A Trip to Scrapper's Shop of Misfit Stokers

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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sun. Nov. 08, 2015 7:35 pm

I was lucky enough to get a look inside of forum member Scrapper's shop today. There are some VERY interesting projects in there, some complete, some just beginning. Here are just a few.

A very early EFM HI-Boy with a square door. This will likely get a full restoration to original condition due to how rare it is to find a usable one.
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Some of the items in the "Archive".
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A 700 that got a little to hot!
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Lots of spare 520 parts.
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The back of a Fire Jet.
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This one might look familiar. A Gentleman Janitor GJ-51? with and EFM S-15 stoker in it, A Losch Fire door and an EFM Ash door. Heinz-57 Varieties!
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My personal favorite, a Bair-Matic boiler with an EFM S-15 stoker in it that heats the whole shop.
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I'm glad I stopped in there today. I had a great time and I'm really glad to meet someone that puts stokers in places they never were meant to be. And by doing that, producing some great, reliable heat making machines!

-Don
Last edited by StokerDon on Mon. Nov. 09, 2015 10:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

 
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windyhill4.2
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Posts: 6072
Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both

Post by windyhill4.2 » Sun. Nov. 08, 2015 7:53 pm

SD, there's more than 1 of you :shock: :what: :P toothy Thanks for sharing,very interesting stuff. :)

 
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freetown fred
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Posts: 30293
Joined: Thu. Dec. 31, 2009 12:33 pm
Location: Freetown,NY 13803
Hand Fed Coal Stove: HITZER 50-93
Coal Size/Type: BLASCHAK Nut

Post by freetown fred » Sun. Nov. 08, 2015 8:13 pm

Outstanding post SD--thanx

 
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StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sun. Nov. 08, 2015 8:29 pm

You are very welcome guys.

There are two big differences between Scrapper and me, he knows what he is doing AND he is a very good welder!

-Don

 
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windyhill4.2
Member
Posts: 6072
Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both

Post by windyhill4.2 » Sun. Nov. 08, 2015 9:21 pm

SD,are you saying that the stokers you put together & work good are just a rookie mistake ?? ;) toothy


 
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StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sun. Nov. 08, 2015 9:25 pm

Well, I wouldn't call them mistakes. I would call them guesstimates that worked out well!

-Don

 
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windyhill4.2
Member
Posts: 6072
Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both

Post by windyhill4.2 » Sun. Nov. 08, 2015 9:29 pm

If you enjoy doing it,keep doing it,things will go better as you learn the hands-on way. It is fun to watch for what the projects turn out to be. :)

 
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StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Thu. Nov. 12, 2015 8:00 pm

Here's another one! Well, it's not a stoker, but it used to be!

This one is called "BIG BERTHA".
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You EFM guys might recognize the fire door, ash door and blower.
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If you guessed "520", you are correct. That is an EFM 520 plate boiler, sitting on a large set of grates from an old Octopus hand fired furnace. All that is welded into a custom made base complete with a hinged cleanout door on the back. This monster will burn anything you can fit through the door! And put out a ton of heat doing it.

Big Bertha is one sweet heat machine! I hope to see her fired up one day.

-Don

 
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StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sat. Aug. 05, 2017 7:37 pm

I stopped by to see Scrapper on my way home from picking up some Van Wert and EFM parts in Wiconisco PA.

There was a customer, round door 520 ready for pick up and a 350 being put back together for another customer.
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There was also a Hercules octopus furnace in really nice shape. This one doesn't have a home yet so it's a "rainy day" project.
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-Don

 
ben
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Posts: 178
Joined: Thu. Aug. 06, 2009 9:06 pm
Location: n central PA
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 350 with an S-20 pot (1966)
Coal Size/Type: Rice

Post by ben » Sun. Aug. 06, 2017 4:13 pm

I remember when I picked my unit up from Scrapper in 2008 he showed me a EFM 1200 that he had up for sale. Amazing how big the firepot
was. I enjoyed the tour as well.


 
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CoalJockey
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Location: Loysburg, PA
Stoker Coal Boiler: Several EFM 520 refurbs...one 900, one 1300 mega-stoker
Hand Fed Coal Stove: (2) Warm Morning Stoves

Post by CoalJockey » Sun. Aug. 06, 2017 5:57 pm

That would've been a 1300 Ben. I remember when Steve had that boiler for sale. We have a 1300 here that heats our truck shop. I forget the diameter of the fire pot, but I do know that I cannot hug it, my arms are too short! :)

 
User avatar
StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sun. Aug. 06, 2017 6:28 pm

CoalJockey wrote:That would've been a 1300 Ben. I remember when Steve had that boiler for sale. We have a 1300 here that heats our truck shop. I forget the diameter of the fire pot, but I do know that I cannot hug it, my arms are too short! :)
There are other projects afoot in this shop. If you take a close look at the little 350 boiler in the picture, there is multi-piece ash ring sitting on top of it on the left side. They start at the front and from what I remember when I was there, and go almost to the back of the 350.

I don't know what that ash ring fits but the diameter has to be well over 20".

-Don

 
Pacowy
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Posts: 3555
Joined: Tue. Sep. 04, 2007 10:14 pm
Location: Dalton, MA
Stoker Coal Boiler: H.B. Smith 350 Mills boiler/EFM 85R stoker
Coal Size/Type: Buckwheat/anthracite

Post by Pacowy » Sun. Aug. 06, 2017 7:39 pm

22" ash ring. Biggest EFM underfed firepot I know of is 26" on 85R.

Mike

 
User avatar
StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sat. Dec. 15, 2018 7:59 pm

I was up at Scrapper's today picking up my Van Wert. He's got a pile of EFM's, a couple Harman's and a couple of LL's to work on.
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He just got this High Boy in. No base and no stoker but he said the boiler is about the cleanest tube boiler he has ever seen. This one is a round door.
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Built in 1954.
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Here's another High Boy waiting in the wings. This one has the rectangular door.Both High Boys will get new fabricated bases, refurbed stokers and jackets.
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Stoker out of a DF 520. In the background is a finished round door 520 waiting for pickup.
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Part of a 700 stoker. The boiler is in the background.
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On the top of that pile of boilers is probably the only DF 350 in existence. He turned it into a DF years ago for someone and now its back.
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If you ever wondered what the Harman DVC square pipe looked like inside, here it is. The outer part is the air inlet. The inner part is the exhaust.
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A neat look'in stove.
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The good Ol' BairMatic/EFM is still in the back room heating the shop and the apartment upstairs. It is wearing some insulation now.
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That concludes today's tour.

-Don

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