Coalpail.com Forum

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. There are only 3 of us(one child) so showers aren't going on forever. We like to keep the temp 70-72. I know there are other factors that I'm forgetting but this seems to be the main stuff.
My concern is will this boiler be able to keep up with the everyday things, especially during a cold stretch(highs teens to 20s, lows single digits). I know its rated at 110,000 BTU and up to 3000sq.ft. but my current boiler(just oil) is 130,000 btu. I just want to make sure that if I spent the $$$ I wont regret it by it not being able to keep up. I don't know a whole lot about boilers, but I have been heating with coal the past 2 winters and really like it, using a Harman Mark111. I'm looking for less tending and a more even heat through the house using the baseboards.
Any input and personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Jason

Oh you're hooked. Coal junkie forever.

I will let others answer. But I see no issue. Most oil units are over sized.

Welcome Jason,you seem to be close by me.The best bet would be to do a heat load calculation and enter all your info to get a better grasp on the heat load,someone will give you a link to a program for heat loss calulation.Yes it will be much easier to tend a stoker boiler and have every room equally heated.

Yes very close. Outside Spring City, Pa. Sounds good. I'll look for that.
And yes I am hooked. Love the heat coal puts out.

closer than you think,i'm in East Coventry

How many feet of baseboard radiation is installed on each zone? Does the current system keep the house warm in frigid weather?

How much fuel did you burn before the coal stove?

xxxboost wrote:Yes very close. Outside Spring City, Pa. Sounds good. I'll look for that.
And yes I am hooked. Love the heat coal puts out.

And I'm in Royersford. The other side of the river.

Do that heat calc but if you had a 130,000 oil boiler and it kept the house warm enough, you should be fine with the WL 110. And I'm sure that the fine folks at LL have their boiler under rated a little.............

A couple of other questions...... how do you plan to get the coal in and the ashes out of the house ??

Are you replacing the oil burner or adding this to the current system keeping the oil burner as a backup ?? Or adding the oil gun to the WL and getting rid of the old oil burner completely ??

Do you have a chimney close by ??

Rick

Small world, East Vincent, right next door! Rob, there is baseboard pretty much the entire perimeter of the house, except for kitchen cabinets, 2 entry doors, and a built in fire place. Not sure of the actual feet though. Basement I would actually be adding this loop in. Would probably be about 35ft of baseboard down there. I'm not looking for the world down there as it usually doesn't get much below 60-65, just to take the chill off. The boiler did heat the upstairs without a problem, its been a while since I burned oil in winter because I had a wood stove before the coal, but I think we burned 2 tanks of oil in the cold season, say late Oct-April, prob 3 total a year. I just remember it being expensive.

If you absolutely feel that you need 130,000 BTU's, the AHS S130 Coal Gun, and the Axeman-Anderson 130 boilers come with that rating.

An hour meter on the burner would be helpful. We will still get some cold weather in the coming weeks, and it would be a perfect time to see what the load is.

@Rick, man seems everyone is close by. Very cool. To answer your questions- I would have to bucket the coal in as I do now and would plan on getting an extra ash pan to take ash out when cool. I don't have another flue without remodeling the chimney... and I just did that in 2010. I know, hindsight is always...if so I would just tie in and where the boiler is located there isn't a good spot to power vent. That is the reason I liked the Wl110 because it has both options and I'd use the existing flue. And I don't have the room for the big auger types. I did a lot of measuring and they just wont fit without losing all my storage. I was just going to replace the whole unit and get the gun with it.

lsayre wrote:If you absolutely feel that you need 130,000 BTU's, the AHS S130 Coal Gun, and the Axeman-Anderson 130 boilers come with that rating.

I don't feel that I do or don't need it, just want to make sure I'll have enough. I do like the AHS, wish it was dual fuel or I had another chimney flue.

xxxboost wrote:@Rick, man seems everyone is close by. Very cool. To answer your questions- I would have to bucket the coal in as I do now and would plan on getting an extra ash pan to take ash out when cool. I don't have another flue without remodeling the chimney... and I just did that in 2010. I know, hindsight is always...if so I would just tie in and where the boiler is located there isn't a good spot to power vent. That is the reason I liked the Wl110 because it has both options and I'd use the existing flue. And I don't have the room for the big auger types. I did a lot of measuring and they just wont fit without losing all my storage. I was just going to replace the whole unit and get the gun with it.

Just curious can you powervent your oil boiler? Then you can keep an auto back up. A lot of people have done it this way.

Flyer5 wrote:

xxxboost wrote:@Rick, man seems everyone is close by. Very cool. To answer your questions- I would have to bucket the coal in as I do now and would plan on getting an extra ash pan to take ash out when cool. I don't have another flue without remodeling the chimney... and I just did that in 2010. I know, hindsight is always...if so I would just tie in and where the boiler is located there isn't a good spot to power vent. That is the reason I liked the Wl110 because it has both options and I'd use the existing flue. And I don't have the room for the big auger types. I did a lot of measuring and they just wont fit without losing all my storage. I was just going to replace the whole unit and get the gun with it.

Just curious can you powervent your oil boiler? Then you can keep an auto back up. A lot of people have done it this way.

I'm not sure. Its a peerless and when I looked it up it said made for a standard chimney, so I really don't know. Does it matter. Oil will only be used during the summer. Hope someone else can answer it for me. unfortunately it was installed in 2006...yes the hindsight again

Sure you can power-vent the Peerless. You need to understand that after you go to a stoker boiler you will perceive that you are no longer in the same house.
My question would be about access to bring coal in and take ashes out. You just might run the 110 earlier in the fall and later in the spring as you become familiar with the benefits of coal. You certainly won't need 130K (very conservative rating IMO) of an AA or AHS. Order the big hopper and easy cleanout feature on the 110. Dave will advise, and do yourself a favor: Listen to what he suggests. It is for your benefit, not his. Many of us burn 24/7/365, so perhaps this story may have another chapter or two.