Tarm Question

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lawandorder

lawandorder

Member
Mar 17, 2008
193
upstate new york
Over the past two weeks Ive gone out to the boiler and found that the boiler was off, boiler temps at 150 ish storage temps at 140 ish. I figure that the fire burned out during the night but when i open up the loading door I find a half full chamber of wood. I hit the reset button, a few seconds later full fire and ready to go. Anyone have any ideas why or what is happening. THis has happened probably three or four times over the past few weeks. At first I thought I was forgetting to reset the system when i loaded up at night but i have been making sure that I do and it happens again. No signs of bridging. Ive been using small rounds with a few splits mixed in. Thanks
 
My guess would be bridging. When that happens the wood gets stuck, all the coals gasify and then the heat drops until the fan shuts off. Then the wood falls and you find it half full with the fan off in the morning.
 
would i still get bridging if ive been using mostly rounds. Last night I loaded with probably 80 percent rounds and a few small splits. I really havent had any problems with bridging using that type of stuff. I load the same way during the day and have never found a bridge when checking during the day.
 
Yes, rounds can bridge. I can't be certain that is your problem, but something is causing it to hit the low limit and shut off prematurely. I can't think of another reason, but maybe someone else can.
 
If the fan turned off it might be because of overheat also. I turned down my temp a little so it wouldn't happen especially as these days warm up.
 
With overheat you would have to reset with a different button (the white one under a cap on mine) and the orange light would still be on on the fan button but the fan would not be running. When the orange light is off and the black reset button has to be hit the low limit was reached.
 
twitch said:
Could it be that your low limit fan shut off is set to high? I think mine is set at 60 C.
Click to expand...

I've got a different unit, but my tarm is set at 90c, I believe. I'll check later. Make sure we're talking about the same thing, this measures your smoke stack exhaust temp, and shuts off the fan until you restart and reset system.
 
flyingcow,
I don't have storage yet, and the manual stated to move the probe to one of the wells. It sounds like we're talking about the same thing. Mine will shut off the fan when the boiler temp gets below 60C. I think 90C is the correct setting when measuring exhaust temp and using storage. Sounds like you have that set correctly.
 
OK. So it appears that bridging is the culprit but now what. I thought with smaller splits and rounds that the bridging should not occur. Any other helpfull ideas.....to eliminate it for next year
 
I have an EKO but this thread caught my eye and I wanted to add a possible issue to look for..On my EKO 60 there are two nozzles, keep in mind this is an older standard,but I have one bad nozzel on the front and it bridges more than the back nozzel..The reason for this is the nozzel is cracked and it is sending secondary air into the primary chamber and burning out the fuel too quickly over the nozzle..When you get a cool boiler and a chance to look closley, look at your secondary air outlets and look for excessive cracks that might allow air into your primary chamber..GOOD LUCK,Dave
 
I've also seen the fan low limit go off if your wood isn't super dry and the secondary is engaged before the fire really gets ripping. I'm pretty sure the temp. for this switch is measured just above the heat exhchanger tubes and is the exhaust rather than the boiler temp.
 
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