Thinking about a coal boiler.

Post by **StokerDon** » Sun. Jan. 07, 2018 4:59 pm

lincolnmania wrote: ↑
Sun. Jan. 07, 2018 3:45 pm
a friend of mine has some cast iron baseboard.....he said they are like a foot high.....it's free but i got to go to south jersey to get them. he i think there are three of them between 7-8 ft.

That's a long way to go to get baseboards. If you hunt for them, you can get usable radiators for abut the same price around here. You just have to move them.

-Don

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Sun. Jan. 07, 2018 5:10 pm

lincolnmania wrote: ↑
Sun. Jan. 07, 2018 3:45 pm
a friend of mine has some cast iron baseboard.....he said they are like a foot high.....it's free but i got to go to south jersey to get them. he i think there are three of them between 7-8 ft.

Visit a friend & return with free heating goodies....

Seems like a win-win..

k-2 · Post by **k-2** » Sun. Jan. 07, 2018 5:17 pm

Getting heat from the basement up to the 3rd floor with a hot air space heater will always be a challenge.

Post by **Rob R.** » Sun. Jan. 07, 2018 5:38 pm

lincolnmania wrote: ↑
Sun. Jan. 07, 2018 3:45 pm
a friend of mine has some cast iron baseboard.....he said they are like a foot high.....it's free but i got to go to south jersey to get them. he i think there are three of them between 7-8 ft.

If you can't get enough to do an entire room that you want to put on its own zone, I would not bother. They are not fun to break down to smaller lengths, and if you had to purchase more of them to complete the job it would take some serious $.

Also consider that 24' of brand new fin-tube radiation costs about $220.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Sun. Jan. 07, 2018 5:43 pm

Rob R. wrote: ↑
Sun. Jan. 07, 2018 5:38 pm
If you can't get enough to do an entire room that you want to put on its own zone, I would not bother. They are not fun to break down to smaller lengths, and if you had to purchase more of them to complete the job it would take some serious $.

Also consider that 24' of brand new fin-tube radiation costs about $220.

these are one piece.......kind of a transition between the sectional radiators and the slant fin.....they are solid cast iron.

yes i figured in the cost of the slant fin. i might be better off putting water to air heat exchangers inline with the forced air.....i can do one if i lose the central a/c (it's dead anyway, evaporator leaks) or if i replace the a/c my only choice is two or three units.....three would be cool, one xone for upstairs, one zone for the kitchen addition and one zone for the rest of the house.....i see small heat exchangers (40-50,000 btu) that i could fit into my trunk lines. those are under 100 dollars each.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Sat. Jan. 27, 2018 5:48 pm

Got the electric bill today.
299 dollars!! about 100 dollars higher than last yr.
most of that is from running the coal stove and the furnace air handler.
usage was like 1500 kwh, way way high!

i did have an oops moment. the new line for the sump pump froze and the zoeller pump kept pumping, i guess thru the little weep hole on the pump....the water in the sump was steaming hot. was like that i am thinking 24-48 hours.

i sold a 351 cleveland i had for a lost project, there is part of my used coal boiler fund.
once my garage is built i will go visit glenn if he still has the efm 350's

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 10:46 am

have some recent options on a boiler for the house.

a van wert va-800. the non adjustable feed rate worries me......what's the least amount of coal this will burn in a day? (is it going to cost more than the electric water heater to run in the summer?) boiler is still in use minus the coal parts, and don has the coal parts.

a efm 520. owner just removed to install natural gas. looks decent, it's a round door and has the older style gearbox... will still probably need some work i'm sure.

the efm is 200 dollars more than the price of the van wert stuff. which one is gonna give me the best bang for my buck?

Post by **coaledsweat** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 10:57 am

It can feed 24 pounds an hour, when it isn't feeding, it eats nothing. Sounds good to me.

Post by **Rob R.** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 11:00 am

That Van Wert 800 looked like it needed some work on the tankless cool area. Not sure how the EFM compares in that regard, but you should make sure you are not getting a boiler that needs a ton of work, or is not repairable.

A VA-800 will happily heat your house, but you need to make sure you have the floorplan and chimney to accommodate it.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 1:03 pm

the chimney is block, no liner, it goes from the basement to well above the roof on the second floor. the bottom half is about 58 yrs old and the top half was done in 1991 when we put a two story addition onto the house.

house is 26x54 on the first floor, the second floor of the addition is 21x26, the pole barn will be 500-1000 square foot.

i have a decent 240v mig welder.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 1:18 pm

pics of the efm's in the ad

Post by **Rob R.** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 1:30 pm

No clay tiles in the chimney?

The coil is not visible in those efm pictures.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 1:37 pm

no, never had any. chimney block with a round hole inside.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 1:40 pm

yea i noticed the coils are not in the picture, you can kinda see the one.
i have seen steve in process of repairing the coil plate area so i know what you are talking about.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 1:44 pm

lincolnmania wrote: ↑
Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 1:37 pm
no, never had any. chimney block with a round hole inside.

In-laws farm house had 1 chimney like that, it always worked fine.

Thinking about a coal boiler.

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