Coalpail.com Forum

Need some help here guys. I just converted my sons efm 520 back to coal and it keeps going out when it's not used. I'm burning Reading rice with settings of 6 tooth feed and 5 air setting. the timer is set at 2.5 min every half hour. Stack is 20 ft high and draft was set at .04 over fire. I have the same settings on my own with no problems but my stack is a bit higher. The setting on the aquastat is 140 low and 180 high with a 5 degree differential. I rebuilt the pot before I put it in so there should be no problem with that.

Is the blower running when the timer trips? If not, you need to find out why. If it is, reduce the timer from 30 to 20 minutes and see if it improves. One of the EFM pros will be by soon if this is off base.

hophead wrote:Need some help here guys. I just converted my sons efm 520 back to coal and it keeps going out when it's not used. I'm burning Reading rice with settings of 6 tooth feed and 5 air setting. the timer is set at 2.5 min every half hour. Stack is 20 ft high and draft was set at .04 over fire. I have the same settings on my own with no problems but my stack is a bit higher. The setting on the aquastat is 140 low and 180 high with a 5 degree differential. I rebuilt the pot before I put it in so there should be no problem with that.

6 teeth seems like a lot for summertime burning that is 15 lbs a hr. your air should be 5 1/4 at 6 teeth I would lower the feed rate down to 4 or 5 teeth and adjust the air. 4 teeth would be 4 air 5 teeth would be 4 1/2 air you might want to set the timer to 3 to 4 min every 30 min. Also when you rebuilt the pot did you put in all three gaskets one under The top of the grates one at the bottom of thr grates and one under the top Pot ring makes sure you have a good seal on all three
Also you might want to try different coal Reading is not the best as far as Quality & Consistent goes also check the air holes in the grates make sure there are not blocked up check your doors gaskets and your two side Plates they have to be sealed to aswell as the back Flue plate. Where the Auger tube goes threw the side plate make sure that is sealed to What does the fire look like when it is burning do you have a full pot burning and are the flames really high and Blue Also you draft over the fire should be .02 not .04 your draft in the chimney should be .04 to .05

http://www.efmheating.com/manuals/DF520%20Manual.pdf

When the timer is scheduled to come on, what is the boiler temp? If it's above 180, your high limit, it won't come on. Till you get to the next timed start-up, the fire may be too far gone. Neg. .04 over the fire is excessive; .02 is fine. It shows that you have a negative inside the unit, so I'm wondering if the air is being directed underneath the plates.

For your test, I would start with 4 and 4. Like coal berner said, 6 is high.

I was a bit leery about changing the timer because at one time this was the correct set for this house. The boiler is made by Fitzgibbons some time in the 40s. I guess efm didn't make their own then. I put new gaskets in the pot and checked for air leaks before I installed. I also put new gaskets on the side plates. The .04 is a running measurement. I think I'll need to watch it for awhile and see what happens because the gauge doesn't match the primary. Thanks so much for the good info and I'll let you all know how it goes. By the way the Reading breaker is only 2 mi away and with the price of gas it doesn't pay to do a 30 mi round trip for a little better coal. Does the govt do sample testing at the breakers anymore? I've gotten some really bad coal from the Sherman breaker. With a roaring fire I could almost stick my hand in the door. Just no heat in it. The Reading is alot hotter.

You will find the quality of coal does make a difference.. I used Reading for awhile and was astounded at the difference when I started using UAE and Superior coal.. as close as you are to the good stuff, I'd burn nothing but the best..

You said you have .04" draft when the stoker is running,, what is the draft while the stoker is off and the fire is idling?? Is this house really tight?? try opening a window and see if it allows more draft. If so you need to pipe an outside air source to the fan inlet..

Like Stoker man said,, if the water temp is too high, the timer is kept from running the stoker,, in the summer you don't need really hot water for heating, only for DHW,,, try setting the aquastat down to 150-160* and see if this gives you more margin to the high limit temp for the timer.. Sometimes boilers just get hotter and hotter on the 'keep fire' burns, without any DHW being used,,

Have you verified that the timer is running the stoker every 30 minutes?? Or is that just what it is set for?

When the fire is out,, do you have a depression in the firepot, and completely burnt up coal?? or do you have a level layer of coal that is partially burnt?? if you have the latter, you might try hooking up a small fan,, about like a hair dryer in size, and blow this at the inlet to the fan, this will add a little airflow through the fire... and keep it burning.

Hope some of the above helps..

Greg L

try setting the aquastat down to 150-160* and see if this gives you more margin to the high limit temp for the timer.. Sometimes boilers just get hotter and hotter on the 'keep fire' burns, without any DHW being used,,

Have you verified that the timer is running the stoker every 30 minutes?? Or is that just what it is set for

You want to keep a 40 or even 50 degree spread between the high and low. For DHW in the Summer, maybe you want to try 140/190.

Maybe a dumb question, but, is the timer pointer set on the 30 minute side and not the one hour side?

hophead wrote:I was a bit leery about changing the timer because at one time this was the correct set for this house. The boiler is made by Fitzgibbons some time in the 40s. I guess efm didn't make their own then. I put new gaskets in the pot and checked for air leaks before I installed. I also put new gaskets on the side plates. The .04 is a running measurement. I think I'll need to watch it for awhile and see what happens because the gauge doesn't match the primary. Thanks so much for the good info and I'll let you all know how it goes. By the way the Reading breaker is only 2 mi away and with the price of gas it doesn't pay to do a 30 mi round trip for a little better coal. Does the govt do sample testing at the breakers anymore? I've gotten some really bad coal from the Sherman breaker. With a roaring fire I could almost stick my hand in the door. Just no heat in it. The Reading is alot hotter.

The Year will be on front of the boiler there will be a info Plate you have to have the jacket off to see it Fitzgibbons started
makeing the boiler for EFM in 1948 Lowline also made them for EFM aswell as Genral Machinery boiler EFM bought them in 1936 Check the Plate you will see the date Is your 520 a Highboy dose the ash door stick out and is the water coil in the front of the boiler and not the back The Highboys where made from 1948 to 1953 they hold 33 gals more water then the standard 520 they also had a 7 gal water coil in them A standard 520 holds 40gals of water with a 5 gal coil A Highboy will hold 73 gals you can also put a 7 gal in A standard 520 The 350 held 30 gals in the boiler with a 3.5 gal water coil you can also put a 5 gal in them aswell As far as the coal Reading & The Sherman are very inconsistent in Qaulity if you are that close to Reading then do yourself a Favor and take Rt 54 to 61 and go to UAE Harmomy Mine and try there's 6 to 7 % ash content 13.200 to 13.300 BTU's per lb 130.00 a ton Deep Mine Red Ash Lykens # 2 Vein you will like it and so will the
520 it is not that far from you and the money you will save per ton will make up for the Gas Is Reading still 147.00 a ton
or did they Put it up

Sorry for getting back so late. It is indeed a highboy with the coil in front but the plate says 54. I only live a couple miles from you to the west coalberner so Mc is a bit of a haul. I didn't see Direnzo anywhere here. Anyone know how their coal is or if they still sell? I'm getting alot more heat Reading vs Sherman but I have an awful lot of black unburnt in my ash. I wish they"d start making oil (lol) with that stuff instead of passing it off as coal. The new settings seem to be working but with 90 degree weather coming I forsee some problems.

hophead well if you are in Minersville you ar 4 miles from me I go to Superior coal in hegins you would take route 25
past sherman look for gap st road on your left in will be past the mini market and the car dealership past main st in hegins then take Schwenken road to the breaker or you Could go to UAE Harmony mine take 901 to lavelle take a right
across from the turkey hill mini market follow it to 54 make a right go to the top of the hill turn left on 61 to Centralia when you get to the stop sign make a left onto Mount carmel Centralia Highway go to the Jug handel UAE will be infront of you there will be a white trailer and coal bins next to it The scale is on the other side of the trailer Stay away from Direnzo if you think the coal you have now is bad it is nothing like Direnzo very bad coal Uae is 17 miles from me and superior is 23 miles so for you UAE 13 miles and 19 miles to Superior coal you can also goto Summit Anthracite in Good spring Take the 107 Exit off of I-81 RT 209 to Jollett make a right on main st follow it down to the bottom you will see there sign on your right 1954 is it a Fitzgibbon boiler or a lowline boiler does the ash door stick out from the front of the base Here are the links to the breaker's it will be worth you time to go and get some I have burned everyones coal in a 45mile area these are by far the best in Qaulity & Consistent Superior & UAE are Deep mine red ash coal they own the mines where the coal comes from Summit is Good Strip mined coal White ash they own there own mines aswell Calvin V lenig is also deep mine coal Red & white ash mixed 10% ash Calvin is 130 a ton UAE is 130 a ton 6 to 7% ash Superior 140 a ton unitl 8/1/08 then it will be 150 a ton the barley Rice and buck is 12.4 % the Pea nut & stove is 14% right now it will give you more BTU's then anyone else Summit is 9% ash 140.00 a ton If you still are having Problems let me know I could take a ride over to your Place a take a look at it let me know



Calvin V Lenig is on Route 225 7 miles west outside of Shamokin

Hello Hophead,, now that the hot weather is here,, is the EFM still idling along ok??

Greg L

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Mine is but still having some trouble with my sons. I just reset the aquastat to 130 190 and it seems to be holding for the most part. Do any of you know where to get a refurb 520. My brother wants to change over But I don't know the avalibilty Of new units or price. At least it's a one floor walkin to install. I feel a little foolish asking questions on coal firing having been an Hvac for 35 yrs> I hardly ever worked on coal other than my own. Thanks so much to all of you for your help>

By setting the low limit at 130, I guess you're depending upon an override to give you warm enough domestic hot water. How has it been working for any lengthy hot water use? I'm figuring 85 degrees for continuous use at 130 degrees.

There seems to be no complaints. Two people get a shower a day,some wash, and sink use. It hasn't gone out for three days even with 90 plus weather and no one home all day. I think I'll let it like that for the summer then crank it up to 160 some time in the fall.

Not enough spread in the aquastat temp settings is the main reason for outfires, followed by timer settings.