Hardy H5 Issue

[Backdraft521]

Hello All! New to the page here! Alot of great information.
I have been searching all morning trying to find a solution to my issue, and maybe there is someone around that may know whats going on.

So yesterday morning I came home as normal to load the unit, and remove what ash (as i do almost every other to every 3 days). I noticed one of the shaker grates were broken. I let the fire die down and returned hours later to try to find a fix.
I ended up just placing 2 pieces of angle iron across the steel channel, and laid a piece of grate down until I was able to purchase a whole new grate. I re fired the unit and went inside. About 6 hours later I returned to load the stove for the night, everything seemed fine.
As of this morning the stove was over boiling!!! And I had lost a lot of water due to the condensation and steam. I refilled the water, and removed the coals and what wood was left. Also note that when opening the ash door, there were ZERO coals or ash on the bottom. Looked as if all the coals where in a pile laying with what wood was still present. Im unsure if the blower had been running just before i walked out. All the coals that were laying were cherry red.

Now with all that said, did the new grate not allow the coals to fall to the bottom and cause an over heat due to the void space below? I cant seem to find any air leak. Once the grate was removed and what coals fell to the bottom, i closed all doors, waited, and re opened. All the coals were out, but relit. Whats going on here? Afraid to relight, but its 17 out! Please Help!

 

[chaded]

Im not sure why the new grate wouldn’t let the coals fall through and why that would cause overboiling anyway. Also, it seems that the other grates werent letting anymore ash fall down themselves right?

I would think if the grates get clogged you wouldn’t be overboiling but would have the opposite problem due to lack of air flow? It seems you are getting too much air if you are overboiling.

I would check the damper blower lid and see if it is stuck open?

 

[Backdraft521]

Im not sure why the new grate wouldn’t let the coals fall through and why that would cause overboiling anyway. Also, it seems that the other grates werent letting anymore ash fall down themselves right?

I would think if the grates get clogged you wouldn’t be overboiling but would have the opposite problem due to lack of air flow? It seems you are getting too much air if you are overboiling.

I would check the damper blower lid and see if it is stuck open?

The grate that I got was just metal grate I had laying around. I also am thinking air from somewhere. I’m 99.9% sure all doors were latched. But as stated 0 coals or ash had fallen to the bottom. Instead of double grate (due to the thinness) I removed one and just have one smaller peice in there now. Just restarted the fire and will see what happens now. After 3 hours the water temp came down.

Edit*- also the old grates were letting everything fall to the bottom, because there were worped and fallen on one side.

 

[chaded]

Let us know how it goes. It sounds like you need some new grates (obviously). When its really cold out and im using a lot of wood with my hardy h4 I actually clean my ashes out everyday only leaving about an inch of them in there. Too much ash and coals in there will warp the grates and too little can ruin the bottom. Of course this doesn’t address the boiling problem in my opinion.

I would be interested to hear how everything turns out. Also, welcome to the forum and stick around awhile!

 

[Backdraft521]

Well I went back out and checked the fire. Seemed to be going well, mostly Burt due to the small wood I put in there. Added bigger stuff and went back inside. Checked at 10:30pm and blower running, wood still inside, no fire. Shuffle some of the wood around with a poker and boom she’s burning again. Not many coals inside yet so I’m thinking that’s why fire wasn’t burning when calling for heat. Check back in the morning to see if I’m over boiling, or fire is out.

 

["Spoon"]

Sounds like to me you are getting too much air in there. Allowing temps to get high enough to boil out and damage your grates. You may want to check your aquastat. Double check that you damper solenoid chain isn't getting caught on something. At least with mine, where the ashpan connects with the water jacket its only sealed with silicone. If it wasn't sealed good or has deteriorated that would let in a lot of air. Also double check that your doors are sealed good. It's pretty common that wood will get hung up leaving a gap between the wood and the coals causing it to die down. My H2 likes having some ash in the bottom. Just my $.02. Good luck and hopefully it was an isolated fluke.

 

[Wayned24]

My H4 solenoid went bad causing my blower lid not to raise up when it kicks on. I put a little stick in it to keep it cracked until I replace it. At first I had it open too much causing it to boil over, but now I've found that it just needs a slight opening to keep it going. I plan on replacing the solenoid soon.