The Allen stoker

I just tune my stove to have a 1.5 to 2" ashring and that normally lets my steam system work properly.
I have always been running 4 teeth feed for the last 3 years. I just adjust the air to what the current coal I'm burning needs to achieve the desired ash ring size.

Current pictures of the fire from noon today this load of sherman takes less air. Knocked it back to only 1/2 in open.

A week has gone by I got the fire tuned in to where it runs good I'm still getting some fines in the front of the pot so I had to open the air up a bit. I may try some rice to see if it does better once the bin gets lower. Otherwise she is running good here are some pictures.

Isaac , the Allen's like to burn with power . A EFM 520 in your boiler would have a stack temp of around 350 deg , the Allen wants to run around 450 deg stack temp in the same place . Like a larger tip on a torch head , it needs more fuel and more oxygen to achieve its potential.

Rake the fire away from the dead spot in the pot, and let the fan push the fines out , then rake the lit coal back into the void . If that doesn't work there is someting that needs to be cleared so a full , equally lit pot can be achieved.

Or there is a leak. and the forced air pressure is going into a place that is not helping the fire .

This must be why EFM took a unique designee change when they built their pot as it's done .

That makes sense Dave. I think when I stacked the rings there is less of an air gap in the front. If I loosen up the top ring and rotate some of the stack I may be able to get it to burn properly.

All the rings warp a bit. It just is what it is . I shuffled them around , until they nested in well as a stack .

yes they do there is no way around it. I have about 3 sets of pot rings. 2 of the sets are in good shape the one is pretty well burned up but some are usable. If I feel like tinkering I could pick and pull rings to make a good stack.

Dave 1234 wrote: ↑

Mon. Jan. 16, 2023 10:25 pm

This must be why EFM took a unique designee change when they built their pot as it's done .

Even with those there is enough variability that you need to spend some time shuffling the plates around to get the best fit.

Rob R. wrote: ↑

Tue. Jan. 17, 2023 4:42 pm

Even with those there is enough variability that you need to spend some time shuffling the plates around to get the best fit.

That's the way it goes with cast iron parts. They are all close but none are perfect.

Rob R. wrote: ↑

Tue. Jan. 17, 2023 4:42 pm

Even with those there is enough variability that you need to spend some time shuffling the plates around to get the best fit.

Rob , true story ! And its worth the time to put the plates in as a nice fit . Makes for a good fire .

It must have been more important with the hi-output stokers . The bigger units have tye bolts halfway down the plate , or leaf , to keep them true to each other .

I know you have seen them , but maybe others have not .

The Allen has been running trouble free for a whole month since the rebuild. I am still having some issues with getting the whole pot to burn. I have a few ideas on to why this may be and I plan on addressing them soon.
1- I believe it is a fines issue, The buck from Sherman seems to be on the larger side and it my be getting crushed in the feed tube. I may try some rice once i can get the barrel in the bin.

2- I have 3.5 flights sticking out in the bin, I may swap out the bin tube to a longer on so I only have 1.5 - 2 flight sticking in the bin once the gopher digs the bin out enough.

3- The pot auger may be to deep in the gooseneck, If it is I could trim it back some to see if that helps.

4- The pot rings may need to be clocked different to allow more air travel in the front end of the pot. ( I was rushing on the day i did the swap and did not pay much attention to this. Haste makes waste)

These are all speculations but I have noticed with the refresh the boiler definitely seems to handle the heat load a lot better and does not seem to run as much as before. I haven't had to run the MCC since the refresh so I did something right!

If the last flight of the auger extends more than a third of the distance into the gooseneck it piles to much of the fresh coal to the rear of the pot.

When it warms up again, let the fire die , vacume out the pot , and hand crank in about 6 turns. You will see the fresh coal being shoved to the back side . (if the auger is to deep) The burn can't overcome that imbalance of extra fuel heavily favored to one corner of the pot, so it makes a lopsided fire .

Dave 1234 wrote: ↑

Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 9:14 pm

If the last flight of the auger extends more than a third of the distance into the gooseneck it piles to much of the fresh coal to the rear of the pot.

When it warms up again, let the fire die , vacume out the pot , and hand crank in about 6 turns. You will see the fresh coal being shoved to the back side . (if the auger is to deep) The burn can't overcome that imbalance of extra fuel heavily favored to one corner of the pot, so it makes a lopsided fire .

That's kind of what I was thinking, I have about 85% of the pot burning properly and I'm not getting much black in the ash. Its working well enough for me to keep it going until it warms up but i plan on checking it out once it warms up a bit.

Wish I had known the reasons that EFM spun their pot on the larger units when I started this . Those seam to solve all the issues .

But , its still fun. This very old house sits by a hay field with no wind break and it heats to 74 degs most days in the winter with 6 grain scoops of coal . So thats a score .

Snapped some pictures of my ash today. The sherman buck is burning good.