Need to Set My Timer, and Set Temp Down.. Help..

I have bought my great aunts home last year, although I visited and took care of the hopper often, the home is now mine and I am having problems with my fire (granted, I can build a fire in 10 minutes!) It all started 2 weeks ago when I suppose something got caught in the worm causing the boiler to reset. I had no idea how to reset it, it's my first home and the home I rented before had an oil burner where the reset button wasn't hidden (under the cover by the cleanout lever). So I had my dad come up and then asked him to turn my water down because it was at 200 degrees where I would literally get burned from my hot water. So we turned it down to 160 low and 180 high and my fire went out 3 times in one week (Home temp at around 60 because of the warm weather). Then, I turned the temp back up to 180 low and 200 high and no problems.. I do not know how to set my timer to get it to kick on with the water temp to be lower (since we put it back to 180/200, everything's been great). Timer seems to be working properly with rotation but I do not know what to adjust there. I will post pics, and thank you to anyone that can help. Everything's running well except I would like to save coal because I think I am burning too much because I do not think I need to get burned everytime the hot water catches me off guard.

Congrats on your new home and welcome to the forum.

There should be a mixing valve installed on the tankless coil piping. The mixing valve mixes some cold water with the hot leaving the coil, that way you can adjust the temperature of the domestic water independently of the boiler temperature.

EFM recommends setting the aquastat as follows: 200 high, 160 low, 10 differential. The timer is normally set at 2 or 2.5 minutes every half hour. Based on the picture it looks like yours is close to that, but you will need to time it with a watch to be sure. It is adjusted by losing that screw (1 o'clock position on the wheel in your picture) and sliding the back part of the wheel...the pointer will move in relation to the numbers on the bottom of the wheel.

You can find the EFM manual here: http://efmheating.com/index.php/efm-online-manuals

Welcome Aboard

Yeah, thermostatic mixing valve, set it and forget it.
Most brands cannot allow temps above 120*.
SEARCH site here...plenty of previous discussions you can read.

Your timer is the SA400 Honeywell and very reliable and each model has 2 options for length of timed cycle.
Usually you would require a 30 and 15 minute model for your EFM. (some models mfgr'd at 30 and 60 min. for other stokers)
Yours now looks to be setup for one burner cycle per 360 revolution...(every 30 min.)
however, if silver cresent plate were flipped to reveal another notch you could get two burner cycles per 360 rotation...(every 15 min.)

Hope this helps...
Ask if you need more...we'll do our best to get you up to speed.

I just noticed there is no fines clean out lever visible. Normally it would come up through the slot in the top of the stoker cover.

Thank you everyone!
My fines lever is actually not at the top but on the side, on the left of the stoker... Should I change the differential to 10, and adjust the low to 160? and I am so new at this.. but where is the thermostatic mixing valve? Sorry!! It just seems like I'm wasting coal, and I love the fact that I never run out of hot water but when you accidentally wash your hands under the hot water after it's been running you get left with a good burn on the back of your hand.. and that's not fun!! I can provide more pictures if needed or anything that can help. And these changes I'm making for the summer when there's no heat, would they have to be changed again once I turn the heat back on? I know, I know, I should call a plumber who knows this stuff but they aren't going to teach me! I'll be searching through the forum, it's very interesting! And Rob, thanks for the link for the manual but I already printed it and learned a few things but they really should have added illustrations! I still don't know how to use my manual worm turn (I think that's what it's called) or how to stop coal feed while keeping the blower on while starting a fire, because the manual only says you can, but it doesn't tell you how!

Thanks everyone, really appreciate all your help. Hopefully someday I can actually help someone else with this knowledge!

nyurch wrote:Should I change the differential to 10, and adjust the low to 160?

I would give that a try, it has worked well on several 520's for me.

The mixing valve would normally be installed within a few feet of the tankless coil.

That timer is set for once a hour, if you flip the silver plate, it will run once every half hour, you may be able to reduce the setting to one minute or 2, use a stop watch, those numbers are usually off.

Pics of the changes to the aquastat.. My fire at the moment and and another of my timer and guage on the front of the unit.. Every time I try to slightly turn the screw in the timer I hear a slight hiss.. I am just going to let that be for a while. I need to look for a picture of a mixing valve so I know what I'm looking for. And how am I to flip the plate on the timer? I must add I am a girl and know my way around a car but this damn stoker is making me crazy. Now I am waiting for the stoker to run without using hot water or the thermostat to time how long it runs and how many times per hour.. This is fun!

Califfi video...excellent on mixing valves.

If you take out screw #1, flip the metal plate over, replace screw, this will allow the rocker arm to dip and turn on the stoker every half hour.
If you loosen screw #2, it will let you turn the brass ring to adjust the pointer, which shows it's pointed at 3 right now, you may have to turn it down to 2 or less if the timer is now running twice as much so less minutes overall is needed.
You have to hold the brass ring still if you want to loosen screw #2. Beware of the electrical wires on the side as they are live and will give you a good shock. Those numbers are usually off so 3 does not equal 3 minutes.

mozz wrote:Beware of the electrical wires on the side as they are live and will give you a good shock.

It is a good idea to turn off the power before making adjustments.

nyurch wrote:I have bought my great aunts home last year, although I visited and took care of the hopper often, the home is now mine and I am having problems with my fire (granted, I can build a fire in 10 minutes!) ................

Well welcome to the forum nyurch.

It may help if you continue to fill out your profile and include the basic area where you live. There may be a forum member who lives near you and you could go look at their setup or invite them by yours so they can advise on how to set everything up. As one of our members on here states " No one is gonna come steal ya'"

In the mean time, ask questions or use the search bar. There is a ton of info on here about setting up a 520.

Rick

I have been searching all over the place. I will fill out my profile. I am in Nesquehoning, PA good old PA coal country.

I posted pictures earlier. When I turned my aquastat to 200h, 160l with a 10 d differential, thermostat was set at 50 degrees (all the way down), the boiler would did not kick on at all for 1 hour and 30 min while I cleaned around my work bench and then I started to get worried about the fire so I turned on the shop sink for about 3 gallons of hot water to come out before it finally kicked on, and it took a while for the fire to actually start "spouting" once the stoker was on. At this point (and at least until tomorrow) I did not tinker with the timer. So for now I turned the aquastat back to 200h/180l with a 20 diff. and it seems to be okay as of now.

After this so many questions have been sprouting in my mind. My dad and I cleaned the unit this past Nov and cleaned everything out, and the chimney, but we didn't oil the stoker motor or anything like I have been reading. Lately it's been working overtime either starting fires or running for how ever long over night pushing coal with no fire. I know, I'm so new to this forum, so much to learn. Thanks again everyone. I'll try to see what I can do with the timer tomorrow.

whistlenut wrote:If you take out screw #1, flip the metal plate over, replace screw, this will allow the rocker arm to dip and turn on the stoker every half hour.
If you loosen screw #2, it will let you turn the brass ring to adjust the pointer, which shows it's pointed at 3 right now, you may have to turn it down to 2 or less if the timer is now running twice as much so less minutes overall is needed.

I was only trying to turn screw #2, can you explain the slight hissing sound I was hearing?

Not actually hissing but you are turning the timer motor, you are hearing the gears whining. The stoker should come on by itself once an hour, if not, you have a bad timer.

Timer can be made to come on every 30 mins. If desired.
See earlier steps for how.