AA130 not holding fire

Coal’d Digger · Post by **Coal’d Digger** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 5:57 am

Hello stoker geniuses. It’s been a while since I posted but I check in from time to time. I’m looking for some guidance on a problem I’m having with my AA 130. I pt in service 3-4 years ago and never used a timer. It has never been a problem unless I would have a bunch of 70 degrees days in a row in early fall or spring. This year though I’ve had to rebuild my fire 6 times already. Last night when I went to bed it was in the 30s outside and I checked the fire before bed. The stoker was running and I had nice red coals and good blue flames. My wife woke me up at 2am and said the fire was out again. There was absolutely no hot coals left. What could be happening. The flue was cleaned. The cone for the cyclone is clean and the ash i have been getting looks just like it always has. I’m not noticing any Unburnt coal to indicate it’s ashing too much. . I just can’t understand how I had a nice fire a 9pm and absolutely nothing at 2am especially since it was cold outside so the stoker should have ran several times throughout the night. Could I possibly have a restriction in my fan area that is not letting me draft properly? Any help is appreciated. I’m working 12 hours today so I will try to answer any questions as time permits. Thanks.

Post by **coaledsweat** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 6:14 am

The fire may be to thin?

Coal’d Digger · Post by **Coal’d Digger** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 7:08 am

coaledsweat wrote: ↑
Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 6:14 am
The fire may be to thin?

It seems to be ok. I have a rod I put down through it to check. Its starts a few inches above the grate and comes up to where it has just a layer of fresh coal on top but I will double check again.

Post by **Rob R.** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 8:33 am

You would not be the first to have out fires with hard, low-volatile coal. Is your coal from the Hazleton area?

Coal’d Digger · Post by **Coal’d Digger** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 9:13 am

Rob R. wrote: ↑
Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 8:33 am
You would not be the first to have out fires with hard, low-volatile coal. Is your coal from the Hazleton area?

I’m not really sure. I’m on the western side of the state so it comes from a supply yard. It’s just a little troubling that it was in the 30s last night and I went from a nice looking fire with a good hot bed of coals to not even a hot coal in a few hours. Our house isn’t insulated so the stocker runs fairly often when it get chilly. If it is the coal I really don’t know what to do. I work a lot and can’t always be home to rebuild my fire. I’ve never had this problem in the past. That little stoker always was incredibly reliable. Lol

Post by **Rob R.** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 9:25 am

Check the obvious things, like making sure you have reliable draft. If the draft is good, and your fire thickness and position looks good - I would install a timer. I know most guys can get away without the timer, but there is a reason AA includes them on new machines even today.

Coal’d Digger · Post by **Coal’d Digger** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 9:41 am

Rob R. wrote: ↑
Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 9:25 am
Check the obvious things, like making sure you have reliable draft. If the draft is good, and your fire thickness and position looks good - I would install a timer. I know most guys can get away without the timer, but there is a reason AA includes them on new machines even today.

Thanks for the info. I’m going to check it out good as soon as I can get a day off.

Post by **StokerDon** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 9:52 am

If you are getting regular heat calls the fire should stay lit. I would check to see if your HI Limit aquastat is set correctly and working properly. Also check the boiler temp aquastat and make sure your pumps are actually pumping the heat out of the boiler.

I would also check the solenoid and the whole ashing mechanism. Make sure the ashing lever is only operating during an ashing cycle. Sometimes the lever can fall behind the stop causing constant ashing.

The timer probably won't help. With the big fire that an Axeman has 1 minute every hour isn't going to do much to the fire. If you run it more than that, it will just sit on the Hi Limit.

Good Luck!
-Don

Post by **Lightning** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 11:18 am

Coal’d Digger wrote: ↑
Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 5:57 am
It has never been a problem unless I would have a bunch of 70 degrees days in a row in early fall or spring.

That seems to be inline with what I see also. Just as a side note, buckwheat size seems to hold a fire better for shoulder month and summertime use if you wanna run it for DHW.

Coal’d Digger wrote: ↑
Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 5:57 am
This year though I’ve had to rebuild my fire 6 times already.

Check everything as the others have advised. If there isn't any problems, the only thing I could guess is that maybe you aren't getting the initial fire deep enough. How are you relighting your fires? Did the outfires coincide with a different batch of coal? How soon are you losing the fire after you start a new fire, within 24 hours or is it several days? I went thru a period of several consecutive outfires in the past, then I tried getting that first fire really deep and that seemed to solve the problem, until it gets really warm outside and there isn't enough heat demand. When you get a new fire started, keep heat demand on the boiler (I run hot water) to keep it firing and manually run the lever to deepen the fire. It usually takes a full hour to get a good established deep fire going.

Coal’d Digger · Post by **Coal’d Digger** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 3:58 pm

StokerDon wrote: ↑
Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 9:52 am
If you are getting regular heat calls the fire should stay lit. I would check to see if your HI Limit aquastat is set correctly and working properly. Also check the boiler temp aquastat and make sure your pumps are actually pumping the heat out of the boiler.

I would also check the solenoid and the whole ashing mechanism. Make sure the ashing lever is only operating during an ashing cycle. Sometimes the lever can fall behind the stop causing constant ashing.

The timer probably won't help. With the big fire that an Axeman has 1 minute every hour isn't going to do much to the fire. If you run it more than that, it will just sit on the Hi Limit.

Good Luck!
-Don
[/quote
Most of the time it is getting a regular call for heat. Especially last night. The fire was in nice shape when I went to bed and by 2am there was nothing. I’ve checked my aquastat and high limit and my anthrastat and solenoid. Everything appears to be in good working order. That’s why it’s so confusing. I’m going to look over everything again later this week. Thanks for replying! Sorry I quoted your whole post but I can’t figure out how to quote bits and pieces. Lol

Coal’d Digger · Post by **Coal’d Digger** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 4:06 pm

Lightning wrote: ↑
Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 11:18 am
That seems to be inline with what I see also. Just as a side note, buckwheat size seems to hold a fire better for shoulder month and summertime use if you wanna run it for DHW.

Check everything as the others have advised. If there isn't any problems, the only thing I could guess is that maybe you aren't getting the initial fire deep enough. How are you relighting your fires? Did the outfires coincide with a different batch of coal? How soon are you losing the fire after you start a new fire, within 24 hours or is it several days? I went thru a period of several consecutive outfires in the past, then I tried getting that first fire really deep and that seemed to solve the problem, until it gets really warm outside and there isn't enough heat demand. When you get a new fire started, keep heat demand on the boiler (I run hot water) to keep it firing and manually run the lever to deepen the fire. It usually takes a full hour to get a good established deep fire going.

Thanks for replying. I’m using what’s left of my coal from earlier in the summer and I can usually go a day or two. I usually remove a little coal and build the fire again but I’ve never started from scratch. I checked my fire with a dipstick (for lack of a better word) and it was hot from a few inches above the grate up to the flame viewing port so I think it should be deep enough but I will definitely try building from scratch next time. Thanks for the input. I really appreciate it.

Post by **coaledsweat** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 5:15 pm

When starting a fire in an AA, you need the fire tube half way full of ash to start.

Coal’d Digger · Post by **Coal’d Digger** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 8:11 pm

coaledsweat wrote: ↑
Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 5:15 pm
When starting a fire in an AA, you need the fire tube half way full of ash to start.

Ok. I built an entire new fire tonight and I put ash back in before I started. I guess I’ll see what happens.

Post by **StokerDon** » Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 9:31 pm

Coal’d Digger wrote: ↑
Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 8:11 pm
Ok. I built an entire new fire tonight and I put ash back in before I started. I guess I’ll see what happens.

You've got to put a good load on it when you first start the fire. Let the house get cold, get a couple loads of laundry going, do some dishes and maybe wash the truck. It has to run for a good hour strait, 2 hours is better.

-Don

Coal’d Digger · Post by **Coal’d Digger** » Mon. Oct. 31, 2022 3:32 am

StokerDon wrote: ↑
Sun. Oct. 30, 2022 9:31 pm
You've got to put a good load on it when you first start the fire. Let the house get cold, get a couple loads of laundry going, do some dishes and maybe wash the truck. It has to run for a good hour strait, 2 hours is better.

-Don

We put the A/C unit on in the house.

The stoker ran for an hour and a half. Lol