Thinking of Purchasing a WL110 but Concerned

Do you need to take the oil boiler out? Will the coal unit fit next to the oil boiler? If so then you can keep the oil boiler as an installed spare. Pull the fuse, turn off the oil or do what ever to make sure the oil boiler won't come on. Disconnect the flue from the oil boiler and put the coal boiler flue in the chimney instead. That way you can use coal during the winter and oil during the summer and all you have to do is swap the flue piping.

Rev. Larry
New Beginning Church
Ashland Pa.

blrman07 wrote:Do you need to take the oil boiler out? Will the coal unit fit next to the oil boiler? If so then you can keep the oil boiler as an installed spare. Pull the fuse, turn off the oil or do what ever to make sure the oil boiler won't come on. Disconnect the flue from the oil boiler and put the coal boiler flue in the chimney instead. That way you can use coal during the winter and oil during the summer and all you have to do is swap the flue piping.

Rev. Larry
New Beginning Church
Ashland Pa.

It would be easier to just have one unit (the WL110) and just convert to oil in the summer. Or just burn coal all year there is very little radiant heat off the boiler in the summer. I was thinking for an auto backup which some people like to have.

xxxboost wrote:I have researched this site for a while but never posted anything. I"ll try to keep this short. I'm thinking about purchasing the Wl110
to heat my ranch home in SE PA(between Reading, PA and Philly). It would be heating primarily the main floor but also a loop in the finished basement when needed, plus DHW. I'm about 1300sq.ft. on the main floor, new windows and entry doors, sufficient insulation in attic, but none in the walls(block and plaster 1950s house). The basement is about 1100sq.ft and well insulated as it was recently finished. I would probably just have that set mid to upper 60's unless we are down there. I have a indirect fired water tank that I would plan to be connected to help out with the hot water. , Jason

Alrighty then

We have about the same size house, I don't heat the basement nor is it well insulated, but the walls and attic are. Storms on single panes and lots of them (26 windows in the house, yeesh).

During the most recent cold snap, my boiler kept up (just barely) running 140F water through 8 radiators. My BTUH output was ~45k, which apparently just about equaled my heat loss. The boiler ran a lot, but the ability to heat the house was never in question.

And here's why.

If I had turned the boiler up to a more reasonable 170f output, my buth delivery would have been ~79k btuh, which would have allowed me to pump up the heat to whatever level I desired. I figure, roughly, I'm good with this system to well below -20f outside temps.

When I ran my hl calculation, the exterior walls did not play as large a part in the hl as did the basement and the attic and windows. So even though your walls aren't insulated well, what you do have insulated should allow the 110k to provide more than enough BTU output to heat your house during any temp your likely to see in this area.

Like you, I had a larger oil fired boiler installed, but that was in place well before the insulation was put into the house and before the windows had storms. So you130k boiler sounds like way overkill at this point, based on the upgrades you've done to the house. Heck, it sounds like too much boiler if the entire thing was uninsulated and had single pane double hung windows.

Of course, you're reading this on the internet, so all appropriate calculations should be done by yourself or a professional before pulling the trigger on the new boiler.

Doh!

IIRC, the oil gun on this boiler (it's dual fuel, which is a very nice feature) is rated for 130Kbtu. So even if the worst were to happen, you can convert back to oil in about the time it takes to allow the stoker to cool down and meet any heating demand you might foresee.

kstills wrote:

xxxboost wrote:I have researched this site for a while but never posted anything. I"ll try to keep this short. I'm thinking about purchasing the Wl110
to heat my ranch home in SE PA(between Reading, PA and Philly). It would be heating primarily the main floor but also a loop in the finished basement when needed, plus DHW. I'm about 1300sq.ft. on the main floor, new windows and entry doors, sufficient insulation in attic, but none in the walls(block and plaster 1950s house). The basement is about 1100sq.ft and well insulated as it was recently finished. I would probably just have that set mid to upper 60's unless we are down there. I have a indirect fired water tank that I would plan to be connected to help out with the hot water. , Jason

Alrighty then

We have about the same size house, I don't heat the basement nor is it well insulated, but the walls and attic are. Storms on single panes and lots of them (26 windows in the house, yeesh).

During the most recent cold snap, my boiler kept up (just barely) running 140F water through 8 radiators. My BTUH output was ~45k, which apparently just about equaled my heat loss. The boiler ran a lot, but the ability to heat the house was never in question.

And here's why.

If I had turned the boiler up to a more reasonable 170f output, my buth delivery would have been ~79k btuh, which would have allowed me to pump up the heat to whatever level I desired. I figure, roughly, I'm good with this system to well below -20f outside temps.

When I ran my hl calculation, the exterior walls did not play as large a part in the hl as did the basement and the attic and windows. So even though your walls aren't insulated well, what you do have insulated should allow the 110k to provide more than enough BTU output to heat your house during any temp your likely to see in this area.

Like you, I had a larger oil fired boiler installed, but that was in place well before the insulation was put into the house and before the windows had storms. So you130k boiler sounds like way overkill at this point, based on the upgrades you've done to the house. Heck, it sounds like too much boiler if the entire thing was uninsulated and had single pane double hung windows.

Of course, you're reading this on the internet, so all appropriate calculations should be done by yourself or a professional before pulling the trigger on the new boiler.

Doh!

IIRC, the oil gun on this boiler (it's dual fuel, which is a very nice feature) is rated for 130Kbtu. So even if the worst were to happen, you can convert back to oil in about the time it takes to allow the stoker to cool down and meet any heating demand you might foresee.

Where can I find the heat loss calculation formula so I can try it. After reading all of the replies, I feel it should have no problem heating my house, but I just want to do the calculation for my own piece of mind.

Flyer5 wrote:

blrman07 wrote:Do you need to take the oil boiler out? Will the coal unit fit next to the oil boiler? If so then you can keep the oil boiler as an installed spare. Pull the fuse, turn off the oil or do what ever to make sure the oil boiler won't come on. Disconnect the flue from the oil boiler and put the coal boiler flue in the chimney instead. That way you can use coal during the winter and oil during the summer and all you have to do is swap the flue piping.

Rev. Larry
New Beginning Church
Ashland Pa.

It would be easier to just have one unit (the WL110) and just convert to oil in the summer. Or just burn coal all year there is very little radiant heat off the boiler in the summer. I was thinking for an auto backup which some people like to have.

I agree. I understand what the Rev is saying but since it is a dual fuel it seems to defeat its purpose. I did some more checking and power venting isn't an option for me. The only spots to vent are under windows and very close to the ground. I don't want to be sucking in the oil fumes on a nice spring day with the windows open.

xxxboost wrote:
Where can I find the heat loss calculation formula so I can try it. After reading all of the replies, I feel it should have no problem heating my house, but I just want to do the calculation for my own piece of mind.

http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Calculator ... atLoss.htm

There are links to drill down on the construction used and it's R value, so you can do as robust a calculation as you desire.

I heat about 1200 sq. ft. with the wl 110 not counting the uninsulated basement which usually stays over 60 deg. all winter with just radiated heat off boiler . During the cold snap we just had the temp. here drop to - 23 with wind chills below - 40 deg. and for a few hours the house temp. which is usually 72 dropped to 67 , not because of the boiler, I just do not have enough baseboard for that kind of weather , I am in an open area with 2 large picture windows facing the north and 1 facing the east . The windows are all anderson thermopane which I am not very happy with . The house is 2 x 6 construction pretty well insulated . The boiler ran pretty steady but had no problem getting back up to temp . which is usually 180 but I did bump it up to 190 for a short time while the house was getting back up to 70 or so .

Jason,
Sounded Easy at First

Give a quick read through this thread on the boiler I built.
It's very close to the WL 110 with a smaller grate. Probably
85,000 BTU max. It carries a hell of a load.
If you want to take a look at it, PM me and we'll get together.

Tom

Tom very cool and impressive. Thanks everyone for all your input. I will digest it all and want to check a few other things before I make a decision. You all have been helpful and I will keep you posted when I figure out what I want to do.

kstills wrote:
Alrighty then

We have about the same size house, I don't heat the basement nor is it well insulated, but the walls and attic are. Storms on single panes and lots of them (26 windows in the house, yeesh).

During the most recent cold snap, my boiler kept up (just barely) running 140F water through 8 radiators. My BTUH output was ~45k, which apparently just about equaled my heat loss. The boiler ran a lot, but the ability to heat the house was never in question.

And here's why.

If I had turned the boiler up to a more reasonable 170f output, my buth delivery would have been ~79k btuh, which would have allowed me to pump up the heat to whatever level I desired. I figure, roughly, I'm good with this system to well below -20f outside temps.

When I ran my hl calculation, the exterior walls did not play as large a part in the hl as did the basement and the attic and windows. So even though your walls aren't insulated well, what you do have insulated should allow the 110k to provide more than enough BTU output to heat your house during any temp your likely to see in this area.

Like you, I had a larger oil fired boiler installed, but that was in place well before the insulation was put into the house and before the windows had storms. So you130k boiler sounds like way overkill at this point, based on the upgrades you've done to the house. Heck, it sounds like too much boiler if the entire thing was uninsulated and had single pane double hung windows.

Of course, you're reading this on the internet, so all appropriate calculations should be done by yourself or a professional before pulling the trigger on the new boiler.

Doh!

IIRC, the oil gun on this boiler (it's dual fuel, which is a very nice feature) is rated for 130Kbtu. So even if the worst were to happen, you can convert back to oil in about the time it takes to allow the stoker to cool down and meet any heating demand you might foresee.

Just curious do you have the 65cfm blower? At those water temps it should not run long at all.

Flyer5 wrote:.

Just curious do you have the 65cfm blower? At those water temps it should not run long at all.

Not sure how you mean this.

At 140f (average temp to radiators), I'm able to deliver ~90bthu per section making my total bthu output into the house ~45k.

Which, when the outside temp is 0Degf, turns out to be almost exactly what my heat loss works out to be.

So the boiler was running a lot because the heat loss and BTU delivery were almost equal, is what I'm guessing.

The boiler temp is turned down because I'm having issues with the indirect, when I get that straightened out and can turn the boiler temp up I'll be hitting 150-170btuh rates to the radiator sections, which should allow me to heat the house safely down to -100f.

kstills, I believe Dave is talking about the combustion fan. On some of the early boilers they were shipped with a regular Fasco B30 combustion fan. On later units Matt and Dave decided to ship with a more powerful 65cfm fan.

EarthWindandFire wrote:kstills, I believe Dave is talking about the combustion fan. On some of the early boilers they were shipped with a regular Fasco B30 combustion fan. On later units Matt and Dave decided to ship with a more powerful 65cfm fan.

Ah.

Well, based on the limited amount of data I could generate, I was putting out the amount of btus that I should have been, it's just that it was barely enough to keep up with demand. However, if the fan is undersized that could explain my longish recovery times.

I will go back and check the fan.

kstills wrote:

EarthWindandFire wrote:kstills, I believe Dave is talking about the combustion fan. On some of the early boilers they were shipped with a regular Fasco B30 combustion fan. On later units Matt and Dave decided to ship with a more powerful 65cfm fan.

Ah.

Well, based on the limited amount of data I could generate, I was putting out the amount of btus that I should have been, it's just that it was barely enough to keep up with demand. However, if the fan is undersized that could explain my longish recovery times.

I will go back and check the fan.

If the combustion blower has a damper plate on the inlet it is a 65cfm. If not it is a 60cfm and is not really 60cfm at the static pressure the boilers have. http://leisurelinestoves.com/files/63976873.pdf . If you have the 60cfm contact your dealer to get the 65cfm. This is for the Boilers only.
Dave

Flyer5 wrote:
If the combustion blower has a damper plate on the inlet it is a 65cfm. If not it is a 60cfm and is not really 60cfm at the static pressure the boilers have. http://leisurelinestoves.com/files/63976873.pdf . If you have the 60cfm contact your dealer to get the 65cfm.
Dave

Lol, well, I can guarantee you I don't have one of those damper plates on my fan. If I did, it would have been something else I would have been playing with.