Axeman 130 Heats Wood Boiler
- StokerDon
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- 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
Well, it's finally actually really Winter. That means it's time for a Winter Axeman experiment!
A freind of mine heats his home with a Mahoning 500 outdoor wood boiler. Next season he wants to replace the Mahoning with an Axeman Anderson. We thought it might be interesting to temporarily install a 130M in the basement of the outbuilding where the wood boiler is, Then connect it to heat the wood boiler.
Here is what we are heating. The the lower floor of the house is at ground level on the left. Then the upper floor and garage are at ground level on the right. The outbuilding is in back about 20 feet from the house and is a similar 2 floor setup. The wood boiler is on a large, roofed porch connected to the outbuilding. PEX from boiler to house is about 25 feet.
Total square footage being heated is close to 5,000.
Currently there are 3 zones plus a DHW zone off of the wood boiler.
Zone 1, House heat exchanger.
Zone 2, house + garage radiant floor heat.
Zone 3, Outbuilding heat exchanger.
DHW zone, heats plate heat exchanger fed to electric water heater.
No Glycol in the system. Wood boiler is an open system with boiler treatment.
All pumps are on the back of the wood boiler. The pump in the center is for the outbuilding zone. We will use that to backfeed the Axeman into the wood boiler. The outbuilding zone PEX enters in the basement. The two smaller lines are domestic water for the outbuilding. The plan is to remove the Tee's and connect the supply and return on the Axeman. The run to the wood boiler from there is about 8 feet. Luckily, the outbuilding has a chimney with a thimble in the basement. There is a wood burner currently connected. The Axeman will sit about where the wood burner is now. The Plan;
Keep in mind that this is going to be a temporary setup until the Mahoning is removed and the porch is enclosed. At that point the Axeman will be moved and plumbed in as a pressurized system.
Remove the wood burner in the basement of the outbuilding and install the Axeman 130.
Plumb the Axeman supply and return into the current outbuilding zone.
Potential problems;
The wood boiler is an unpressurized, open system.
8 feet of 1" PEX from the basement to the wood boiler.
What do you think? Will this work???
-Don
A freind of mine heats his home with a Mahoning 500 outdoor wood boiler. Next season he wants to replace the Mahoning with an Axeman Anderson. We thought it might be interesting to temporarily install a 130M in the basement of the outbuilding where the wood boiler is, Then connect it to heat the wood boiler.
Here is what we are heating. The the lower floor of the house is at ground level on the left. Then the upper floor and garage are at ground level on the right. The outbuilding is in back about 20 feet from the house and is a similar 2 floor setup. The wood boiler is on a large, roofed porch connected to the outbuilding. PEX from boiler to house is about 25 feet.
Total square footage being heated is close to 5,000.
Currently there are 3 zones plus a DHW zone off of the wood boiler.
Zone 1, House heat exchanger.
Zone 2, house + garage radiant floor heat.
Zone 3, Outbuilding heat exchanger.
DHW zone, heats plate heat exchanger fed to electric water heater.
No Glycol in the system. Wood boiler is an open system with boiler treatment.
All pumps are on the back of the wood boiler. The pump in the center is for the outbuilding zone. We will use that to backfeed the Axeman into the wood boiler. The outbuilding zone PEX enters in the basement. The two smaller lines are domestic water for the outbuilding. The plan is to remove the Tee's and connect the supply and return on the Axeman. The run to the wood boiler from there is about 8 feet. Luckily, the outbuilding has a chimney with a thimble in the basement. There is a wood burner currently connected. The Axeman will sit about where the wood burner is now. The Plan;
Keep in mind that this is going to be a temporary setup until the Mahoning is removed and the porch is enclosed. At that point the Axeman will be moved and plumbed in as a pressurized system.
Remove the wood burner in the basement of the outbuilding and install the Axeman 130.
Plumb the Axeman supply and return into the current outbuilding zone.
Potential problems;
The wood boiler is an unpressurized, open system.
8 feet of 1" PEX from the basement to the wood boiler.
What do you think? Will this work???
-Don
- nepacoal
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I think you'll want to limit the temperature to below 200 or so... At 12 psi, water boils at 248°. At 0 psi, around 212 depending on elevation. You probably don't want the boiler in the basement boiling...
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7496
- 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
That's a good point. We plan on running the pump 24/7 so there shouldn't be any major overshoots. The wood boiler holds 365 gallons so that should keep the temperatures pretty uniform.
-Don
-Don
- hotblast1357
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- Other Heating: air source heat pump, oil furnace
Why not just take a warm day and swap quick..
Last edited by hotblast1357 on Fri. Jan. 22, 2021 8:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7496
- 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
A warm door???
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7496
- 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
Two reasons.
1) This would give my friend some quick, hands on time running an Axeman. If something goes wrong, just light up the wood boiler. If he decides he don't like coal, light up the wood boiler.
2) It looks like a pretty quick and easy install. And it would be fun!
-Don
- hotblast1357
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- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1984 Eshland S260 coal gun
- Coal Size/Type: Lehigh anthracite pea
- Other Heating: air source heat pump, oil furnace
- Rob R.
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Fair enough. It will burn more coal than average, but you should be able to make it work.StokerDon wrote: ↑Fri. Jan. 22, 2021 8:37 pmTwo reasons.
1) This would give my friend some quick, hands on time running an Axeman. If something goes wrong, just light up the wood boiler. If he decides he don't like coal, light up the wood boiler.
2) It looks like a pretty quick and easy install. And it would be fun!
-Don
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7496
- 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
OH,
Well, it would take a lot longer than a day to remove a 3500 pound boiler, install the Axeman, build a chimney, enclose the porch and re-plumb everything. It's more of a Summer time project.
-Don
-
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150 degrees Fahrenheit low limit 170 degrees Fahrenheit high limit will be more than adequate for that amount of thermal mass and it will also reduce the evaporation rate to a bare minimum. you could try 140 low and 160 high at first firing but I think you will be fine with either temperature range.
- Scottscoaled
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My, my! How far this site has come! Instead of someone arguing that it would be impossible to heat 5000 square feet with a 1" pex line, we are thinking it would be fun to try. It would be fun! Don always gets to have all the fun! If the Axeman doesn't carry the load when it gets really cold out, you just fire up the wood eater. Does he have glycol in the system now?
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7496
- 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
Yeh, pretty crazy huh.
No glycol and the 1" PEX run to the wood boiler is only about 8 feet. Those are the two main reasons I think it will work. It being unpressurized might create some problems though. I would imagine that air separators and vent will work, but not sure.
-Don