Has anyone done this? I bought a 300,000 BTU wood burning outdoor stove about 6 years ago. It works fine and I burn lump coal or if I can't find it, pea coal.
However, a stoker is a heck of a lot easier to use, cheap, and cutting 10-12 cords of wood per year gets old. I have seen pictures of EFM stokers and it looks like I could cut a hole in the sides of the wood stove and run the auger and burner inside. This should do the same job as the wood or coal I'm using now. Let me know if anyone has tried this. My stove is a Sequoya. It has fire brick. It usually heats to 180 degrees.
Coal Stoker Retrofitted in Outdoor Wood Burner
- Richard S.
- Mayor
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- Joined: Fri. Oct. 01, 2004 8:35 pm
- Location: NEPA
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Van Wert VA1200
- Coal Size/Type: Buckwheat/Anthracite
Why don't you post a picture of the inside of your boiler.
In any event one thing that should be noted about most stoker boilers is the placement of the flue outlet which is going to be below the fire and just above where the top of the ash door is. For example :
The location the flue pipe is not where the outlet is in the stoker, it's actually much lower. There is a cavity on the back of the boiler where the flue pipe goes in. There is a plate inside the boiler on the back that extends down to about where you see that seam. The flue gases are forced down below that plate before they can exit the stoker. The bottom of that plate is not much higher than the top of the ash door. This type of setup is one of the reasons a coal stoke can be so efficient. I would suspect you have a flue pipe near the top of your boiler? That's not going to be efficient at all.
In any event one thing that should be noted about most stoker boilers is the placement of the flue outlet which is going to be below the fire and just above where the top of the ash door is. For example :
The location the flue pipe is not where the outlet is in the stoker, it's actually much lower. There is a cavity on the back of the boiler where the flue pipe goes in. There is a plate inside the boiler on the back that extends down to about where you see that seam. The flue gases are forced down below that plate before they can exit the stoker. The bottom of that plate is not much higher than the top of the ash door. This type of setup is one of the reasons a coal stoke can be so efficient. I would suspect you have a flue pipe near the top of your boiler? That's not going to be efficient at all.
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- Member
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- Joined: Fri. Jul. 03, 2009 2:41 pm
- Location: Clearfield County, PA
- Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM520
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Hitzer 50-93 at camp
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 354 double door woodburner
Sorry--I tried something similar. I put a burner from a K6 Keystoker in a National section boiler. Burned fine..inefficient as hell. In the fall of the year, I couldn't get it under 75lbs a day. Wouldn't recommend even a try. To much "mass" to heat, to much heat loss, and the flue isn't in the right place.
- McGiever
- Member
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- Joined: Sun. May. 02, 2010 11:26 pm
- Location: Junction of PA-OH-WV
- Stoker Coal Boiler: AXEMAN-ANDERSON 130 "1959"
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: BUCKET A DAY water heater
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Warm Morning 414A
- Coal Size/Type: PEA,NUT,STOVE /ANTHRACITE
- Other Heating: Ground Source Heat Pump and some Solar
Not a retrofit, but it has been done...
Portage & Main Outdoor Water Furnace with Stoker & Automatic Ash Removal
Portage & Main Outdoor Water Furnace with Stoker & Automatic Ash Removal
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- New Member
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- Joined: Tue. Sep. 25, 2012 12:50 am
Thanks for the responses! I'll send some pics of my stove, but you guys are probably right on the money. Too much area to heat. I just came across some good lump coal -$55 per ton plus delivery- soI'll go that route till I find a more suitable route. I know very little about boilers so I'll have to do some research and see where that takes me. Thanks again.