Axeman Anderson 130 or 260

New here to the forums and I am looking at buying an axeman anderson boiler. I have a lead on a 260 that has been out of service for about 2 years. It was setup for hot water not steam. I also have a lead on a 130 that was setup for hot water and has been out of service for about 4 years. The price is about the same on both units and the distance to go pick them up is about the same.

I own a modest by level house that is 30 x 40 with a full basement so approximately 2400 sq ft of heating. I live in the Pocono Mountains of PA. I eventually would like to put up a workshop garage approximately 40x40 that I would like to heat from the AA boiler. I currently have an oil fired boiler with 5 zones that I would tie into the AA.

In the spring time I would like to add a heat exchanger to warm up the pool and jump start the season.

I am going to put the AA in a separate room off the side of the house(the room is not accessible from the house only outside) approximately 8'x12'. The room currently house my generatator. What should I do for makeup air for combustion? I was thinking a louvered vent that opened when the AA was firing.

So my question is would the 260 be to large to heat my house (without the workshop) and what kind of problems might I run into running a boiler to large. Or should I pursue the AA 130? What is the minimum BTU load I would need for AA 260?

I have read people putting dump zones on these boilers what is this referring to?

Any info would be greatly appreciated I need to make a move on one of these before they both get sold.

A 130 would be the best choice for your home, however if you want the extra ooomph for the things you mention, I would think that a 260 may be the better choice, They will 'idle down' and use a little more coal but have the reserve for the additional loading you are talking about. A dump zone is a means of scrubbing off excess heat from the boiler IF a need arrises. It requires a dedicated 'load' whether it be in the house of some other tankage that will allow the boiler to regulate its overtemp situation. Make up air is too critical to all a small flapper to act only when the boiler fires, and I can assure you that the boiler will not idle without free access to the outside air. It will more than warm in an 8' by 12' room. Even a 30' by 30' room would be warmed. Do not underestimate the radiant heat loss from one of these machines. I don't know the cost of your machines, and if your additional needs are waaaaay down the road, a 130 will do those just fine......if you have some extra cash, buy both and sell the smaller machine later when you add on the bigger loading.

A little more info about your timetable would be very handy. Also, your current fuel usage, etc. All the folks I know of have a 260 sized machine for pool duty...just so you know.....a hundred thousand BTU per hour for a pool is a significant load for any boiler. Heating up a 75000 gallon pool is much different that a 40 gallon Super-Stor.

I currently have a Harman 2000 stove it is a manual hand fed twice a day stove that has kept me very warm since 2000 : . I also have an oil fired furnace that heats the hot water baseboard. I burn about 3 tons of coal per year in the Harmon. I had a coil fabricated out of stainless steel pipe and installed it into my Harman stove. The coil allows me to maintain boiler temp when no heat is being called for. When the heat on the opposite end of the house turns on the oil furnace comes on. The addition of the coil to the Harman stove allowed me to only burn about 200 gallons of oil for the entire last heating season.

In the spring we will be adding a 18 x 30 above ground pool. The garage is probably 2 years away at this point. I would like to use the AA to get the pool warm and then let mother nature do its thing with a solar cover.

I currently use an electric hot water heater because it is to expensive to use the hot water coil for the boiler. I was wondering how well would a 260 idle during the summer time to provide DHW?

While I would love to buy both stoves financially that is not going to happen .

I have not decided on what to do with the Harman as of yet. If I get the AA up and running then the Harman would not be used. I was just searching and found that the pool heating load can be as much as 100,000 BTU's.

I am looking for something that I do not have to feed every 12 hours and not have all the dust in the house. AA fits the bill.

Get the 260, it has less downtime and is more valuable. I am heating 2200' with one and zero issues. It burns the same amount of coal that my hand fired did but that was down an average of two or three weeks every winter due to maintenance issues. You have big plans for the beast heating this that and the other thing so go for the biggie. A 130 would struggle to heat a pool that size.

There is no minimum load requirement, the beast can lurk for days without demand. I don't even run a timer. Yes to the louvers. I would avoid a powered operator, just suction so make sure what you chose is light and smooth in operation.

I have never seen a pool heater smaller than 200K around here. Doubt a 100K heater would be up to the task. Heating a pool is a total loss project.

I pulled the trigger on the 260. I am heading out to pick it up now 2 1/2 hour drive one way then I need to disassemble the beast. If any one has any pointers on dis-assembly please let me know.

lprince wrote:I pulled the trigger on the 260. I am heading out to pick it up now 2 1/2 hour drive one way then I need to disassemble the beast. If any one has any pointers on dis-assembly please let me know.

Good call, the 260 may be a little overkill for the house but when you add you garage and domestic hot water plus the pool, you shouldn't have any problems. You can swim into October if you wish!

Now is the time to buy, in another month memories of last winter will start to kick in and boilers and stoves will start disapearing quickly.

Make sure you post a lot of photos, we don't get to see a lot of AA260's.

I hope you have help with it, that thing is HEAVY...

-Don

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.

Archimedes

I originally thought that the deal fell through as someone else got to look at it before me. The other person found out it was a 260 and got scared. if I had known that this was going to happen I would have brought home some johnson bars and pipe. instead it is the digging bar some lumber and the 40 ton movers dolly and trailer Pics to follow!

When you get there, you need to look over the fan assembly mounting. it is like nothing I have ever seen. There is normally a huge cast iron heat dispersion cover for the combustion chamber. This boiler has what looks to be an extended round flange that the cover would fit inside of. That is not stock in any way, so you need to check that out. It may be fine, just not like and AA or AHS transfer plates.

A couple 2" by 8" about 8 feet long will work fine, however remember the base is not solid under the door area, so that is why you need some stout lumber for the roller to support the weight. It will be about 600 without the auger and things you can remove, so go easy.

That thing is about 1400# all together. I believe the vessel will weigh in at about 850# or so when stripped. I used a backhoe when I did mine. The bushing box for the fan is full of oil and will leak so keep that upright at all times.

lprince wrote:Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.

Archimedes

The problem I have with Archimedes 's theory is once I have a long enough lever, I end up crushing the fulcrum!

-Don

Congrats on the new toy!