Axeman Anderson 260-M adventures!

Leave it alone lol

MINO wrote: ↑

Tue. Nov. 29, 2022 10:15 am

i watched your youtube video and watched your stack temp get up pretty high as well as stoker dons with a aa130 im only at fully burn hitting 250-260 so that raises more questions for me.....

Where and how are you taking that measurement? Is that the exterior stove pipe temp or do you have a probe that gets into the exhaust stream? My AA 130's exhaust stream right at the breech of the boiler will hit over 400 degrees on a long combustion call.

swyman wrote: ↑

Tue. Nov. 29, 2022 9:13 am

Well in one of his last responses he is thinking about switching to Buck sized coal, reason being that he doesn't need full output of what these boilers are capable of providing and I'm in the same category.

I ran some buck size in the summer for DHW only and I can tell you that I got a more complete burn with buck size for lower heat demand conditions. Proof was in the numbers. Using pea size, as the weather got milder in the spring, the percentage of unburned in the ashes rose up to around 15% ash vs coal used, which is still very good.. Then once I changed over to buck size it dropped back down to 10-11% ash vs coal used..

If you really want to know what percentage you are getting it should be measured. I think looks can be deceiving..

Lightning wrote: ↑

Tue. Nov. 29, 2022 3:21 pm

I ran some buck size in the summer for DHW only and I can tell you that I got a more complete burn with buck size for lower heat demand conditions. Proof was in the numbers. Using pea size, as the weather got milder in the spring, the percentage of unburned in the ashes rose up to around 15% ash vs coal used, which is still very good.. Then once I changed over to buck size it dropped back down to 10-11% ash vs coal used..

If you really want to know what percentage you are getting it should be measured. I think looks can be deceiving..

Just read the US Bureau of Mines report on the Anthratube. It says the same thing and has all the data.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Tue. Nov. 29, 2022 3:12 pm

Where and how are you taking that measurement? Is that the exterior stove pipe temp or do you have a probe that gets into the exhaust stream? My AA 130's exhaust stream right at the breech of the boiler will hit over 400 degrees on a long combustion call.

I have one before and after damper…. First one is 12 inches from outlet of boil and one 12 inches away from damper but after

MINO wrote: ↑

Tue. Nov. 29, 2022 4:23 pm

I have one before and after damper…. First one is 12 inches from outlet of boil and one 12 inches away from damper but after

OK... but what I was wondering is do you have a probe in the pipe measuring the flue gases? or are you measuring the stove pipe itself.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Tue. Nov. 29, 2022 4:35 pm

OK... but what I was wondering is do you have a probe in the pipe measuring the flue gases? or are you measuring the stove pipe itself.

Probe in pipe

MINO wrote: ↑

Tue. Nov. 29, 2022 4:23 pm

and one 12 inches away from damper but after

The probe after the damper won't give you any useful data. It is variably mixed with room air according to your chimney draft strength.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Tue. Nov. 29, 2022 4:41 pm

The probe after the damper won't give you any useful data. It is variably mixed with room air according to your chimney draft strength.

I know… but I want to see later tonight while it’s calm what temps are for both to use it as a control for temps when the wind comes to see if the heavy wind pulls on the chimney … 12 bucks on Amazon

MOZZ brought up an old post from FLyer5 about his AA130 and they talked about fire depth and ashing clicks. In my quest to try and get a more complete burned ash, what can I expect if I moved to 1 click vs 2-3? I have always had the impression to get a better burn, you just adjust the ashing temp? I have never touched the slider but am wondering if I should tinker with it. I really have not messed with this boiler at all other than adjusting ashing temp so I still am pretty clueless of the ins and outs of these boilers other than they are incredible. Could any of you give me any insight of the balance between ashing speed and ashing temp? Oh one other note, I have 2 Inkbirds like StokerDon had setup, one for ash and one for stack temp. Right now I'm jsut monitoring stack temp but could I benefit from hooking up the stack temp to bring the fire temp up before I start ashing? Right now when I get a heat call it will start ashing as soon as the boiler starts. Just a thought?

swyman wrote: ↑

Mon. Dec. 05, 2022 10:23 am

MOZZ brought up an old post from FLyer5 about his AA130 and they talked about fire depth and ashing clicks. In my quest to try and get a more complete burned ash, what can I expect if I moved to 1 click vs 2-3? I have always had the impression to get a better burn, you just adjust the ashing temp? I have never touched the slider but am wondering if I should tinker with it. I really have not messed with this boiler at all other than adjusting ashing temp so I still am pretty clueless of the ins and outs of these boilers other than they are incredible. Could any of you give me any insight of the balance between ashing speed and ashing temp? Oh one other note, I have 2 Inkbirds like StokerDon had setup, one for ash and one for stack temp. Right now I'm jsut monitoring stack temp but could I benefit from hooking up the stack temp to bring the fire temp up before I start ashing? Right now when I get a heat call it will start ashing as soon as the boiler starts. Just a thought?

Don't know if the 260 size is different from the 130, but...If it start ashing as soon as the boiler starts on a heat call 100% of the time then that's likely the wiring not right...and NOT the effect of any setting you are tweaking,

What control STOPS the ashing cycle now??

Hmmm... There should be a delay from when the combustion fan starts to when the solenoid engages to start ashing. During idle, my Axe's ashing temperature will creep up to the mid 130s. Then when the combustion fan kicks on it pulls cool air into the ash cabinet and then the ashing temperature will fall under its set point. I have mine set at 110 degrees. Below is a picture during an idle period.

If I have a long combustion call due to one of the kids taking a 30 minute shower, the ashing temperature will first fall under the set point and then start to creep up as the ash sled gets hot. Once it surpasses the set point, it halts the ashing while the fan is STILL running... This is how it was designed to behave.

I agree with the others, you should not be ashing immediately, my ashing temp will hover at around 115-130 when boiler is sleeping, then fan comes on, shortly after, maybe 5 minutes, the ash temp has dropped enough to initiate ashing, but unlike others my ashing has never satisfied while the fan is running, which I contribute to having a grossly oversized 260.

McGiever wrote: ↑

Mon. Dec. 05, 2022 11:22 am

Don't know if the 260 size is different from the 130, but...If it start ashing as soon as the boiler starts on a heat call 100% of the time then that's likely the wiring not right...and NOT the effect of any setting you are tweaking,

What control STOPS the ashing cycle now??

I have an Inkbird controller running the ashing. Right now it's set to stop ashing at 146 degrees. I think there is an issue now that I have read through this and the other guys responses then going on my youtube channel and watching my video from a heat call. In the video my boiler was about ready to turn on and the ash temp was reading 172 degrees. I cannot give you a reading till I get home from work but now just before the boiler fires up the ash temp probe goes the opposite way and falls well below the shut off setpoint. So when the boiler starts a heat cycle the solenoid cycles the second it turns on. This has to be my problem but what is causing this? To note: in the video my ashing temp was set to 122 degrees and I believe I went lower to 118. At some point late into last season I had to raise the ashing temp as my fire was all on top and not very deep. I did a complete teardown and cleaning before I fired it, need to solve this problem, please help!

hotblast1357 wrote: ↑

Mon. Dec. 05, 2022 7:04 pm

I agree with the others, you should not be ashing immediately, my ashing temp will hover at around 115-130 when boiler is sleeping, then fan comes on, shortly after, maybe 5 minutes, the ash temp has dropped enough to initiate ashing, but unlike others my ashing has never satisfied while the fan is running, which I contribute to having a grossly oversized 260.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Mon. Dec. 05, 2022 1:25 pm

Hmmm... There should be a delay from when the combustion fan starts to when the solenoid engages to start ashing. During idle, my Axe's ashing temperature will creep up to the mid 130s. Then when the combustion fan kicks on it pulls cool air into the ash cabinet and then the ashing temperature will fall under its set point. I have mine set at 110 degrees. Below is a picture during an idle period.

If I have a long combustion call due to one of the kids taking a 30 minute shower, the ashing temperature will first fall under the set point and then start to creep up as the ash sled gets hot. Once it surpasses the set point, it halts the ashing while the fan is STILL running... This is how it was designed to behave.

Man am I glad I brought this up because this is definitely my problem. As you all have mentioned this is NOT how the boiler should be working and you're right.... and I missed it. I went to my youtube channel and I took a video of a full heat cycle last year and it worked (then) just as you described. Heck the ashing temp was even a 172 degrees the same as Lee's just before the boiler started. Right now the ash temp before a boiler start goes way down below 120 degrees I believe, will get exact temps when I get home. So my boiler is running the opposite it should and I have no idea what caused it and more importantly..... how do I fix it? I did a total teardown and cleanup just before startup this year and everything is as it should be minus getting all that black coated fines out of the swirl chamber but that would not cause this I wouldn't think? HELP!
NOTES: My cycle times are about the same, I don't get the kettling at the end of a heat call I used too, and I notice a lot of very fine like "baby powder" on the floor around the ash pan that is a light brown color. My draft is still very good all the time and consistent.