Ahs 260 online

Well first I want to say, God bless you all. I live in an 1862 house in nj, close to new hope pa. Oil was killing me at 1500 gal per year. After reading this site, purchased a ahs 260, new in 2014. Money for me is very tight, but I persevered, and kept going, inspired by others on this site. On Nov 8th 2020 I finally fired up my stoker. I have not had a problem yet due to taking in the info from all here. I never thought I would here these words "dad it too warm in here". But there is always room for improvement. I will post pictures of my hydronic system and ask for help to improve. God bless.

Awesome! Glad you got it fired up. looking forward to more pictures!

Have been working on my boiler install for over a year now, close to 3 years since i decided to get a coal boiler, my coal stove is nice, but it cant distribute the heat evenly in the house. woke up this morning to 14 outside and 64 degrees in my room lol.

Welcome to the forum,

Wow, Nice! An S260 is a whole lot of boiler, What all are you heating with this Monster?

-Don

Im am heating, the worst desigined old house ever built. I have 5ft x 27" double hung windows, a 10ft by 5ft picture window, and no insulation. house was built in 1862 with 6 fire places for heat. ( had coal grates). Sometime in the 30's cast radiators were plumed in, but only on 1st floor, with one 1/2 height on stair landing to 2nd floor, and one on 2nd floor to bathroom(30ft) from basement. All is monoflow tees, single circulator( taco 10). I have tried to tighen up as best I can, but alas I am a poor guy(replacment windows aint cheap). I have a modern(columbia oil boiler) rated for 180,000 btu with 1.25 gal/hr nozzzle, which on a day of 32deg would run 12 hours per 24hr day.

stick with it! Took me 6 yrs, and I will never look back. Best thing I ever did for my family.

lincolnmania wrote: ↑

Sat. Dec. 19, 2020 5:22 pm

Awesome! Glad you got it fired up. looking forward to more pictures!

Have been working on my boiler install for over a year now, close to 3 years since i decided to get a coal boiler, my coal stove is nice, but it cant distribute the heat evenly in the house. woke up this morning to 14 outside and 64 degrees in my room lol.

Here are some pics of how I tied the beast into my system.
1) I ran 1" parallel rehaue pipe from boiler house(60ft from house) to basement. Supply and return are 2 1" tied together.
2) these go to 350,000 btu 11/4 100 plate heat exchanger. Coal boiler loop on taco 7 running continues.
3) all returns from house, go to heat exchanger back to oil boiler.
4) taco 7 throttled back, runs 7/24 to keep boiler core hot.
5) oil boiler aquastat turned down to 165.( Has not fired yet since coal fired up)
Although this has been working I gotta believe it may be more efficient if I can do a real primary, secondary loop, or any other idea from you very talented people.

since nov 8th wheni lit it, I have burned 80lbs per day, closer to 100 when 10deg these last few days. at 200 per ton thats .10 per lb so 8.00 per day vs oil at 2.50 per gal 12 gal per day at 30.00 per day. I may have presents this christmas! Coal is awesome.

Awesome AHS jk! This is my first year with one of these also, I have the grandfather to your boiler! Love the pics, nice install!

Are you using antifreeze in the AHS? Can't think of another reason to separate the two boilers with heat exchangers.

Have you out put any insulation in the attic?

Yes I am, I have 30% glycol In the coal loop. This was the big reason for loop seperation, along with others.

Rob R. wrote: ↑

Sun. Dec. 20, 2020 8:18 am

Are you using antifreeze in the AHS? Can't think of another reason to separate the two boilers with heat exchangers.

Have you out put any insulation in the attic?

Thank you, took a long time to get everyting setup. It might be newer, but not as pretty as yours, awesome paint job.

swyman wrote: ↑

Sun. Dec. 20, 2020 7:08 am

Awesome AHS jk! This is my first year with one of these also, I have the grandfather to your boiler! Love the pics, nice install!

This house is weird deseign. The attic is a whole other floor with rooms. I have put fiberglass insulation, where i can access the space between the rafters. The floor up their is a real hardwood floor, so no way to insulate it.

Jkohanski wrote: ↑

Sun. Dec. 20, 2020 8:44 am

Yes I am, I have 30% glycol In the coal loop. This was the big reason for loop seperation, along with others.

Removing that air conditioner from the upstairs window might help a little. At 1500 gallons per year/ 80 lbs a day I think you could have done fine with the S130 model, but you have plenty of load to make the 260 run.

I don't understand what that black Taco 007 is doing. I see that you have it choked a little with the isolation valve.

Rob, thats my daughters room, who suffers from a condition called POTS, there are no radiators in her room, and she needs cold air. She like all teens keeps her door closed at all times any way. Today I used plastic to seal up the 150" x 60" picture window on 1st floor. Now that made a huge difference. There are no rads on the 2nd floor save 1 in the bath room. That circulator is used to keep a constant flow going through heat exchanger( oil side) back to oil boiler core to keep it warm. I am thinking of putting a relay on it so when thetmostat calls for heat, and turns on main circ(taco 10) it turns off. This way I can have it running full but not interfere with the main circ which it does at full flow. It also keeps the oil core hot since I use the domestic hot coil in the oil boiler. I borrowed a dual thermo couple from a friend,and at full load get a delta t of 30 deg in heat exchanger from coal gun input(182) to output(152). I have ash set at 130 fire looks little high. will do Dons fire height rod stick tomorrow, post what I get. so far No back puffs.

Rob R. wrote: ↑

Sun. Dec. 20, 2020 3:51 pm

Removing that air conditioner from the upstairs window might help a little. At 1500 gallons per year/ 80 lbs a day I think you could have done fine with the S130 model, but you have plenty of load to make the 260 run.

I don't understand what that black Taco 007 is doing. I see that you have it choked a little with the isolation valve.

Rob r. you were right about the baro being located too close to the boiler. Fly ash was getting all over. I tested the draft with a manometer and got about -.015 draft. Per the AHS manual, with low draft it is not needed so i sealed it up with silicone, till I do a shutdown and can redo the pipe. With a big wind it pulls about -.05 to .06. Wonder if I still need one, thoughts?