Putting my AA130 to use

For summer I had excellent results running a very tight differential of only 1 degree and used buckwheat. I did that for almost a month before I had to have my bin filled with pea size due to market chaos. Once pea size got into the burn chamber I lost the fire.

By summertime I'll be getting back into the buckwheat at the bottom of my bin for DHW.

Good cause I got a good 4 ton of buck still. Also is it an appropriate time to take a dipstick test when the anthrastat is satisfied, the grate is all the way front and the boiler has ran for a good 10+ minutes? Is fire depth more about burn efficiency or maintaining a big enough fire to keep things peppy?

For the Dip-Stick test 30 to 45 minutes of run time would be better. 10 minutes is barely enough time to get the fire going. Also, is your rod strait, or did you put a 90* in it? If its strait you are pushing it into the fire at an angle which will skew the depth reading.

The fire depth is the Horse Power of the boiler. If it gets shallow the boiler won't heat the house under full load.

-Don

StokerDon wrote: ↑

Sat. Jan. 14, 2023 10:50 am

For the Dip-Stick test 30 to 45 minutes of run time would be better. 10 minutes is barely enough time to get the fire going. Also, is your rod strait, or did you put a 90* in it? If its strait you are pushing it into the fire at an angle which will skew the depth reading.

The fire depth is the Horse Power of the boiler. If it gets shallow the boiler won't heat the house under full load.

-Don

Yes, 90 degrees, thanks Don! Found out my ashing mechanism is really sloppy and needs fixed, I've had the ashing set at two clicks but due to the slop I think it's not able to go at that rate. Have you ever had this assmbley apart? To me it looks like once they weld on the cogged wheel it's all permanent!

There will be slop. I have mine set at 2 clicks but sometimes it only grabs 1 tooth. Don't get too obsessed over it unless it's not ashing at all.

That's why you shouldn't set it to 1 click, because if it grabs zero clicks on its way around it won't go further and the ashing will stop.

Just set it to 2 clicks with the exception of 1 click for part of the cog rotation. If it's too fast the anthrastat will halt the ashing.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Fri. Jan. 20, 2023 5:16 pm

There will be slop. I have mine set at 2 clicks but sometimes it only grabs 1 tooth. Don't get too obsessed over it unless it's not ashing at all.

not slop in the external part, the internal where the shaft rides in the mounting bracket, there's about an eight inch of play and the cogged wheel is able to float around enough to where it's biting into the base. Would I be wrong in saying it's better to over ash than underash? The anth should help in the case of overashing?

That is correct. If ashing is on the fast side the anthrastat will halt it during the combustion run.

There only needs to be enough space between the bolts of the hanger for it to make the proper angles for it to seal.

Below are pics of the hanger bolts. Also pics of the flapper at idle, and while it's pulled shut. I have a glass flapper.

Although the design genius, the mechanisms that make it work are pretty uncomplicated. So there is room for variances and play. I think of it as simply genius lol.

Thanks for the pick. I know it may sound like I lack common sense, reality is one puffback and I might be lacking a happy wife.. I'll do anything to keep Willy wonkas contraption in my house!

Retro_Origin wrote: ↑

Fri. Jan. 20, 2023 5:11 pm

Yes, 90 degrees, thanks Don! Found out my ashing mechanism is really sloppy and needs fixed, I've had the ashing set at two clicks but due to the slop I think it's not able to go at that rate. Have you ever had this assmbley apart? To me it looks like once they weld on the cogged wheel it's all permanent!

Unless the bushings that the ashing shaft ride on have been replace, that are all slopy being that old. It doesn't really matter though, 2 teeth is 2 teeth. The only difference is when they're old and slopy you probably can't get it to 5 teeth anymore. Luckily, none of us need 5 teeth.

To replace the bushings you have to un do the clamp bolt that holds the crank on the end of the ashing shaft. Then remove the bolts that hold the ashing shaft bushings to the front of the base. Then you should be able to slide the bushings off and pull the shaft out of the base with the ashing gear on it.

This is one of those things that sounds easy but the reality is every one of those bolts is going to break!

That's why they never get replaced

-Don.

Also, your fire door is one of the early thin ones like mine. These work differently that the later thick, heavy fire doors. That bend at the top allows the hanger to "Walk Back" as the door swings open. This allows you to adjust it to be more open at idle. It looks like your hanger doesn't have that bend at the top. -Don

Don, how would five teeth even burn fast enough since the fan can't be sped up? Wouldn't the anthra always be stopping the ashing? furthermore! I have first results from my new favorite stoker! In a 48 hour period from Saturday evening till today with temps staying between 28-38 and some mild winds, domestic hot water, upstairs at 70 via baseboard and downstairs at 71-73 via radiant floor, my usage was 138 lbs with 21 lbs of ash, with some unburnt still. Pretty happy with this! Room for improvement but this is currently better than my usage with the keystroker by a few lbs and decently better ash, and not so much heat shed into the basement. This is much better than last year when I only had one thermostat and the whole house was baseboard before I added the radiant this summer. Overall im very happy with this and look forward to seeing the results if we would finally get some cold weather!

So things are running well for me, but maybe have some unfavorable occurrences. I feel like my fire is on the high side, while running it gets pretty well covered in fresh stuff but when idling it kind of makes a little orange home directly beneath the transfer head opening. Is this a sign of too much draft or totally fine? Wondering if I need to put my baro In, internal stack temp idles around 150 right above popes hat