AHS130 hopper issue

 
Trumpeterb
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Post by Trumpeterb » Tue. Nov. 29, 2022 10:01 pm

I have now experienced this four times this fall — the coal is getting stuck/jammed in the feed tube where the hopper empties into the burn chamber on my coal gun. The coal in the burn chamber burns down and no new coal is falling onto the fire. I needed to use a pipe to poke at the coal and unjam it, allowing it to fall.

A few nights ago this happened, and after the coal burned down significantly, the jam cleared in its own, filling the burn chamber with fresh coal, and the timing was such that the fan shut off soon after, leading to a huge (and the first ever) puff back I have experienced in 3-4 years. Scared the crap out of me.

Anyone know why this might be happening? I have never had coal get stuck in the hopper like this before. The load of coal I am burning is from the same supplier I have always used, and it doesn’t seem to be larger than normal, although maybe it is. Thoughts?


 
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Post by MINO » Wed. Nov. 30, 2022 12:15 am

You have square or round hopper? Is it damp or all dry? Let it get low before filling and scrape the sides down you might have a bunch of fines piled up in there that ya can’t see and binding it up…

 
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Post by McGiever » Thu. Dec. 01, 2022 10:33 am

Loading Wet coal is one thing that can cause this to happen.

If a unavoidable issue one could adapt a BBQ rotisserie rod across the throat to turn with some interval…

 
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Post by Trumpeterb » Thu. Dec. 01, 2022 11:02 am

Round hopper. Coal has been mostly dry. It happened again last evening. I am allowing it to run out and am going to remove the hopper and clean out the feed tube. We shall sure if that works.

 
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Post by MINO » Thu. Dec. 01, 2022 8:42 pm

Trumpeterb wrote:
Thu. Dec. 01, 2022 11:02 am
Round hopper. Coal has been mostly dry. It happened again last evening. I am allowing it to run out and am going to remove the hopper and clean out the feed tube. We shall sure if that works.
How did ya make out?

 
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Post by Trumpeterb » Thu. Dec. 01, 2022 8:49 pm

MINO wrote:
Thu. Dec. 01, 2022 8:42 pm
How did ya make out?
Still waiting for the rest of the coal to be burned out. My guess is Saturday at the earliest.

 
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Post by MINO » Thu. Dec. 01, 2022 9:17 pm

Trumpeterb wrote:
Thu. Dec. 01, 2022 8:49 pm
Still waiting for the rest of the coal to be burned out. My guess is Saturday at the earliest.
Keep us posted


 
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Post by Jkohanski » Thu. Dec. 01, 2022 10:35 pm

Well i cant think of any simple cause for this. My ahs has never done this, even with wet coal. Mine is fed with an auger, which might be breaking up any clumps before dropping in hopper. Still something is causing the coal to jam or bridge. How is your fire height?

 
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Post by Trumpeterb » Thu. Dec. 01, 2022 10:48 pm

Jkohanski wrote:
Thu. Dec. 01, 2022 10:35 pm
Well i cant think of any simple cause for this. My ahs has never done this, even with wet coal. Mine is fed with an auger, which might be breaking up any clumps before dropping in hopper. Still something is causing the coal to jam or bridge. How is your fire height?
Fire height seems normal….nothing out of the ordinary. Still using the same settings I have for the last 4 years without issue.

 
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Post by Dudest » Fri. Dec. 02, 2022 6:36 am

I load mine with wet coal every day never had a problem. I also have the round hopper. I use 40 lb bags lehigh.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Fri. Dec. 02, 2022 7:07 am

Is the hopper rusty or rough inside?

 
Trumpeterb
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Post by Trumpeterb » Fri. Dec. 02, 2022 7:45 am

Rob R. wrote:
Fri. Dec. 02, 2022 7:07 am
Is the hopper rusty or rough inside?
No, not that I can see anyway. Once I get it off I plan to clean it really well inside, so I will have a better idea of all of that then. The only things I can think of that I can think of that may have cause this are:

—maybe there was a stick or some other foreign object hidden in the coal and it became lodged in the bottom of the hopper

—maybe this load of coal (bulk bought new in September) has some uncharacteristically large pieces that keep jamming the tune opening

—I coat the inside of the boiler with fluid film over the summer to prevent corrosion…perhaps there is a buildup of this in the tube that didn’t burn off but instead attracted fines to stick, possibly causing it to jam. If this is the case, a wire brush should take care of it.

—and the least likely, maybe it got too hot and deformed the opening of the tube at some point.

I will know more in a day or so.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Fri. Dec. 02, 2022 8:09 am

Fluid film can get tacky as it dries, especially if caked with fines. I would removed the hopper and clean it really well.

 
Trumpeterb
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Post by Trumpeterb » Sat. Dec. 03, 2022 11:39 am

Hopper is almost empty now, and I checked it. This is what I found. Now, I don’t know if the burned coal at the bottom happens recently, as the hopper drained, or if it happens a while back and caused this issue, but regardless, I think I need to raise my asking temperature a bit to try and keep the fire a bit lower. Cleaning it all out, cleaning the asking tray to make sure I don’t have clinkers there, and trying again. Hopefully that all fixes the issue

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MINO
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Post by MINO » Sat. Dec. 03, 2022 11:55 am

Trumpeterb wrote:
Sat. Dec. 03, 2022 11:39 am
Hopper is almost empty now, and I checked it. This is what I found. Now, I don’t know if the burned coal at the bottom happens recently, as the hopper drained, or if it happens a while back and caused this issue, but regardless, I think I need to raise my asking temperature a bit to try and keep the fire a bit lower. Cleaning it all out, cleaning the asking tray to make sure I don’t have clinkers there, and trying again. Hopefully that all fixes the issue
do you have a heat switch on the hopper?? What are your settings ? I just went thru same ordeal minus the hopper fire to find out it was the coal I was burning…. But stuff I did dialed it in pretty good…


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