Decisions ????

swyman · Post by **swyman** » Wed. Jan. 26, 2022 8:07 am

RON1958 wrote: ↑
Mon. Jan. 24, 2022 8:35 am
Could the Axeman Anderson be used to provide heat to home and shop? Maybe in a "boiler shed" midway ? If so what would be the appropriate size model to search for. Not overkill.

Ron, my Axeman is in my basement and heats house, hot water, attached 3 car garage, and barn that is 200' from the house. I keep the barn at 60* and it does all without even working. I used to have the coal boiler in the barn and fed the house but it was not as efficient because all I had going into the house was a 1" PEX line to feed house, hot water, and the attached garage. Now I have everything separated and works flawlessly.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Wed. Jan. 26, 2022 10:41 am

Axeman-Anderson come in two sizes, 130,000 btu/hr. and 260,000 btu/hr.. that would be models the 130M and 260M.

AHS Coal Gun has same 2 sizes plus larger...500...500 are rare on used market but recent years there have been a couple or 3 show up

LTStorm07 · Post by **LTStorm07** » Wed. Jan. 26, 2022 9:33 pm

And EFM 520 is closer to a AA 260. The nice thing is with any of the previously mentioned units you can really idle them down even if they're a bit oversized. While partly due to having lots of radiation, thanks to the size of the EFM 520, mine varies the temp between 145-155 and I have no problem keeping house and garage warm.

RON1958 · Post by **RON1958** » Thu. Jan. 27, 2022 10:49 am

Thought about what you said Don makes sense and I've past on that. I do believe I'm leaning toward Van Wert in any case. Been looking around for parts and when you look up the VanWert.com it sends me to the GoDaddy site. I don't mind buying in but the have several listings and I don't know which is best suited? Any suggestions Please ?

Post by **Rob R.** » Thu. Jan. 27, 2022 11:09 am

Don has a nice Van Wert in his basement, and probably a spare stoker for it. He only runs it for fun so maybe you can strike a deal.

How did you settle on a Van Wert?

RON1958 · Post by **RON1958** » Thu. Jan. 27, 2022 11:41 am

Not 100 percent yet but I find the mechanics of the feed unit fascinating. That and the possibility of the fella Arnie producing new stuff for them?

Post by **Rob R.** » Thu. Jan. 27, 2022 12:47 pm

RON1958 wrote: ↑
Thu. Jan. 27, 2022 11:41 am
Not 100 percent yet but I find the mechanics of the feed unit fascinating. That and the possibility of the fella Arnie producing new stuff for them?

Fair enough. There is a nice looking VA400 for sale in Archbald, PA on Facebook.

Retro_Origin · Post by **Retro_Origin** » Thu. Jan. 27, 2022 6:35 pm

Should it be noted that nobody is tooting the keystoker horn very loud?

Post by **Rob R.** » Thu. Jan. 27, 2022 6:52 pm

That’s because you said you wanted a Van Wert. Keystoker makes a good unit.

nepacoal · Post by **nepacoal** » Thu. Jan. 27, 2022 7:18 pm

Love my keystoker. Very few moving parts and works great. You would need to have an automated auger system if you wanted a setup similar to the EFM or VanWert...

BlackBetty06 · Post by **BlackBetty06** » Thu. Jan. 27, 2022 7:50 pm

RON1958 wrote: ↑
Sun. Jan. 23, 2022 10:14 am
Hi all. I have been following along and finally joined up, thanks for having me. I have many questions so let me explain what's up. I have oil hot air furnace in basement that I put a heat exchanger on top. The hot water is supplied by a very old now but still going fine Energy King indoor wood/coal boiler which is outside in a shed 20 feet from house. I burn all wood in it and we love the heat. Oil only comes on if fire goes out and that never happens. I have a shop that's approx. 120 feet from house that I heated with wood furnace for years. I this season picked up a Hitzer30-95 for there and absolutely love it. So, Im almost 64 and liking the coal deal for the future. What I would like is to go with one coal boiler close to shop and heat both home and shop with one fire. I really like the hopper deal the Hitzer has but they don't make boilers that work that way that I know of. I was flirting with the idea of fabing a hand fired boiler up. just really up in the air over this. any advice would be helpful. Thanks a bunch.

It sounds like you would like to keep the boiler outside as it is now correct? If so check out the AHS 130 outdoor coal boiler. It’s is a self feed unit that runs on pea coal and looks like a little shed with a chimney. The roof pops open to reveal the hopper. You can load it 2000 pounds at a time which should give you several days without touching the unit. A ton of coal would last some time I’d imagine so it would just be ashes every now and then. They also have a bigger unit if you would need. The AHS 260

BlackBetty06 · Post by **BlackBetty06** » Thu. Jan. 27, 2022 7:58 pm

swyman wrote: ↑
Wed. Jan. 26, 2022 8:07 am
Ron, my Axeman is in my basement and heats house, hot water, attached 3 car garage, and barn that is 200' from the house. I keep the barn at 60* and it does all without even working. I used to have the coal boiler in the barn and fed the house but it was not as efficient because all I had going into the house was a 1" PEX line to feed house, hot water, and the attached garage. Now I have everything separated and works flawlessly.

How many square feet is this and what is your coal usage?

RON1958 · Post by **RON1958** » Fri. Jan. 28, 2022 7:11 am

Alrighty, I'm about to pull the trigger on AV600. Hope I'm doing the right thing. It was operating in a double house that was sold and new owners wanted it gone. I made a deal on the boiler that included him removing and even delivering since they would have it on a trailer. The boiler was still warm when they started yesterday. Everything on it is removed, he sent pics of progress. From what I see the boiler is in one big piece or does it come apart? This thing must weigh close 1000 lbs.? It has to come up and out through bilco basement doors. How in the hell do you move these things? I'm worried about damage to it ? And if these guys back out or cant handle it I'm gonna need to do it. Yikes

Post by **Rob R.** » Fri. Jan. 28, 2022 7:28 am

You move them on pipes and planks. The stoker should be removed before trying to move it. Basically it should be down to the boiler shell before trying to move it. Remove tinwork and controls, remove doors, remove stoker.

Basically it should look like this:

Posted In: The Van Wert VA600 Project

.JPG | 96.2KB | IMG_0086.JPG

RON1958 · Post by **RON1958** » Fri. Jan. 28, 2022 7:47 am

That's where he's at with her, striped. That will be a son of ----- to get up steps. OMG it looks to be plenty rugged though. Not much to break?

Decisions ????

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