This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

1

Central Boiler / Re: Leaving for winter how to leave boiler?

« on: November 01, 2018, 07:18:34 PM »

Not sure how cold it gets where you are, but I wait til after thanksgiving to light mine. Sometimes I get low temps in high teens at night and highs around 30-35 in the day for 2 or 3 days in mid November. I would get nervous so I would turn the boiler on to check water temp and water temp read 48*. I did plug the circulator in at the end of October
My boiler is 100 feet from house and pipe is buried 2.5 feet deep

2

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: what happened???

« on: March 17, 2018, 05:43:46 PM »

I’m fairly new to this site and I still check in weekly. I too enjoy this site.
I frequent a maple forum that is hammering with activity this time of year and then drops off in the summer months

3

Central Boiler / Re: e classic 1400 has trickle of smoke

« on: January 21, 2018, 05:03:48 PM »

Well I finally got the new stainless secondary elbow installed and it still has an air leak. The original one was starting to corrode. I really thought that would’ve done the trick. So I gave the boiler a cleaning while it was off and I’ll just run it for the remainder of the season and change the firebox door gasket in the summer.

One thing I did notice is the factory cut on the new elbow where the solenoid plate makes contact was not perfectly flat. I could see daylight through it. I spent some time filing it so it sits flat now

4

Central Boiler / Re: e classic 1400 has trickle of smoke

« on: January 19, 2018, 08:01:41 PM »

Hello everyone, this is my first post.
So I have an e-classic 1400 that I bought new in 2010 and for the most part has been working great. This season I noticed a trickle of smoke from the chimney when it’s not running. Never did this before. When I open the firebox door I get blasted with so much thick white smoke. Again never did this before.  The coals are glowing around the hole in the bottom and hollowing out the coal bed. So I’m assuming I have an air leak in the secondary air tube. I’ve checked the elbows and rubber hose and they look good, and the disc on top of the elbow is fine also. I pulled the refractory target and metal box out and everything looks great (I have installed the updated refractory that eliminates the 3 metal rods). Also replaced the firebox door gasket, reaction chamber door gasket and bypass door gasket.
Now to the creasote. The box the houses the solenoids is caked with creasote, so bad that it’s very difficult to open the door. The primary elbow and tube was almost half full of soft tar with some watery creasote. The secondary air tube had a little creasote but was of a drier form.

As far as performance, I can get reaction temps that average 1200-1400, and it gets there quickly. I’ve seen it as high as 1540 this year.
My wood is two years seasoned and all hardwood and load every 12hrs.
Anyone have any ideas on this air leak?
Sorry for being so long, but wanted to give as much info as I could

Thank you
Mike

Mike,
Where you located, Mike? 

Roger

Where are you located Roger?

5

Central Boiler / Re: e classic 1400 has trickle of smoke

« on: January 19, 2018, 07:52:06 PM »

Just got home from work, we’ve been real busy so I haven’t had time to do anything with the boiler. Have to work for a few hours tomorrow morning then after that I plan on changing out the secondary elbow. I’m not feeding the boiler full tonight so that I can give it a full cleaning tomorrow.
When I ordered the the new stainless elbow I forgot to order the stainless disc, so I’ll have to fab something. Totally spaced it.
Anyway, thank you all for your advice
I will keep you all informed with my results

Thanks,
Mike

6

Central Boiler / Re: e classic 1400 has trickle of smoke

« on: January 17, 2018, 04:15:58 AM »

Well I got the secondary stainless elbow last night. Got home too late last night so couldn’t install, will try tonight.

Mike
That sounds  very much like one of your solenoids is stuck open.  Mine were intermittent, because of the amount of ash and creosote blown back into the cabinet.  When it's doing that, but not in demand or pulse mode, open that back cabinet door and look at both valves.  If you can slide a matchbook cover (geez, showing my age!) under either one, it's trouble.  If either one is hung up, or resting on a chunk of creosote on the edge of the tube, you've got to get that sorted out.  If that's not it, you've got some other air leak.

When I install new elbow I’ll clean both eblow and disc on primary to make sure it seats good

The worse thing about air leaks is sometimes they are not obvious.  Keep us posted when you find it, it will be interesting to know. 

Earlier you commented that you're removing about a shovel or 2 of ash/coal from the firebox everyday. What kind of wood are burning?  I put in a mix species of hardwood in varying sizes from 4 to 8 and sometimes 10 inches in diameter cut to 20 inches long.  Depending on outdoor temp, I've been putting about 8 to 10 pieces for a 12 hour burn.  I've had days when I had to wait 14 hours before adding wood for the night due to overfilling it in the morning.  Roger     

Mostly beech and white and yellow birch very little oak. I do have a small saw mill so I toss in a pine slab here and there.
Do you think I’m removing too much ash? I try to keep the ash depth to a minimum but maybe too low.
I load about the same amount of wood as you depending on outdoor temp. Sometimes I’m way offf on judging how much wood to put in.

I would also check to be sure the damper covers are dropping and resting flush on the primary and secondary elbows in the air box. I'd also check to me sure the bypass hatch in back of firebox is sealing well when closed. If creosote has built up around opening and it is not shutting tight that would provide air to feed the coals and also an opening for small stream of smoke to draw out the chimney. There is also a rope seal on that bypass opening that could be deteriorated allowing air passage? The owners manual shows it and how to change it out if necessary.

I did replace the bypass door gasket in November but have no clue how to check if it’s leaking air.  It was badly deteriorated

7

Central Boiler / Re: e classic 1400 has trickle of smoke

« on: January 15, 2018, 07:16:16 PM »

Welcome Mike,

Small world- I live in Holderness.  I have a 2009-2300 that has the same upgrades as yours. Anytime I’ve run into the problems your having, it’s been either the firebox door gasket leaking, pulse timer running too often or a hole in the intake elbow. Air is getting in somewhere.
Hope this helps. Good luck!

Hockeyguy, yah it’s a small world! You’re real close

Got home from work tonight and saw a steady stream of smoke coming from chimney, and the water temp was 194. My settings are 188-183.  Went out at 9:00 to load it for the night and water temp was at 196 and after loading it was in high limit at 201. Turned up the thermostat to draw some heat out of boiler and will check before I go to bed.
This thing has been weird lately.

I am expecting delivery of a new secondary stainless elbow tomorrow so I will install and see what happens. If that doesn’t work then I’ll try a new door gasket and play around with different pulse timer settings.
Wish me luck

8

Central Boiler / Re: e classic 1400 has trickle of smoke

« on: January 14, 2018, 08:23:24 AM »

a couple of times I've heard a 'woof' when the furnace does a pulse, in between demands. I suspect what's happening is an accumulation of combustible gas in the firebox is suddenly mixed with a load of fresh air, and the available wood coals suddenly ignites the mix, resulting in a minor blast in the furnace which pushes 'stuff' back to the electrical box.
Blair

I’ve had this exact thing happen multiple times, so when I added the upgraded stainless steel elbow I also added the spring hoping that it would eliminate it.  Apparently that did not work.

Roger,
Everyday I take a shovel full or two of ash out of firebox. The first couple of years I had way too much ash/coal bed and the holes in firebox were getting plugged. Plus removing the old refractory lowered the depth making the holes more exposed and less plugged.
The smoke does diminish after 5-7 minutes. It’s the most noticeable after the first idle cycle after a full burn cycle, if that makes sense.
The firebox door gasket appears to be in good order with no leaks. I do have a little corrosion starting in the lower left corner of door opening. Doesn’t seem to be getting any bigger. No creosote running past the gasket.

One thing to check is if one of the solenoids that open the air damper discs on the elbows is sticking open, maybe intermittently.  That could allow some air in to create draft to cause the smoke and also let smoke / creosote into the control box.

Heaterwood,
I do not believe the solenoids are stuck open as that would lead to a runaway fire. Not to say it hasn’t happened because it has. Thankfully it was on a weekend and my keen eye caught it before it overheated. I find myself always looking at the boiler through the window to see how it’s working. Guess I’m kinda weird like that

9

Central Boiler / Re: e classic 1400 has trickle of smoke

« on: January 13, 2018, 05:47:46 AM »

I forgot to mention that the water temp will remain almost constant, or drop slowly, like 1degree per hour until it gets the surge of cold water from the return line, then it drops fast. It has overheated twice this season, temp was 202 and once last season where the firebox door didn’t close right and it read 222.
It also had 2 air channels that were cracked at the end of last season.  It’s going to have to get some surgery this summer.  It’s too bad that Cental Boiler doesn’t make an air channel kit for the 1400’s

Roger, I’m on River Rd in Bridgewater

10

Central Boiler / e classic 1400 has trickle of smoke

« on: January 12, 2018, 07:07:04 PM »

Hello everyone, this is my first post.
So I have an e-classic 1400 that I bought new in 2010 and for the most part has been working great. This season I noticed a trickle of smoke from the chimney when it’s not running. Never did this before. When I open the firebox door I get blasted with so much thick white smoke. Again never did this before.  The coals are glowing around the hole in the bottom and hollowing out the coal bed. So I’m assuming I have an air leak in the secondary air tube. I’ve checked the elbows and rubber hose and they look good, and the disc on top of the elbow is fine also. I pulled the refractory target and metal box out and everything looks great (I have installed the updated refractory that eliminates the 3 metal rods). Also replaced the firebox door gasket, reaction chamber door gasket and bypass door gasket.
Now to the creasote. The box the houses the solenoids is caked with creasote, so bad that it’s very difficult to open the door. The primary elbow and tube was almost half full of soft tar with some watery creasote. The secondary air tube had a little creasote but was of a drier form.

As far as performance, I can get reaction temps that average 1200-1400, and it gets there quickly. I’ve seen it as high as 1540 this year.
My wood is two years seasoned and all hardwood and load every 12hrs.
Anyone have any ideas on this air leak?
Sorry for being so long, but wanted to give as much info as I could

Thank you
Mike