S130 Install

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 5:39 am

Some friends of mine own a ~15 year old home that is expensive to heat. Despite modern construction/insulation and a fancy German made oil boiler & indirect water heater, the home uses about 1500 gallons of heating oil per season. With high heating oil prices this fall I offered to help them locate a used coal boiler to heat their home. They already have experience with a large Keystoker heating their shop, so they knew the heating economy of anthracite and how to get it. I went through the house and quickly figured out why it burns a lot of fuel...the amount of heated space is large and the existing heating system was leaking water from the boiler relief valve and also the hot water relief valve. This was causing the oil boiler to frequently kick on, and explained the pile of used circulators that had seized from rust. I started out looking for a Keystoker since that is what they were familiar with, but we ended up finding a used S130 Coal Gun about an hour away. It is a 2008 model that the owner purchased new and carefully maintained. It was squeaky clean and had new bearings in the fan motor. The installation was delayed for multiple reasons, but we finally got into it a few weeks ago.

The oil boiler is located in the basement under the garage. This required running the piping down through the chase for the existing stainless chimney. I used 1" copper that I saved from the scrap pile years ago, and connected it to the existing zone headers. While I was in there a fixed the leaks, replaced the expansion tank and a noisy circulator. About a week ago I filled the S130 with water and turned the circulator on for a few days, no leaks! The hard part turned out to be the chimney. The existing chimney was sold by a wholesaler that went out of business about 10 years ago, and no one else had even heard of it. I did find out that the company was acquired by Duravent, and that it was an "all fuel" product. Eventually I found some guy in Alabama that was willing to sell me a "T" so we could get things connected. That arrived on Friday, and yesterday some guys came and raised the existing stack enough to put the T in. The use of the insulated stainless T kept us from having any concerns with clearances, and made for a clean job. I was not going to add a baro unless the draft proved to be too high, but the guys that hooked up the chimney installed it. Probably better to have it and not need it than the other way around.

A bit more about the house, it is a 2 story cape with a full length addition, a 2 story breezeway and 2 story garage. There is a full basement under the house, breezeway, and also the garage. The basement is heated, and the garage also has a finished 2nd story. I did not bring my tape measure, but I would guess the heated area is a bit over 6000 sq. ft. The oil boiler is 180K btu, and they have been warned by several service guys that the unit is "probably too small for such a big house". My math showed it was plenty large, and after seeing the oil boiler cycle on a cold day I knew it had plenty of extra capacity.

Tonight we are planning to fire up the S130 with Blaschak pea and it is expected to be close to 0F. One of their boys will shut off the heating system this afternoon so we can start with a cold house and make the boiler run.

I will be back with updates once I see how it runs.

Attachments

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900 lbs makes the truck ride nice

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Easy to move with a big bar

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Good use of spare fittings and old copper

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Taco 007E and pipes going to basement

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Existing zone headers

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Coal boiler piping connected to zone headers

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Chimney hooked up

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Current forecast

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Heat loss calculation

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nepacoal
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Post by nepacoal » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 5:55 am

Looking at that weather forecast, you're getting it installed just in time!

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 6:03 am

nepacoal wrote:
Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 5:55 am
Looking at that weather forecast, you're getting it installed just in time!
I agree! Looking forward to see what it can do. I think I can, I think I can…

 
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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 6:06 am

Very nice! Is this place over by you? Windy? I’m looking forward to see the consumption to heat that size of a structure, looks like a smooth clean install, is it a walk-in basement? What’s the plan for ash removal?

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 6:13 am

About 20 minutes from me, much better protected from the South and West than I am, but I think the house could definitively be tighter than it is.

The Coal Gun is sitting over the oil boiler in the garage, with an outside door close by.

 
nut
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Post by nut » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 8:11 am

Coal can't be cheap up your way even in good times.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 8:17 am

nut wrote:
Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 8:11 am
Coal can't be cheap up your way even in good times.
Retail is expensive, but if you buy a TT lod and can be patient on the trucking it is still a great deal compared to $4+ heating oil.

The S130 owner split a TT load with someone else.


 
nut
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Post by nut » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 8:32 am

I asked Blaschak early in the season about 20 tons. They told me they would not sell that quantity to protect their dealers. Huh

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 8:36 am

Yeah, it is the same way here. My friend hauls the coal for the local
Blaschak dealer, so they worked out a deal.

 
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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 8:37 am

nut wrote:
Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 8:11 am
Coal can't be cheap up your way even in good times.
Back in 2020 I paid 217/ton for bulk delivered up here, quite cheap actually.

 
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Post by nut » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 8:42 am

That's a deal and a half. I can't remember when it was $217 around here. Probably 2019.

 
lzaharis
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Post by lzaharis » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 12:51 pm

Check with Centralia Coal Sales about bagged trailer loads, I am sure they will sell some to you.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 1:09 pm

lzaharis wrote:
Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 12:51 pm
Check with Centralia Coal Sales about bagged trailer loads, I am sure they will sell some to you.
I have before and they were willing to sell to me, I just ended up going with Lehigh at the time due to the excellent coal and pricing they had at the time.

 
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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 1:42 pm

Lehigh is where we purchase from also, 4 TT loads so far and awesome, even had one bad load full of fines, they came back picked it up and brought me a new load.

Don’t want to hijack this thread though! Is this 130 running constant circulation?

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 2:03 pm

Yes, there will be constant circulation between the two thanks to a Taco 007E circulator. The oil boiler is extremely well insulated so we are using it as thermal mass to help keep the temperature stable.


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