Coalpail.com Forum

I finally hooked up the draft gauge today and these pics represent the maximum I can run my combustion blowers. Draft is slightly low at .035 but I figure I can run the blowers with a tad more velocity for more heat? I also pulled the 2 Tee cleanouts I had in originally and exchanged them for 90* elbows with little to no difference. I also bypassed the rheostat on the power vent just to make sure I had full velocity. Question is, would a chimney solve all my problems? If so which type, masonry with tile liner or stainless triple wall? Only other thing I guess would be a larger power vent but I am very PO'ed right now seeing the power vent was a $700 option and I can even come close to running this thing at capacity. It's 25* outside with no wind and cannot maintain temp! Please help!

Side note, I ran this thing with a single burner last week while it was warmer and played around a little bit with the settings and let me tell you this can produce one hell of a fire but just can't get draft out with 2.

What is the over fire draft? Should be a hole on the fire door for the draft tube.

I looked on the LL website but didn't see what cfm the power vent is rated.

Are the two combustion blowers 65cfm each?

swyman wrote:I finally hooked up the draft gauge today and these pics represent the maximum I can run my combustion blowers. Draft is slightly low at .035 but I figure I can run the blowers with a tad more velocity for more heat? I also pulled the 2 Tee cleanouts I had in originally and exchanged them for 90* elbows with little to no difference. I also bypassed the rheostat on the power vent just to make sure I had full velocity. Question is, would a chimney solve all my problems? If so which type, masonry with tile liner or stainless triple wall? Only other thing I guess would be a larger power vent but I am very PO'ed right now seeing the power vent was a $700 option and I can even come close to running this thing at capacity. It's 25* outside with no wind and cannot maintain temp! Please help!

Side note, I ran this thing with a single burner last week while it was warmer and played around a little bit with the settings and let me tell you this can produce one hell of a fire but just can't get draft out with 2.

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You cannot push anymore air into the combustion chamber than
the two stoker beds will allow and what the power vent fan will pull
through the squirrel cage blowers as they are not positive displacement fans.

Until you decide whether you want to have chimney built for this system you
should use one burner making sure that the opposing burners air shutter is closed.

if you are not burning buckwheat coal I would consider trying that size coal for the
boiler with the system.

I find it hard to believe that LL would sell you a powervent that can't handle the two stokers. Perhaps there is something simple being overlooked. Give them a call tomorrow and discuss the issue.

titleist1 wrote:I looked on the LL website but didn't see what cfm the power vent is rated.

Are the two combustion blowers 65cfm each?

Yes

Rob R. wrote:What is the over fire draft? Should be a hole on the fire door for the draft tube.

There is nothing, Matt from LL told me just to check draft in the vent pipe anywhere before the baro

Rob R. wrote:I find it hard to believe that LL would sell you a powervent that can't handle the two stokers. Perhaps there is something simple being overlooked. Give them a call tomorrow and discuss the issue.

I'm thinking the same thing, I did everything he told me to do and still won't handle it, even duct taped the joints. I will call Matt tomorrow, just looking for options and to hear from people that have all ready been through it?

lzaharis wrote:
if you are not burning buckwheat coal I would consider trying that size coal for the
boiler with the system.

I'm a total newbie with coal and this boiler is designed for buckwheat and rice. My dealer is in his second year and has only rice so that is what I bought. I may drive to PA and buy bulk, maybe try some buckwheat? Do you get more heat with it? Also I'm burning a lot of coal for how warm it is, 3-4 bags per day so far. About half a pallet in my first week?

Here is a pic of the best I can do with settings. I also noticed that as the fire got hotter my draft went down. I was .035 when I set everything this morning and now down to .02 but is not getting any moisture in the hopper so I may leave so I have a hotter fire? If I just run 1 burner wide open it does not have enough heat to maintain.

Try cracking a window open about an inch near the boiler and see if your overall draft conditions improve.

lsayre wrote:Try cracking a window open about an inch near the boiler and see if your overall draft conditions improve.

It's in a fairly large old barn that has holes in the siding and lots of gaps. It presently is not insulated and the boiler is exposed to whatever temps are outside if that would make any difference?

Anyone with an swg power vent that can let us know the cfm of its fan? I looked on their website and LL's but didn't see it listed anywhere.

I assume you're measuring the draft between the baro damper and stove. ?

Try covering up the baro damper with aluminum foil and see how much the draft on the stove goes up or not? it should go up. make sure you have the weight on the baro damper on the correct side (vertical vs. horz. mounting).

if you power vent is running full, it should pull a good draft on the stove and then adjust the baro accordlingly for optimum draft at full burn.

titleist1 wrote:Anyone with an swg power vent that can let us know the cfm of its fan? I looked on their website and LL's but didn't see it listed anywhere.

Just read the supplemental manual and checked their website and no info on cfm. Only thing they say on sizing is based off heat output of the appliance. Mine is supposed to support 280k which is under my 220k rating but appears not to be the case?