LL AA-220 Max Draft Burn With Power Vent Please Help!

Flyer5 · Post by **Flyer5** » Sun. Jan. 24, 2016 8:41 am

swyman wrote:
blrman07 wrote:
Uhhhhh if it's working my advise is leave it alone.

.
That's exactly what I'm doing but I have to admit it's kinda boring! Only thing I have done the last 3 days now is dump the ash in the driveway every morning and top off the hopper. I'll have to tear it apart and clean it in about a week or two. Been doing a full cleanup every skid of coal as per instruction manual. I bought some 1 1/2" wire tube cleaners so I will be able to do a better job on those fire tubes!

You don't need to go too crazy cleaning it. Again don't overthink it You probably will not have to take the top off that often. Mostly make sure your horizontal runs of pipe are clear. Make sure the outlet area of the base is clear through the sliding door. You will develop a schedule and find you do not have to do it as often as recommended. That is a starting point and worst case very high ash coal. If you are shutting it down in the summer then clean it really good and treat it. Especially if it is in a very damp area such as where you have it.

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Sun. Jan. 24, 2016 10:44 am

swyman wrote: That's exactly what I'm doing but I have to admit it's kinda boring! Only thing I have done the last 3 days now is dump the ash in the driveway every morning and top off the hopper.

Time for a new hobby other than wood gathering! Coal isn't as cheap as free wood, but the free time you get is priceless.

Whatever you do....don't start rehabbing old coal boilers.....its a slippery slope....just ask StokerDon!!

blrman07 · Post by **blrman07** » Sun. Jan. 24, 2016 11:38 am

StokerDon can be found in his garage amidst various stoker parts talking to himself..." I wonder if this will fit in here?" "Sure it will if I just file this, cut this, twist that and it should work."

Then yanks out the burner and sets it up just outside his garage and lites it off just to watch it burn......
There is no cure.....

And I thought I had it bad

swyman · Post by **swyman** » Mon. Feb. 01, 2016 1:40 am

Pinch me.....7 days with nothing to report but a working boiler! Finally finished the barn and I might have a slight problem but it is one that is easy to correct... it was at 190* when I left for work! Slightly alarmed as it goes into idle fire at 185* but thanks to a slight blunder on my part on Christmas Eve and strong advice from you guys I have a high limit shut off (set at 215*). I haven't touched any settings in a couple weeks so I decided to see what it does over the night. I guess I could have turned it down and I will in the morning but wanted to see what transpires through the night. Have to admit I am bored now that the boiler is working and the barn is finished other than paint and some electrical outlet runs. I did however come up with a good plan for my ashes, I left my Bobcat bucket just outside the building and am dumping my ash into that.... no more dust or carrying the pan outside into the driveway to dump. Temps are very warm here though, seen a couple guys out riding their Harley's yesterday! As of tomorrow I will be down to my last 2 #2400 skids which should get me well into March so all in all the 6 ton I bought for the season is going to be about right after all. Granted this has been fairly mild but I think worst case 8 ton would get me through a winter without moving the unit in the basement. I am planning a 24'x20' living room addition, I think when I decide to pull the trigger I will make sure it has a basement and attach it to my current basement but set the new one up strictly for coal burning. I could build a nice coal bin and ash removal system plus the area the unit would be located is right in the center of everything down stairs. I think that would be ideal.

Good day gentlemen!

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Mon. Feb. 01, 2016 7:01 am

:punk: A boring boiler is good!

blrman07 · Post by **blrman07** » Mon. Feb. 01, 2016 7:13 am

Great to hear. Glad you stuck in there. Put in the coal, take out the ashes. That's what coal burning is supposed to be like. No wood to cut, no wood to haul, no wood to split, no wood to stack, no wood to carry, no wood to chuck in a furnace.

If you get too bored, you could still do that and sell the wood and buy coal with it

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Mon. Feb. 01, 2016 7:40 am

It's about time !

Now you can get started on that super truck project ,or some other project ,or relax.

SWPaDon · Post by **SWPaDon** » Mon. Feb. 01, 2016 7:44 am

It's great to hear you have heat and the only concern is adding coal and removing ash.

swyman · Post by **swyman** » Mon. Feb. 01, 2016 8:32 am

blrman07 wrote:
If you get too bored, you could still do that and sell the wood and buy coal with it

HAha! That would be a great idea however I am kind of enjoying these freedoms......so much so the log splitter is on craigslist. Washing my hands of all that extra work! I feel confident about this system now knowing it will do the job even though it's probably in the worst place I could have put it but for now the heck with it!
Thank you all for the help! Still can't quite put my finger on what solved my issues, my best guess is not having the boiler exposed to outside temps? When we had those cold spells before my garage was done the top plate would read 80* on the IR gun, now it's around 140*! Breech exhaust temps are around 220* now while it's running, I think that's pretty good?

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Mon. Feb. 01, 2016 8:43 am

swyman wrote: Still can't quite put my finger on what solved my issues,

Maybe when you quit messing with the adjustments ?

Then the boiler could do it's job.

:box:

Just kidding !

Partially

Could be a part of the what.

swyman · Post by **swyman** » Mon. Feb. 01, 2016 6:58 pm

windyhill4.2 wrote:
Maybe when you quit messing with the adjustments ? Then the boiler could do it's job. :box:

Just kidding !

Partially

Could be a part of the what.

You're probably right windy, I did however just turn the feed and blowers down because it would literally run in high fire for about 5 minutes if that and go into idle fire. Like you all said that coal likes a slow steady burn so I adjusted for that as best I could while keeping both stokers running. Now it's going about 15-20 minutes at current outdoor temps but the weather will be fluctuating 20-30* the next week or so.

Flyer5 · Post by **Flyer5** » Mon. Feb. 01, 2016 7:04 pm

swyman wrote:
windyhill4.2 wrote:
Maybe when you quit messing with the adjustments ? Then the boiler could do it's job. :box:

Just kidding !

Partially

Could be a part of the what.
You're probably right windy, I did however just turn the feed and blowers down because it would literally run in high fire for about 5 minutes if that and go into idle fire. Like you all said that coal likes a slow steady burn so I adjusted for that as best I could while keeping both stokers running. Now it's going about 15-20 minutes at current outdoor temps but the weather will be fluctuating 20-30* the next week or so.

Don't do that. Coal does not care about short cycling. Set it for max efficiency and leave it.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Mon. Feb. 01, 2016 7:36 pm

windyhill4.2 wrote:
swyman wrote: Still can't quite put my finger on what solved my issues,
Maybe when you quit messing with the adjustments ? Then the boiler could do it's job. :box:

Just kidding !

Partially

Could be a part of the what.

So I was right !!!!!!! Now look what you have done,

AGAIN!!!!

You need a project to work on !!!!

swyman · Post by **swyman** » Mon. Feb. 01, 2016 11:48 pm

Right on Dave, I will set it back up in the morning. Thanks for the clarification

swyman · Post by **swyman** » Mon. Feb. 01, 2016 11:50 pm

windyhill4.2 wrote:
So I was right !!!!!!! Now look what you have done,

AGAIN!!!!

You need a project to work on !!!!

Right you were my friend! I'll get is straightened back out in the morning.