Coalpail.com Forum

To all:

My EFM 520 Boiler is expected to be delivered sometime in the next 2 weeks, and I am looking for installers in the Western, Massachusetts area. I have found one individual that has installed a few, but I am looking for some others since his estimate sounds high to me ($4700), which includes two custom sized water to air exchangers. Does anyone know of any reputable installers in my area?

Manny

Didn't your dealer offer to install it?

Stoker:

My dealer did not offer to install it. He gave me the name of the person that handles his installations. I got his price and thought it was steep. That is why I am looking for others in the area that have installed the EFM boiler. Any thoughts?

Manny

Have you thought about doing it yourself?

Can you call me at efm 610 965 9041. I need to know more information to see if I can find an installer for you.

You could install it yourself, as suggested, and any plumber could do the piping.

I ran into the same problem when I put mine in. Nobody was even close to being reasonable in price so I went to the library and checked out every book on HVAC and basic plumbing they had and did it myself. It really wasn't that difficult, the hardest part was getting the boiler inside the basement. Don't believe one word of the engineering BS some of the salespeople tell you about water-to-air heat exchangers. I bought a lifetime warranty 19x22" 3 row exchanger (with 1" inlet and outlets) off of Ebay for $189.99 which heats my house easily, and if you seen my windows circa 1887 (not 1987) you will understand that it can throw off some serious heat. Even if you have never done any plumbing it can still be done if you practice soldering on scrap pipes for a few hours to get the hang of it. PM me if you need any help on the installation, it took me a while to get it so it works with the existing furnace automatically but now I just set the coal thermostat to 70* and the Propane furnace to 60* and forget about it except for the ashes.

e.alleg:

Thanks for your gracious offer of assistance, but the task of doing it myself is simply too intimidating for me. I am pretty handy around the house with small jobs, but when it comes to something like the installation of a coal boiler, I want to make sure it is done right from the beginning. Not being able to find anyone else to give me an estimate, and having confirmed that $13,500 for the boiler and its installation is not unreasonable, I have signed my installer's proposal and have given him the 50% deposit for the installation. I determined that about $3000-$3500 of the installation price are for parts and the $2000 - $2500 balance is for the labor. It is not worth it to me to do it myself to save $2000 - $2500, with all the much more costly risks associated with doing it myself.

I did order 24.5 tons of Summit coal on Monday and I am wating for its delivery this week or next. Finally, I am waiting for my EFM 520 boiler to arrive (should be any day now) so that my dealer can deliver it to my house. Either he or my installer will be moving it into my basement, which is a walkout, and it should not be that difficult (famous last words). According to my contract with my installer, the installation is scheduled for July 28-31. I am hoping to have this whole system up and running by August so that I can tinker with it before the cold season arrives.

The only manual jobs I will be doing in this venture are: building a coal bin adjacent to the boiler, chuting coal into my coal bin (hopefully only once a year), and removing ashes. Oh, and I will probably attend to any routine maintenance and cleaning issues.

I am hoping that the work required of me will be worth the savings -- but think it will.

Manny

Be sure to post pictures once it's all set up so we can see! A brand new EFM professionally installed with 24 tons of coal is a dream come true, you'll love it!

Manny, I did a search of your posts and found that you presently have two hot air furnaces in use. I'm not sure of the configuration and etceteras, but this would explain the steeper than expected install price. Will it be set up to run the blowers continuous and modulate the heat to the individual coils? That would be a very comfy setup indeed.

Coaledsweat:

Thanks for the suggestion, but how would I modulate the heat to the individual coils? What would be the benefit of that other than a more even heating, if any? Finally, wouldn't I burn out the blowers? What are the replacement costs for blowers, if you know? I could still talk to my installer to redesign to accommodate your proposal if you can convince me that it is a better design than what I am planning to do now, which is to run the blowers only when the thermostat calls for heat and the water from the boiler to the water to air exchangers reach a certain temperature. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Yes, the custom made water to air exchangers alone cost over $500 each , I can see how the parts to install a boiler in this conversion could be more costly.

Manny

Modulated heat is more money. It works on two loops through a throttling valve controlled by a special thermostat to keep the homes temp rock steady. The heat doesn't go up and down when it starts and stops. You would run the blowers at a slower speed continuously. In a FHA system you generally feel the warmth when they start and cool when they stop.
I believe that the blower motors would last longer running continuously as opposed to starting and stopping all the time. I may be wrong here, anyone know for sure?
Blower motors are around $60-90 IIRC.

Another way to modulate the water temperature is to use injection mixing, mixing supply and return waters in the right proportion to get the desired temperature. In residential or light commercial use it's done with a variable speed circulator pump. A proportional thermostat controls the pump speed. They system provides very uniform comfortable heat. In a forced hot air system it eliminates the blast of hot air and minimizes drafts because the air is constantly being mixed. There are similar advantages in hydronic systems also.