Install Photos and First Fire in EFM520

I realized I was wearing my nearly white christmas jammies. I have arrived at old man.....

Well ya see thats a clear symptom of "sumtimers" as opposed to "alltimers"
Sometimes ya ramember, sometimes ya ferget..

I woulda enjoyed seein that light come on though when you realized the problem

Rob,

I plumbed the thing in 1" as when I was running from the house to the garage thats what I buried. Anyway , the next item on the to do list was to make a jacket for " Natt "as I now call him. My signmaker buddy turned me on to this stuff called polymetal. Its two light aluminum skins on each side of a 3mm plastic panel. After cutting to size I back cut the skin to allow for a fold . I used some small angle brackets and rivets to give the lid its integrity. This is what I ended up with. hopefully we can get some paint on it tomorrow and get this project in the done pile.

Have a good night and kiss your kids twice a bedtime....

Waldo

Please post pictures of the finished project, it is looking great so far.

Merry xmas gentlemen,

So I ran out of material for the cabinet, still need to build doghouse, and have to wait a week or so and Ive started the hopper. Given my space I cant get the Hopper more than a couple feet away and that means that it has to be elevated. Too, Ill need to roll it over in front of the overhead door to fill with John D. So got out the welder and made a rolling base with 4 -1500# steel wheels . Next I got 3/4 " plywood and cut the bottom of the Hopper so it sloped at 45* and sorta tacked the corners together. Then inverted in the frame and fiber-glassed the inside corners.After the resin set I rolled it back over and glassed the bottom side corners. I made a chamber for the bottom out of a ss dairy pail and cut the bottom off that to provide acess to the auger and to rollback to fill. that whole asmby attaches to the gate valve on the bottom of the Hopper opening . Once I have worked out all the bugs Im going to add approx, 42" sides to the thing so Ill be able to hold about a ton at a time and Ill refill with the tractor. This is the hopper with 80lbs in it. I want to wish all of you a joyful holiday season and ask you to join me in a prayer for peace for those poor folks in Connecticut .

very nice setup you have there. I especially like your hopper! You appear to be a very crafty fellow.

Guys,

Im nearing the finish line , here are the latest photos. This is the docking station for the hopper as its on wheels and it doesnt want to move unless I want it to.The rest are self explanatory coal is cool.. Waldo

You did a fantastic job.

Nice job Waldo!

What is the slide gate made of and what is it's square area exposed to the coal above it?

That is a great install!!!!!!!!!

Guys,
Thanx for the kind replies, nothing means more than the recognition of your peers.Vermontday(VD? ) the slidegate and channel is made of uhmw plastic(cuttingboard) and the breach is about 8"x8"

coal--->good/ oil--->bad

waldo

You might be alright with uhmw on an 8x8 opening. At worst case you could replace it with a steel plate and keep the uhmw slides.

Uhmw is great for sliding things on.

When I originally had a 14x14 opening, I could slide out the gate fairly easy by hand. When I went to 16x16 openings, I now use a pry bar to get the gate started.

The moral of the story is coal is heavy. You have a perfect place to pry against with your heavy steel cross bar, if you have to.
You could drill a series of holes in the gate to pry against.

You did a great job on the system. Gets people with loaders thinking. You must be very talented!

Hey, the boiler looks good. I noticed you ran your outlet line toward the back and down. I'm thinking of doing the same thing but never saw one done this way. Probably because most are in basements and the heat has to go up. Everything working ok?

Max,

I have had no issues with running the outltet and return down and underground to the house.(35 ft or so). I only have three circulators , one for each zone in the house and one Ive added for a unit heater for the garage. I probably just got lucky, but heh Ill take it. If you have specific install questions , start a thread (with pics) and the boys will be happy to help you along the way

wow, nice job! is there any dimensions,angles for the plywood funnel that you would share, thinken bout maken a shop vac set up for my coal gun.