Time to purchase my first coal boiler..... but have some questions.

I hear all the time that a ton of coal equals x amount of propane or oil. Yet, if my propane or oil boiler is 97% efficient and my stoker is 67% efficient coal is not as affordable as portrayed. Obviously these numbers are fictitious, but you get the idea. There is a lot more to these boilers than how the auger or the grate works. We need some real ratings on efficiency.

I don't even know the efficiency rating on my EFM520.....but while thinking about that fact..... i decided that i really don't care in the least... It has done a terrific job of heating 2 houses & my repair shop....almost 4 winters & shortly will be 4 winters of heating with coal.... I really don't care about the efficiency rating of an oil/propain/ng unit.... i wouldn't use 1 of them anyway...

Efficiency ratings are overrated ,as there are too many variables for any rating to be consistent.

windyhill4.2 wrote: ↑

Wed. Feb. 28, 2018 10:04 pm

Efficiency ratings are overrated

Until you compare an outdoor wood boiler to a coal boiler.

Rob R. wrote: ↑

Wed. Feb. 28, 2018 10:14 pm

Until you compare an outdoor wood boiler to a coal boiler.

WELL !!!!!
Now you just had to bring that extremely poor excuse of rating BTU's....

Rob , Thinking about that one... my EFM is far more efficient,especially in the labor department.

wood2Coal wrote: ↑

Wed. Feb. 28, 2018 9:45 pm

I hear all the time that a ton of coal equals x amount of propane or oil. Yet, if my propane or oil boiler is 97% efficient and my stoker is 67% efficient coal is not as affordable as portrayed. Obviously these numbers are fictitious, but you get the idea. There is a lot more to these boilers than how the auger or the grate works. We need some real ratings on efficiency.

I have installed EFM's in two houses that were previously heated with Weil McLain oil boilers, with AFLU ratings of 82-85%. Both houses worked out very close to 180 gallons of heating oil to 1 ton of coal, and that includes the houses being a few degrees warmer on coal. Call it 80% for the coal units.

I've attached a spreadsheet I put together almost 10 years ago when I first got into stokers. I think you will find that even if you are optimistic on the efficiency of your propane unit, and conservative on the coal unit, that the savings is impressive.