Hydrolevel 3250

Post Reply
 
User avatar
mooseman100
Member
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat. Mar. 05, 2011 10:31 pm
Location: winchester, va
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520

Post by mooseman100 » Thu. Nov. 16, 2017 8:03 pm

Scott and I, well mostly Scott, installed a new auger and controllers this past spring. We replaced the old aquastat with the hydrolevel 3250. When I turn it on The red light in top,
LWCO i indicator light comes on. I k ow my water is full, I just did the annual addition of rust inhibitor and could see tank was full.
I followed directions and turned it off. Is it ok to run with this off? I do not have a water coil installed. How does the sensor in the well k ow if i ma low on water anyway?
I have forced air system, so two complete different systems...an exchnager in each side. So would that be concidered two zones?

Brent


 
ziggy87
Member
Posts: 311
Joined: Sat. Oct. 25, 2014 11:22 am
Location: Halifax, Pa
Stoker Coal Boiler: axeman anderson 130
Coal Size/Type: Pea

Post by ziggy87 » Thu. Nov. 16, 2017 8:38 pm

Did you change out the sensor well or use your existing well. For the lwco feature to work you must use their specific sensor well!!!!

 
User avatar
Rob R.
Site Moderator
Posts: 17980
Joined: Fri. Dec. 28, 2007 4:26 pm
Location: Chazy, NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Jr

Post by Rob R. » Thu. Nov. 16, 2017 8:55 pm

If the control detects a low water condition, the stoker won't work at all. That is what the red light means. Usually this is caused by dirt on the electro well. Also, you are not supposed to use teflon tape on the well threads.

If you use a regular well instead of the "electro-well" the low water function is disabled. When powered on the LWCO lights will both be out, as shown in the attached picture.

Attachments

IMG_20171116_205219362.jpg
.JPG | 278KB | IMG_20171116_205219362.jpg

 
User avatar
mooseman100
Member
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat. Mar. 05, 2011 10:31 pm
Location: winchester, va
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520

Post by mooseman100 » Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 12:52 am

No we did not put in a new well. So i have diabled the lwco feature. Os there a problem with that? Never had such a feature on old aquastat

 
lzaharis
Member
Posts: 2366
Joined: Sun. Mar. 25, 2007 8:41 pm
Location: Ithaca, New York
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-4-1 dual fuel boiler
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: former switzer CWW100-sold
Coal Size/Type: rice
Other Heating: kerosene for dual fuel Keystoker/unused

Post by lzaharis » Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 1:11 am

Yyou should purchase a Mcdonnel Miller RB-122-E low water cut off from a Bell & Gossett dealer and wire it in the available tapping next to the hydrostat as the first control to have power in the circuit. It has a direct water contact probe that will shut the boiler down completely in the event of a low water/no water condition.

 
User avatar
hotblast1357
Member
Posts: 5657
Joined: Mon. Mar. 10, 2014 10:06 pm
Location: Peasleeville NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1984 Eshland S260 coal gun
Coal Size/Type: Lehigh anthracite pea
Other Heating: air source heat pump, oil furnace

Post by hotblast1357 » Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 5:24 am

lzaharis wrote:
Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 1:11 am
Yyou should purchase a Mcdonnel Miller RB-122-E low water cut off from a Bell & Gossett dealer and wire it in the available tapping next to the hydrostat as the first control to have power in the circuit. It has a direct water contact probe that will shut the boiler down completely in the event of a low water/no water condition.

Jeez man if he’s going to go through all that hassle of draining the boiler he can just put in the correct well for his hydrostat and have his LWCO work and probably for a lot less money!

I swear you are a marketing rep for bell and gossett and gravity steam installers! Lol you missed your calling for sure!

 
User avatar
Rob R.
Site Moderator
Posts: 17980
Joined: Fri. Dec. 28, 2007 4:26 pm
Location: Chazy, NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Jr

Post by Rob R. » Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 5:30 am

If you have make-up water available to the boiler, I would just run it without the low water cutoff feature. The control is made to work the way you are using it - the low water feature is optional.


 
User avatar
hotblast1357
Member
Posts: 5657
Joined: Mon. Mar. 10, 2014 10:06 pm
Location: Peasleeville NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1984 Eshland S260 coal gun
Coal Size/Type: Lehigh anthracite pea
Other Heating: air source heat pump, oil furnace

Post by hotblast1357 » Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 5:35 am

Absolutely! A auto fill valve and backflow preventor installed correctly will work just fine!

 
User avatar
mooseman100
Member
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat. Mar. 05, 2011 10:31 pm
Location: winchester, va
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520

Post by mooseman100 » Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 7:02 am

Yes I have a constant water supply and a check valve in place. That is why I thought the LWCO was waste of time.

So the other questions is how many zones to put on the eco setting. As I stated I have a heat pump/AC system that is (2) zones. So an exchanger in each. I do run a plate exchanger in the house for hot water. I was going to set it at 2 zones. Seems as if it said to run it with no zones set at first and then move to a number of zones and adjust from there

 
User avatar
lsayre
Member
Posts: 21781
Joined: Wed. Nov. 23, 2005 9:17 pm
Location: Ohio
Stoker Coal Boiler: AHS S130 Coal Gun
Coal Size/Type: Lehigh Anthracite Pea
Other Heating: Resistance Boiler (13.5 KW), ComfortMax 75

Post by lsayre » Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 8:42 am

My boiler water only moves on a T-Stat heat call. Plus it doesn't move all summer for DHW only use. I have a Taco LWCO installed. No issues since I fired it up 6 years ago.

 
User avatar
Rob R.
Site Moderator
Posts: 17980
Joined: Fri. Dec. 28, 2007 4:26 pm
Location: Chazy, NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Jr

Post by Rob R. » Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 8:59 am

Start on #2 and see how it does. Set the low limit at whatever you need for the plate exchanger...probably ~160 degrees.

Larry, Taco recommends that you clean and inspect the probe after 5 years, and to replace it after 10.

 
User avatar
lsayre
Member
Posts: 21781
Joined: Wed. Nov. 23, 2005 9:17 pm
Location: Ohio
Stoker Coal Boiler: AHS S130 Coal Gun
Coal Size/Type: Lehigh Anthracite Pea
Other Heating: Resistance Boiler (13.5 KW), ComfortMax 75

Post by lsayre » Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 9:14 am

Rob R. wrote:
Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 8:59 am
Larry, Taco recommends that you clean and inspect the probe after 5 years, and to replace it after 10.
Thanks for the heads-up Rob!!! I had no idea of this. Are you talking of probe replacement, or entire unit replacement?

 
ziggy87
Member
Posts: 311
Joined: Sat. Oct. 25, 2014 11:22 am
Location: Halifax, Pa
Stoker Coal Boiler: axeman anderson 130
Coal Size/Type: Pea

Post by ziggy87 » Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 9:40 am

The reason for the lwco feature is that in some areas it is code to have a lwco on a residential system. It is nice to need to purchase an additional control. Just an FYI.

 
lzaharis
Member
Posts: 2366
Joined: Sun. Mar. 25, 2007 8:41 pm
Location: Ithaca, New York
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-4-1 dual fuel boiler
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: former switzer CWW100-sold
Coal Size/Type: rice
Other Heating: kerosene for dual fuel Keystoker/unused

Post by lzaharis » Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 11:13 am

hotblast1357 wrote:
Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 5:24 am
Jeez man if he’s going to go through all that hassle of draining the boiler he can just put in the correct well for his hydrostat and have his LWCO work and probably for a lot less money!

I swear you are a marketing rep for bell and gossett and gravity steam installers! Lol you missed your calling for sure!
===========================================================================================================


Well, I have used Bell and Gossett circulators for a long time, the first being the spring flywheel type with an oil lubrication port since 1978 when I bought this place.

I also had the correct thermocouple well with my triple aquastat installations and they both failed.

Last I heard Keystoker had at least 54 hydrostat 3250 plus units returned as bad including the two I pushed to the curb. Hydrolevel also states in its literature that their units are ment to be used with cold start boilers.

In my case my boiler blew off and nearly boiled out and scared my wife nearly to death and the stoker kept running. My wife called me when I was out of town when it happened and I told here to pull the power on the stoker and get out of the house to a safe distance and I came home immediately after she called me.

That is one reason, having a triple aquastat run properly is what we all want and a separate LWCO will only protect you and your home it does not matter which boiler a person owns.

When someone begs a boiler manufacturer to come and find out whats wrong with your boiler and they refuse to even travel to your home and the bloody dealer only sells thier brand of boilers and furnaces and does not offer service it tells you something.

When I offered to put them(keystoker) up in a hotel or motel for the night and still wants to charge you 85 dollars an hour for travel time to and from my home from Skukyl Haven Pa., that should tell you something.

If they had included a Mcdonnel & Miller RB-122-E as a low water cut off as a primary fail safe wired in first in their wiring harness to cut off all power to a boiler in the event of a low water condition I may have felt differently perhaps; but when you are standing there and watching the second Hydrolevel 3250 Plus unit run on oil with the LWCO enabled and then see that yellow LED shut itself off without "YOU" initiating the shut off of the LWCO it certainly made me both angry and discouraged and more determined to purchase mechanical boiler controls and a water conductive LWCO.

The People at Hydrolevel in Connecticut were no help and did not return my phone calls either after the second failure so.............................

If the Townley coal had been more reasonable I would have bought an AHS130 from them as they wanted 7,000.00 plus tax $7,560.00 and they do not install boilers or furnaces(they have a plumber that comes from the other side of Buffalo to do their installations. This is the case with almost all new coal boiler and furnace resellers by the way.
They sell both Keystoker and EFM boilers and their furnaces now too.

I would have simply removed the hand fed and upgraded the old boiler plumbing with the replacement circulators I installed 2 years before this and had two boilers using the oil boiler as a back up unit by simply opening and closing valves and changing flue pipes as some of us do. It would have cost me much less to do as well as the so called plumbers I hired stuck me for 35 hours of labor and sales tax. They got their blood money and I do not recommend them to anyone after they blew up my oil burner control to the tune of $150.00 from the Patriot Supply folks in Plainville, New York. I cannot say enough good about the Patriot Supply folks as they really helped me. The folks at Tribro Supply in Vestal, New York were also a big help with my purchase of B+G parts.

If I had been able to purchase the KAA-4-1 the year before in 2014 I would have had Honeywell controls and a separate LWCO
and we would not be discussing this

If I had the more room I would have chosen an EFM DF520. At that time the EFM DF520 was retailing for $9,500.00 plus tax plus delivery at the time

If I had just buckled up in 1982 and spent the extra $2000.00 dollars for a VanWert AF400 stoker boiler installation I would still have it-to this day I regret not spending the $6,000.00 for the VanWert stoker installation.


I hope I answered you adequately.

 
User avatar
Rob R.
Site Moderator
Posts: 17980
Joined: Fri. Dec. 28, 2007 4:26 pm
Location: Chazy, NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Jr

Post by Rob R. » Fri. Nov. 17, 2017 11:25 am

Leon, I respectfully disagree that the 3250 is only for cold start boilers, if it was it would not have a low limit function. You continue to disregard that other people are using these controls successfully and keep pointing back to your own experience. That is ok, but please be sure it doesn't turn into a rant. Also, as I recall your installer really screwed up the wiring on your boiler controls. I think that is just as likely to be the root cause of your overheating as the control itself. Either way, I think what happened to you is a good reminder that Regardless of what primary controls you use, a separate and dedicated high limit control is always a good idea.


Post Reply

Return to “Stoker Coal Boilers Using Anthracite (Hydronic & Steam)”