I don't know what boiler you got the 62 or 63 The 62 was in better shape then 63 the 63 needs that big plate Greg goteuropachris wrote:Thanks for the info and reality checks! Don't get me wrong - I'm very happy with the boiler (and the price)! I have about 0.01% of the experience Coal Berner has, so my reference of "bad" is only guided by what I'm used to. Since my job is taking nice clean sheets of A36 plate steel and turning it into brand new forklifts, anything that isn't clean, painted, and rust free is "bad", LOL. But it's also handy to be able to laser cut, form, and weld up to 1/2" thick.
It would be a simple matter of making a replacement DHW plate with weld studs and weld that in and then make a blank-off plate to seal it off for future use. Does the official EFM plate weld over the original hole after the studs are removed or does the old area get removed and the new plate flush welded? I'd prefer to cut out the entire "thin" area and flush weld a new plate after it's fit into place.
As far as the base goes, we're on the same page. I've been laying out some ideas in AutoCad, and plan to incorporate an access panel to allow cleaning the heat exchanger area without flue pipe removal since I expect more frequent cleaning with bituminous. I measured the inside of the boiler at 19"x19"x19" (LxWxH). The DL-30 has a 12 7/8" pot diameter (by the spec sheet), so I have about 3" at the smallest dimension on each side, and more in each corner. I'm currently thinking between 6 and 8" from the refractory hearth up to the bottom of the boiler. That should leave enough room for an access door 5 or 6" tall to clean the fire. I want to keep the height to a minimum so the heat goes into the water, not the base.
The other thought would be to raise up the stoker 8"-12" and then install it EFM-style and have room for a shallow ash pan underneath. But I don't think our coal will work well in that method of firing without a Prill-style rotating burn pot to break up the ash.
I'll be looking for a lot of advice from the experts here as my hydronic plumbing experience is about zero. I've lived in a few homes 20+ years ago with either oil/hot water or oil/steam heat, but that doesn't really count. But I can sweat copper and/or screw iron pipe together. I do bettr with the electrical/controls stuff and steel fab.
the 62 could use the smaller one take the bolt pattern of the boiler transfer the holes over to the plate your going to
make put new studs in weld the plate flush to the boiler body then make a cover plate with holes for the studs use one of the gaskets Greg has he got two one for each boiler and bolt the cover plate on then when your ready for a coil all you need to do is take the plate off and bolt the coil on Yes I wanted to tell you to make a clean out door on the base that will make it easier to clean out but remember you still need to take the flue pipe off the back to clean the pipe out so you can still go threw the flue to clean out the inside whatever works for you the base can be as tall as you need it Just the width and length has to stay the same for the boiler to fit onto it If you need more info or ideas Just PM me You not the first one to use them stokers to fit them boilers That is how efm started out in 1906 1908 making UV UVR and R stoker to convert hand fed boilers to auto feed boilers Feed the coal in take the ash out they had hopper on them or they could be set up to feed out of a bin the ash would come out and fall into 20 gal gav cans or a steel box some had one ash chute others had a twin ash chute they made model 45 60 80 100 lbs per hr The first 350 S-15 pot was 14" when they went to
S-20 that is 14.5" pot S-22 pot ring 15.5" So your DL-30 12 7/8" should have lots of room The efm pot ring sits about 1.5" 2" above the top of the base line / top lip in the base