

kinnscience · Post by **kinnscience** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2014 12:09 am

EFM 700 refurb: I ran this most of the winter on 3 clicks airflow at 3. We had to replace the screw/bearing at the bottom of the arm and I bumped it up to 4 clicks because I wanted to get a bit more heat. Well, because the new bearing took a lot of the play out of the movement .... 4 clicks is putting out a lot more coal ... and now, even with the airflow at 6 .... the lit coals are again piling up on the table ... and go right to the edge of the pot/table. The pressure, which used to stay around 18-20 ... is up to 24 .... and the pot has hot coal piled up about 3-4 inches across the top. Seems strange to see it running at what I would consider full tilt at only 4 clicks. I'm adding units to this building next year and wanted to see about adding a click or two .... to get more heat out of the unit ...

Anyway, can't figure out the 3/4 click needing a 6 airflow .... and don't understand ... am I overheating this? .... as I said ... the coal is piled up again ... red all the way to the edge of the pot/table ...

Post by **Rob R.** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2014 5:12 am

It is possible that the feed is set higher than you think, or maybe the coal has a lot of small pieces and the air doesn't go through it easily. Adjust the air so that there is about 2" of ash around the fire (after a 30-40 minute continuous burn). As for the system pressure, your expansion tank is probably water logged and/or undersized.

ricoman2737 · Post by **ricoman2737** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2014 7:06 am

What is the size of the coal that you're burning. John

waldo lemieux · Post by **waldo lemieux** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2014 7:52 am

Im gonna guess that maybe your air flow is restricted by plugged holes or air tube . or I think I remember somebody posting about dirty fan blades

I have no experience with anything other than a 520 but I will say don't panic these things are pretty simple and easy to fix. Trouble shooting,
well....

waldo

kinnscience · Post by **kinnscience** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2014 1:56 pm

Hi fellas,

Ok, we took the pipe off the flue as there was a lot of black fly ash/coal dust filling the stove pipe. We also noted that the fan blades were pretty full of this black fine ash ... I believe it is from the coal ... as it is not white like the fly ash from other coal stokers I have used. Curious that I see no white or gray fly ash anywhere ... only buckets full of this black coal dust that seems to permeate everywhere.

Anyway, it does seem that the fan may have not been producing the right amount of air. We cleaned it off a little ... and noted more air being sucked in. We didn't want to clean the blades off any more than that because I did not want to have it fly through the tube and block the air tubes in the pot.

So now I need to figure out how to clean the fan/pot mechanism .... after the season is over ... and also how to do a mid season clean of the fan without sending more of the black stuff into the tube hole that feeds the pot. Can't imagine having to take all that apart .... but what else can be done?

I really need to know how to maintain this 700 better. One of my employees knows a bit ... but I'm going to ask him to join in here ... as he is going to be the one maintaining the boiler.

waldo lemieux · Post by **waldo lemieux** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2014 3:25 pm

Perhaps your auger tube or auger is worn, or maybe the coupling is not together right and is causing the thing to grind your coal. If so start with bigger coal

Sorry :bag: ,not really youll need to take apart the feed auger and see whats wrong

Waldo

Post by **Rob R.** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2014 3:57 pm

x2 on checking the auger and pipes.

Might be time to try a different coal source or change your coal/ash handling to reduce dust in the boiler room. I have put 30 tons through my EFM and the fan blades barely have any dust on them at all.

Do you have a cleanout tee on the flue pipe coming out of the boiler?

Pacowy · Post by **Pacowy** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2014 4:31 pm

kinnscience wrote: So now I need to figure out how to clean the fan/pot mechanism .... after the season is over ... and also how to do a mid season clean of the fan without sending more of the black stuff into the tube hole that feeds the pot. Can't imagine having to take all that apart .... but what else can be done?

I really need to know how to maintain this 700 better. One of my employees knows a bit ... but I'm going to ask him to join in here ... as he is going to be the one maintaining the boiler.

It sounds like maybe fines are falling out of the connection between the auger pipe and pipe support, and getting sucked into the fan intake? Check for hole in bottom of pipe, sharp auger, excess auger length visible at end of pipe. Can seal the connection. For existing buildup lift pot and vacuum backwards from the air chamber? Works on conversion stokers anyways.

Mike

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2014 7:58 pm

And making more heat does not make more pressure in a proper system.
If your system pressure goes up it means your expansion tank hasn't enough room for the increased volume.

kinnscience · Post by **kinnscience** » Wed. Mar. 26, 2014 3:37 am

ok .... I have the worm set back to the lowest level of clicks ... and I still have a big pile of red coal ... and red coal falling into the ash pan area. The airflow is all the way up to as full open as it can get.

I've eliminated everything I can think of .... and it has to come down to air flow. I'm getting only 3 to 4 clicks at the lowest setting ... and their is airflow .... I can see blue flame forcing out of the coal .... but maybe it is not enough.

I did notice .. that when I set the air flow to about 3 ... there does not seem to be any noticable difference between the flame level ... than there is when I turn it up to 9... so maybe the flapper is stuck?

Not sure how to take that apart without taking the whole pot out ....

I really was in love with this thing ... LoL

Post by **Rob R.** » Wed. Mar. 26, 2014 5:39 am

Time to shut it down, clean everything, and see what is going on. Verify that the air holes in the grates are clear, and see if changing the air setting makes a difference in the air blowing out of the pot. Check to see if the pot is dumping the fines in the ash tub the way it is supposed to, pull the motor and fan off the blower and make sure everything is clean, etc.

waldo lemieux · Post by **waldo lemieux** » Wed. Mar. 26, 2014 7:51 am

ks

Do you routinely use the clean out lever? Im thinking that maybe the fines have jammed up the end of the air tube over time. It would be especially suspect if youve had alot of wet coal. Look in your ash pan, note how it looks and then put it back in and work the clean out lever a couple of times. You should then be able to see a little pile of fresh fines on the top of the ash bucket. Lik Rob mentioned it sounds like you need to shut down in order to fix whatever is wrong

waldo

Post by **Rob R.** » Wed. Mar. 26, 2014 7:55 am

waldo lemieux wrote:ks

Do you routinely use the clean out lever? Im thinking that maybe the fines have jammed up the end of the air tube over time. It would be especially suspect if youve had alot of wet coal. Look in your ash pan, note how it looks and then put it back in and work the clean out lever a couple of times. You should then be able to see a little pile of fresh fines on the top of the ash bucket. Lik Rob mentioned it sounds like you need to shut down in order to fix whatever is wrong

waldo

A 700 does not have a cleanout lever like your 520, it is automatic.

Pacowy · Post by **Pacowy** » Wed. Mar. 26, 2014 8:13 am

Rob R. wrote: A 700 does not have a cleanout lever like your 520, it is automatic.

Well, it's supposed to be automatic.

Maybe that's part of the problem.

Mike

waldo lemieux · Post by **waldo lemieux** » Wed. Mar. 26, 2014 8:14 am

Le oops