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E-Classic Tips & Info

Started by spacedog, December 16, 2013, 06:13:34 PM

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spacedog

I have a E-Classic 2300.  One of the originals. l call it a hybrid because it got a new Firebox and controller from Central Boiler two years ago. Has some 2400 parts. Anyway anyone who owns one should have or will developer a love hate relationship with their furnace.  Since that overhaul its been relatively trouble free until this month. 

The furnace started to turn itself completely off intermittently. At first I thought maybe the power went out overnight. Then it started happening all the time and would not power back on.  I started poking around in the blower box and suddenly the power came back on.

Finally I isolated that every time the high speed solenoid activated in shut down the power to the control panel  Still have not figured out everything but if you have these symptoms check your solenoids.

Interesting side note I have not yet replaced the bad solenoid. And as a result I seem to be getting noticably longer burn times on the same amount of wood.  No loss of heat noticed.   I would love for some other owner to unplug his high speed solenoid for a while see if they get similar results.

I'm hoping that other members will add their tips here.  Thanks for reading. 

stratford 50

I have been running my 2300 that way for 3 years now and actually took the damper plate out for maximum air flow.

beenthere

QuoteI isolated that every time the high speed solenoid activated in shut down the power to the control panel

And what "high speed" thing does the solenoid control?
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

spacedog

Beenthere, when I said hi speed I was referring to the air volume.  The control panel has two indicators/settings for air flow high and low.  It's really a bad choice of words on my part since the fan doesn't change speeds. There are two ports (cups) in the air box.  Low speed the one is open.  On high two are opened generating a higher air volume into the fire box.



spacedog

The solenoid is the mechanism to open the air ports.

stratford 50

I might be wrong, but the high speed as you call it is when the most bottom plate damper opens to allow more air into the firebox and the reaction chamber. The two upper ones open when the fan starts.

sam-tip

Mine is not the same model but I did something similar last year to help smoking.  This year I hooked the high back up and lowered the high solenoid so it didn't open as much.  Even better results.  Hotter burns and less wood used.

To much air was going out the high secondary because it was opening to much.  My boiler needed a balance of air going to both ports.
Central Boiler E3200 WiFi
Many many ported chainsaws. 201 to 3120
TM log splitter pro30 6 way head
D&L 1020 swing blade sawmill for slabbing
Timberking 1220

JJ

Question,
By high solenoid, do you mean the top air port?
This is one I put binder clip on to keep fire going in warm weather.

            JJ

spacedog

JJ I have tried the paper clip trick but did not like it.  I found that changing the timing on the air pulse, at least I think that's the technical term, to the shortest setting worked for me.  For those who don't know the e-Classic will cycle the fan on periodically when your system is dormant between burn cycles. Keeps the fire from suffocating  It's not in the manual but your dealer can tell you how to reprogram it. I don't remember the sequence  it was a while back when I did it. Very easy to do. 

I think the paper clip mod shortened the life of my blower. The motor was full of soot. 

JJ

Hi spacedog
I have older model of e-classic, which does not have firestar controls.  I can only turn the water temp up or down.

Yes, air box has orange colored soot, which I vacuum up at end of year.
So how much was the solenoid air gap adjusted for main intake? 
I am getting some smoke, so maybe need this adjustment.  It is not so bad now that is cold, so duty cycle is longer.

        JJ

Logging logginglogging

I have one of the original e-classic 2300's, Mine has been running great for years, I run good wood in it and I clean and maintain it well. At first I had a learning curve with it, but after that and I got good dry wood it ran great ever since.

New Guy

Hello All - I am, as my name implies, a New Guy. I just bought a house with an E-Classic 2300 outdoor wood boiler, appears to be a 2008 model. I have been experiencing many problems in recent weeks, but thanks to this forum, I have made great strides toward getting this thing running the right way. But I ran into a new issue last night. After spending the better part of the last two days scraping out creosote from air outlets, heat exchanger, solenoids, etc...I stocked the boiler and went to bed with a nice toasty 180-deg water temp and lots of air blowing inside the firebox. I woke up this morning to 147-deg water temp and no fire or coals in the firebox. There were still 8 or so charred but mostly intact logs. The logs were not arched at the bottom.
I pushed the switch on the door, the fan came on, but very little air flow in the firebox. I restarted a small fire in the firebox because I feared the temp would continue to go down and I didn't want to freeze the boiler. Went out 2 hours later and the air is flowing great again water temp up to 157 and climbing.
I am trying to figure out why my fire went out last night???!!! And why was air flow poor first thing this morning, then good after fire got going?
I am burning all pine (I know, I know). It is seasoned, probably not as dry as ideal, but it is not wet. I have not split the wood, left it round, they vary from 4 to 12 inches in diameter.
I spoke to a CB dealer/repair shop...he said almost all the time (unless there is something broken or wood arched at bottom), the problem is air or air or air or air or air.....Just curious what others think. Could the wood be the problem? I ran the boiler for a month or so with mixed wood, still round, not split, but the fire never went out on me and my water temp was always between 180 and 185. I am a relative novice with wood burning boilers, what should I look for to determine if wood is issue?
Thanks in advance for any advice and once again for all the great information I have used already.

Roger2561

Quote from: New Guy on January 03, 2014, 12:37:11 PM
Hello All - I am, as my name implies, a New Guy. I just bought a house with an E-Classic 2300 outdoor wood boiler, appears to be a 2008 model. I have been experiencing many problems in recent weeks, but thanks to this forum, I have made great strides toward getting this thing running the right way. But I ran into a new issue last night. After spending the better part of the last two days scraping out creosote from air outlets, heat exchanger, solenoids, etc...I stocked the boiler and went to bed with a nice toasty 180-deg water temp and lots of air blowing inside the firebox. I woke up this morning to 147-deg water temp and no fire or coals in the firebox. There were still 8 or so charred but mostly intact logs. The logs were not arched at the bottom.
I pushed the switch on the door, the fan came on, but very little air flow in the firebox. I restarted a small fire in the firebox because I feared the temp would continue to go down and I didn't want to freeze the boiler. Went out 2 hours later and the air is flowing great again water temp up to 157 and climbing.
I am trying to figure out why my fire went out last night???!!! And why was air flow poor first thing this morning, then good after fire got going?
I am burning all pine (I know, I know). It is seasoned, probably not as dry as ideal, but it is not wet. I have not split the wood, left it round, they vary from 4 to 12 inches in diameter.
I spoke to a CB dealer/repair shop...he said almost all the time (unless there is something broken or wood arched at bottom), the problem is air or air or air or air or air.....Just curious what others think. Could the wood be the problem? I ran the boiler for a month or so with mixed wood, still round, not split, but the fire never went out on me and my water temp was always between 180 and 185. I am a relative novice with wood burning boilers, what should I look for to determine if wood is issue?
Thanks in advance for any advice and once again for all the great information I have used already.

New Guy - Welcome to the forum. 

It appears you have done everything I would have suggested.  Have you cleaned the reaction chamber of ash buildup?  Also, perhaps if you split some of that round stuff, it may help?  I'm just guessing though.  Perhaps someone else will chime in with suggestions.  Roger
Roger

thecfarm

Are you burning just pine,softwood now?Trouble with soft wood not much coals,if any.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Jack72

Quote from: thecfarm on January 03, 2014, 01:53:50 PM
Are you burning just pine,softwood now?Trouble with soft wood not much coals,if any.


Yes I agree with farm.       But the problem I have seen with mine is when you burn just rounds it eats up your coal bed.      When my coal bed gets high I throw a round or two on mine to eat up the bed a little bit.   I save all the little pieces of wood from splitting wood and put in a big garbage can when I get in a pinch or after a good cleaning   And I need to build up my bed I throw a bunch of little pieces in there to get some nice hot coals for good reaction temps..      I think my opinion is you don't have a good enough coal bed established to burn the rounds for awhile
You need some other little pieces in there to get some coals

Hope this helps
Jack
13 Chevy Duramax
Stihl 046 036 009
Northern 25 Ton Splitter

Logging logginglogging

I agree I think its the un-split softwood.

pondmanager2

In my opinion it's all about the wood you burn.  I have an eclassic 2300 2009 model and I have the same problem when burning pine.  The fire goes out from time to time.   My fire never goes out when I'm burning hardwood.  They only way I can burn pine is to throw it on top of several pieces of hardwood.  It's most difficult to burn pine during the warmer temps.  I'm a big believer in split, seasoned hardwood.

thecfarm

pondmanager2,weclome to the forum. Interesting handle. Take care of ponds?
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

pondmanager2

I use to plow a local skating pond after every snowfall in the winter for the kids in town which is how I got the nickname.  Now I build my own outdoor hockey rink every winter.  Outdoor rinks have the same learning curve as the 2300 eclassic!

sam-tip

With my E3200 I have trouble burning all bur oak in extreme cold.  I can burn a mix of soft wood and bur oak but not all hard wood.  Best when bellow 10 degrees to burn a mix of 70% soft wood and 30% hard wood.

But when warmer and with longer idle times about 2 hours or more oak is ok.  Are the longer idle times drying the wood.  Moisture meters are saying the wood is dry.  I assume hard woods are more difficult to use in gasification.
Central Boiler E3200 WiFi
Many many ported chainsaws. 201 to 3120
TM log splitter pro30 6 way head
D&L 1020 swing blade sawmill for slabbing
Timberking 1220

k7776s2001

Quote from: sam-tip on January 06, 2014, 04:26:13 PM
With my E3200 I have trouble burning all bur oak in extreme cold.  I can burn a mix of soft wood and bur oak but not all hard wood.  Best when bellow 10 degrees to burn a mix of 70% soft wood and 30% hard wood.

But when warmer and with longer idle times about 2 hours or more oak is ok.  Are the longer idle times drying the wood.  Moisture meters are saying the wood is dry.  I assume hard woods are more difficult to use in gasification.

I have a E2400 and have had it for 3 years.  I burn 100% hardwood (mostly oak).  I have never had trouble with burning it in moderate or extreme cold.  Hardwood gases just fine.
CB E2400

go green

The reason it burns out in the bottom is the un-split wood is not fully seasoned.  If you use unsplit wood with higher moisture content you need load it when there is still about 25% of the previous load left.  This will provide enough heat to adequately ignite the new unsplit wetter wood. If there is very little left it will burn up the coals before adequately lighting the new load.  Go to centralboiler.com and watch the refueling tips in the video and brochure section. 
Very important to use poker through the ash bed each day before reloading and keep reaction chamber cleaned out often enough, all the way to the back of the reaction chamber.  Be sure to read the owners manual and maintain the inhibitor level in the water jacket. 

charger arms

Quote from: sam-tip on December 17, 2013, 09:27:47 AM
Mine is not the same model but I did something similar last year to help smoking.  This year I hooked the high back up and lowered the high solenoid so it didn't open as much.  Even better results.  Hotter burns and less wood used.

To much air was going out the high secondary because it was opening to much.  My boiler needed a balance of air going to both ports.

Sorry to revive this one from the dead..

I have removed the fan damper plate and relocated the solenoid. I notice that even though I heat up faster, I am going through more wood that I was before the easy mod.

When you say you lowered the upper solenoid, you just loosened the bolts holding it to the mounting bracket and pushed it closer to the pipe?

garret

Quote from: go green on January 24, 2014, 02:26:30 PM
The reason it burns out in the bottom is the un-split wood is not fully seasoned.  If you use unsplit wood with higher moisture content you need load it when there is still about 25% of the previous load left.  This will provide enough heat to adequately ignite the new unsplit wetter wood. If there is very little left it will burn up the coals before adequately lighting the new load.  Go to centralboiler.com and watch the refueling tips in the video and brochure section. 
Very important to use poker through the ash bed each day before reloading and keep reaction chamber cleaned out often enough, all the way to the back of the reaction chamber.  Be sure to read the owners manual and maintain the inhibitor level in the water jacket. 
I concur with K777...et al.  These things like dry wood.  You are depleting your coal bed because of inadequately seasoned wood.  I have an E-2400 and my observation has been that it likes not only dry wood, but also smaller splits.  Not to say you can't burn some green wood and/or larger chunks if it is mixed in with smaller, dryer stuff.

So far only maintenance has been scraping the sidewall airholes with hoe to keep clear and run poker through coals and along opening to RC with each feeding (2x day; ~5 min), brush heat exchangers once/month, and 1 cleaning of the primary air inlet elbow inside airbox (didn't really need it).  Only 1 fire out (FO) since September (didn't put enough wood in). Run it at 195 F now, much better.  They like it hot.
E-Classic 2400 comfortably heating 4,200 sq.ft. and unlimited DHW, Off-grid, Photovoltaic-powered pumps in gloomy SW PA , 34 t splitter, numerous Husky chainsaws

doctorb

Refueling tips.....

1.  I prefer to reload the stove when the wood has burned down to a level that I can access the air holes, as well as the coal bed, easily.  Doing so with wood stacked halfway up to the top makes maintenance impossible.  So I try and time my reloading of the stove to when the last load has burned down quite a bit.

2.  I prefer to load the stove when the water temp is at the lower end of the 10 degree range for which my stove is set (185-195).  This permits me to continue to burn with the door open while loading, if I so choose, providing great feedback regarding airflow through the coal bed, which is the absolute key to having this machine run efficiently.

3.  If you have a family member loading the stove in your abscence from time to time, tell them to only open the door for loading just after the stove has kicked back on from an idle period.  If you open the door just after the stove shuts down, the non-combusted particles contained within the firebox smoke can ignite when oxygen is supplied by opening the door, creating a burst of flames.  You do not want your wife, kids, or neighbor scared half to death, or worse, while they are doing you a favor.  Be explicit about this, as well as where to stand as the firebox door is opened, when a less experienced person is loading your OWB.
My father once said, "This is my son who wanted to grow up and become a doctor.  So far, he's only become a doctor."

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