Cleaned the AHS S-130 yesterday, learned something
- lsayre
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The wife and I cleaned the S-130 yesterday. Then we had a hard time starting it back up, failing last night and then again this morning. Here's what we learned:
We had found a super deal on some Royal Oak charcoal briquettes at $4 per large size (40 lb?) bag. Tried several times last night and then again this morning and on into the afternoon to get the Coal Gun fired using it (each time lighting the charcoal with a Bernzomatic type propane torch), and each time the Royal Oak charcoal briquettes burned to complete ash without igniting a single nugget of anthracite. Finally I remembered that all previous lighting efforts were done using either natural hardwood charcoal (most of the time) or Kingsford briquettes (occasionally), or a combination of both. Went out and got a budget bag of Frontier natural hardwood charcoal, then stuffed about 10 pieces of it into the coal, hit it with the propane torch just as for the Royal Oak, and within a few hours the S-130 was at full heat and we are back in business.
The other lesson learned was: Don't clean the interior swirl chamber and fan area of the boiler every two years, but rather do it every year. Last season we cleaned the flue pipes, but didn't go inside the boiler. This year it was quite dirty inside. Lesson learned.
And lastly, I finally replaced our ever problematic, and occasionally sticking open, expensive Field Controls 'Type M' barometric damper with a budget 'Type RC'. Very happy with the RC so far. Tossed out the Type M. Never again will I own a Type M.
We had found a super deal on some Royal Oak charcoal briquettes at $4 per large size (40 lb?) bag. Tried several times last night and then again this morning and on into the afternoon to get the Coal Gun fired using it (each time lighting the charcoal with a Bernzomatic type propane torch), and each time the Royal Oak charcoal briquettes burned to complete ash without igniting a single nugget of anthracite. Finally I remembered that all previous lighting efforts were done using either natural hardwood charcoal (most of the time) or Kingsford briquettes (occasionally), or a combination of both. Went out and got a budget bag of Frontier natural hardwood charcoal, then stuffed about 10 pieces of it into the coal, hit it with the propane torch just as for the Royal Oak, and within a few hours the S-130 was at full heat and we are back in business.
The other lesson learned was: Don't clean the interior swirl chamber and fan area of the boiler every two years, but rather do it every year. Last season we cleaned the flue pipes, but didn't go inside the boiler. This year it was quite dirty inside. Lesson learned.
And lastly, I finally replaced our ever problematic, and occasionally sticking open, expensive Field Controls 'Type M' barometric damper with a budget 'Type RC'. Very happy with the RC so far. Tossed out the Type M. Never again will I own a Type M.
- Lightning
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Must be that the Royal Oak charcoal briquettes didn't burn quite hot enough to get the anthracite burning? That's the only thing I can guess. I've never had a problem using natural hardwood charcoal. I've been successful with a few different brands. I've never tried charcoal briquettes though...
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Hello Larry,
Been there, done that. I fill a metal coffee can with charcoal briquettes and then squirt charcoal lighter on the briquettes and after they have soaked through I pull out a handful of briquettes and break them up with a 4 pound hammer and then pack them into a
toilet paper tube and then I wrap it in a partial sheet of news print and then stuff it in the coal on the grate and light it off with my Bernz-o-Matic Fat Boy torch and then the fire takes right off. I will also break up more soaked charcoal and fill several paper tubes and put them back in the coffee can for the next time I need one to start the coal fire.
I use the coal mice too, but I use the fat boy torch to fire them off as sometimes the fuse does not ignite the coal mouse.
Been there, done that. I fill a metal coffee can with charcoal briquettes and then squirt charcoal lighter on the briquettes and after they have soaked through I pull out a handful of briquettes and break them up with a 4 pound hammer and then pack them into a
toilet paper tube and then I wrap it in a partial sheet of news print and then stuff it in the coal on the grate and light it off with my Bernz-o-Matic Fat Boy torch and then the fire takes right off. I will also break up more soaked charcoal and fill several paper tubes and put them back in the coffee can for the next time I need one to start the coal fire.
I use the coal mice too, but I use the fat boy torch to fire them off as sometimes the fuse does not ignite the coal mouse.
- coaledsweat
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The fire tube should be half filled with ash prior to starting a fire. Otherwise you'll have problems keeping it lit and happy.
- hotblast1357
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I did the full coal lite up Saturday, stuck some charcoal in and gave the torch to it and within 3 hours was all set up and running! I was schematically though about it working!
- davidmcbeth3
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- lsayre
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This is always good advice, but our problem was getting it initially lit. With 10-12 Royal Oak briquettes jammed into the coal in the firetube we (repeatedly) could not get water temperature above 95 degrees, and ditto for flue temperature as surface measured with a laser thermometer about 3" above the "Popes Hat" flange.coaledsweat wrote: ↑Sun. Oct. 08, 2017 9:07 pmThe fire tube should be half filled with ash prior to starting a fire. Otherwise you'll have problems keeping it lit and happy.
With 10-12 small chunks of the natural wood charcoal we hit 180 degrees on the water and 230 degrees on the flue within about 2.5 hours. And that was after I turned on the hot water spigot and cranked it to full open in the kitchen sink when the boiler hit 170 degrees (this being my method of assuring a solid fire). That followed by well earned (and ditto well needed) showers for the wife and I.
Side Note: Based upon my experience when continuously measuring both internal and external flue gas temperatures back during my wood burning days, I always presume that internal flue temperature is about 1.5X external, so our flue gasses at extended max fire are likely somewhere around a ballpark of 350 degrees if measured internally.
- Yanche
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Here's my very old post on how I start my ASH S-130. Done in 5 minutes!
viewtopic.php?f=58&t=2050#p14888
viewtopic.php?f=58&t=2050#p14888
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I forget to reply earlier ... I found out a couple seasons ago (when we had some very cold temps) that the small passage that connects the fan chamber and the swirl chamber can clog up. When it happened to my boiler the unit struggled to put out enough heat. It's not easy to clean and I hadn't paid attention to it. Now when I clean the fan and swirl chambers (every year) I run a small spring pipe snake through the passage to clear it. Once you are aware of the problem it only takes a few extra minutes to clean and it made a noticeable difference for me. Just my 2 cents.
- lsayre
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Is this the roughly 1-3/4" square chamber opening seen about 6" or so down after removing the "inverted Popes Hat" (for lack of the real terminology here) which is located at and extends below the flue outlet flange? I learned of cleaning this passageway a number of years back, and I snake it each time I disassemble and clean my flue pipes out. Always good advice though. Thank you!!!Tull wrote: ↑Wed. Oct. 25, 2017 12:28 pmI forget to reply earlier ... I found out a couple seasons ago (when we had some very cold temps) that the small passage that connects the fan chamber and the swirl chamber can clog up. When it happened to my boiler the unit struggled to put out enough heat. It's not easy to clean and I hadn't paid attention to it. Now when I clean the fan and swirl chambers (every year) I run a small spring pipe snake through the passage to clear it. Once you are aware of the problem it only takes a few extra minutes to clean and it made a noticeable difference for me. Just my 2 cents.
Edit: I checked the manual, and what I (and others) have referred to as the "Popes Hat" is officially called the "Flue Tube Assembly".
- lsayre
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I was unaware of it until my boiler suddenly decided to run the fan forever while barely heating the house one not particularly cold day, and I contacted AHS. By my description of the symptoms the technician i was speaking to instantly suggested it. I cleaned it, and immediately had a fully functioning boiler again.
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The new manual (starting about 3-1/2 years ago) does mention cleaning this area and there is a YouTube video describing it as well. I think the video needs a brush, but oddly we didn't have one on hand that was bendable to a small enough radius. If this area is neglected, you can count on output issues about the fourth season of use.