Addition of Leisure Line Stove

I am considering adding a leisure line stove to my home. It would replacemthe wood burning stove I have. I really never care to cut,split and stack firewood again. So I would vent new coal stove thru the existing 8" stainless triple wall pipe.
My house is appx 4500 sq ft. We have forced air, heat pumps, originally in the house, 2 separate units and zones. I also use an EFM 520 with an exchanger in each zone, and of course hot water exchanger. The boiler is in a separate building appx 110' from house, I only loose 8 degrees in the loop.
My basemnt is 1200 sq ft amd is directly below my same size trophy room. The room has a 14' tall ceiling. There is no insulation in floor between basement and trophy room. Leisure line will be in basement directly trophy room. The basement and trophy room basically represent one zone.
What I am wondering is if I can heat that zone with the leisure line, which would keep the thermostat from calling for heat from efm, will I save coal used? Basically I would be heating half of my house with the leisure line, it is a 10 year old addition with proper R value and few windows. Am I chasing a dream or does this make sense?
I have no idea how much coal I would go thru in leisure line? We live in winchester va, so lot warmer than most of you guys. I probably only went thru 6 tons this year, but harder winters I use 10-11.
Plus imdo get frustrated with efm, seems I go thru 2-3 shear pins a year which often turns unto an outfire, so this stove would take some pressure off that
Thanks formrading this novel. I am open to your ideas

I think I could understand...
If you were going with a handfed stove.
Another stoker with issues of it's own....
Each stoker has it's own unique "weak" points or "problem" areas.
Shear pins shear for a reason,either the auger & tube have issues or there are chunks of coal,rock or wood in your bin that should not be in there.
That 520 is plenty capable of keeping your house very warm,just add more baseboard or cast iron radiators or even a water to air heat exchanger in that basement room or install floor heat for the trophy room.

I'm interested in why the EFM is eating shear pins.

I can understand why you have a radiant heat source in a house with FHA. Evens the temperatures out nicely. The LL sure would be a lot easier to maintain then a wood stove!

CoalHeat wrote:I'm interested in why the EFM is eating shear pins.

+1

There is some kind of issue there, could be a couple different things. You may want to give the auger and pipe a good cleaning out. Over time, fines can accumulate right under the end of the auger in the bin and get hard. Sometimes it will cake up and break off, jamming the auger and shearing the pin in the process. Pipe could also be rotted through too, although you would hear it and see the fines dribbling out on the floor. Improper alighnment with the stoker feed can also maybe cause additional stress. What else?

I installed my EFM 7 or 8 years ago and it is still running on the original shear pin that it had when it left Jack Ryan's shop as a refurb.

Mine was breaking shear pins regularly. I found that I didn't have the bin pipe pushed all the way into the coupler. Have not broken one since.

Regarding shear pin, the only thing I can think is a piece of gravel gets in when I am filling the bin. My bin is 4 ton, I fill it thru a door in the side of the building. Coal is stored in farmers 1 ton grain bags. These set on a pallet which I lift up above door and let flow into bin. I think moving the pallet around on my gravel driveway sometime I pick up a piece and it falls in, though I have never found any in the tube.
I have the original short worm with factory tube connecting into a longer worm also in a factory tube, connectedby a factory coupler. I tore it wll apart this past start up as the first tube on long worm was pvc and it had eroded away leaving a gsp inside of coupler. I now have a new worm and proper tube. The two tubes butt together inside of the coupler. I have 2 1/2 flights sticking out the end of the tube into coal bin. I actually sheared the short worm at threaded coupler as I had taken all shear pins out and put in bolts.
It is quite frustrating, to the point I am looking for alternative ways to heat the home

I have been burning some buck this year, from direnzo. Not sure it that is part of this year's problem. The eroded pvc tube was definitely contributing to previous problems, have had two sheared pins this year after making repairs. Bin has mixture of rice and buck

I have run buck in my EFM with no problems, I went back to rice because I feel it's easier on the auger, a lot less crunching. You're probably right, a few bits of gravel get in and create issues. Once they mix in with the coal they hide in their dark cloak, pretending to be coal.

I have burned DiRenzo's rice coal, found it high quality and clean.

So given the size of my basement/ trophy room FHA zone, do you think I could save some coal by using a leisure line stove? Any idea on how much coal I would use in a stove?

If running the Leisure Line allows you to shutdown the EFM entirely, you would probably save some coal. That 8 degree drop in the underground piping is a pretty large heat load.

If you are still going to heat the other half of the house with the EFM, and how you are heating a basement that you were not heating before, I don't think you save much, if anything.

As for the shear pin issue, something is definitely wrong. I have put 50 tons of coal through my EFM, and it is on the original shear pin. Do not let something silly like gravel in the coal supply cause you to abandon a nice heating system. I would feed the auger out of a barrel with a screen on top before calling it quits.

Rob R. wrote: That 8 degree drop in the underground piping is a pretty large heat load.

How could a flow rate be estimated on that loop? I'd be interested to know how much coal the ground eating.

You would have to know the length of the loop, size of the pipe, number of fittings, and the circulator that was installed. If you assume the temperature readings are accurate, you can calculate a BTU figure.

A quick and dirty method is to just let the EFM run for a day with the loop at temperature, and no heat calls from the house. Pretty much anything over 15-20 lbs is going into the ground.

8* drop in the loop,what is considered to be the loop in this case ??
From boiler to house...,is that where the 8* drop is ??
Or is it from boiler outlet to boiler inlet where the 8* drop is ??

Only 2 ways to save coal & still heat all of your house...
Move the EFM into your basement, but you have already stated your dislikes with it's troublesome shear pins.

Buy a headache free & trouble free flatbed stoker ,install it into your basement & sell the EFM trouble maker. Easy street ahead.

Rob R. wrote: A quick and dirty method is to just let the EFM run for a day with the loop at temperature, and no heat calls from the house. Pretty much anything over 15-20 lbs is going into the ground.

Brilliant. I hope the OP checks into this

If you are still going to heat the other half of the house with the EFM, and how you are heating a basement that you were not heating before, I don't think you save much, if anything.

Thanks Rob,
I have always been heating the basement zone with the EFM, I have been running (2) zones off the EFM for years. I was wondering if dropping that zone on the EFM and using the leisure line would result in a net reduction in coal usage. I am 180 miles to Direnzo coal breaker, s delivered coal is 240/ ton!

As for the shear pin issue, something is definitely wrong. I have put 50 tons of coal through my EFM, and it is on the original shear pin. Do not let something silly like gravel in the coal supply cause you to abandon a nice heating system. I would feed the auger out of a barrel with a screen on top before calling it quits.[/quote]

Moving to a barrel system would involve in major deconstruction., Current bin is built into the wall of the building. OOOOCCCHHH!!