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[juddspaintballs]

This has been loosely discussed in the coal burning thread, and I figured it was time for it's own thread. 

 

My Heatmor has been boiling over recently.  This occurred first as I had 80 lbs of anthracite burning in the OWB.  I figured that 80 lbs of coal was too much to cool down once the blower kicked off, and that just pushed the water temps too high.  I let the coal burn off and loaded up with just wood and it did the same thing as soon as I turned my back on it.  I attributed it to the 3 straight days of 35-50 MPH winds "sucking" the blower's close off flap open via natural draft.

Well, it boiled over on me again tonight after 2 days of running fine.  Perfectly calm day, full load of wood, high 30's outside.  The high temperature safety shutoff had already killed all power to the unit.  I went inside and filled up the boiler really quickly (took a good amount of water!!) and then filled the water bladder up halfway like it's supposed to be.  The blower was off and the firebox door had been closed for at least 10 minutes before I opened it up.  I had a ROARING fire in the fire box.  I closed the firebox door and threw a board over the chimney.  About 10 seconds later I had a bunch of smoke coming out of the blower.  I took the blower unit off very carefully and I caught the problem red handed.  The flapper door had gotten enough creosote built up on the hinge that it stuck open.  I had kind of cleaned it up about 4 days ago when I first suspected that door to be an issue, but I didn't really clean it hard.  A little bump and the flapper closed on it's own. 

So, I cleaned the whole hinge area up with a wire brush tonight making sure it was all shiny metal before I put it back into the unit.  Thus, I've found my problem. 

Now, a solution??

How do I make it so the door is forced shut when the blower is off?  Attached are a couple of pictures of the construction of the unit and how it goes into the boiler. 

[mober]

easy!
put a damper on the intake side (made out of round sheet metal and solenoid) to shut the air going into the blower and this damper wont be getting dirty or getting stuck,or you can just put the blower in a box just like willie did....i know he has some pictures of it.

[juddspaintballs]

The motor can still suck air through it even if the intake side of the blower is dampened.  A box around the blower...now there's an idea.

[willieG]

my blower is not in the box...the damper is in the box that is opened by the solenoid and the blower is outside the box i will see if i still have a phot of it around and post it again

[Scott7m]

Just have to somehow rig a way that it can only get air when the fan is on.  A solenoid operated baffle on a box or something. 

I'd definitely fix it though.  It's not good the way it is now.

[juddspaintballs]

Since the blower is between the outer shell and the boiler face, I could easily build a box around the blower with an electrically closed door on it. 

Where can I get a 120v thingy to open/close a door?

[Scott7m]

If you want I could send you one.  It's a solenoid that  natures comfort and heatmaster uses.   I can probably ship you one for $42 if you'd like.  You would then just have to put the box around the fan, make a door so that the solenoid can pull open when the fan kicks on.

[juddspaintballs]

What are the specs on that solenoid?  Is it built for continuous duty cycle? 

[Scott7m]

I'm not sure what you mean.  It's just a basic 7lb lift solenoid, it doesn't do anything until the aquastat calls for hear and then it pops and lifts up a flange, door, plate, whatever you have.

They come standard on natures comfort and heatmaster so i'd say they are pretty good quality, never heard of any probs with em.

[willieG]

They (solenoid) are just like any other electrical part, the do wear out. i think my first one lasted about 6 years. My second one is still going. I try and keep a blower and a solenoid on the shelf right beside the OWB. in fact i jsut ordered three fans from grainger 50 dollars Canadian each. Best deal i could find locally. i think they qoted me 42 bucks for the solenoid (thought that was a litttle hig but i ordered one anyway)

[Russ Brumit]

Heres the one I've been using.   Continuous duty cycle .

  http://www.drillspot.com/products/42984/Dormeyer_2005-M-1_Laminated_Solenoid

[rtimber]

Nature's Comfort was referenced re: solenoids...  I thought that company was a "newbie" to the industry...

[Scott7m]

Nature's Comfort was referenced re: solenoids...  I thought that company was a "newbie" to the industry...

hmm.......   what are you talking about?  you lost me

[juddspaintballs]

I'll probably use the solenoid Russ posted.  Thanks for the offer though, Scott

[Scott7m]

no probem....... the ones i sell retail for 37, i just threw in 5 for shipping.