Coalpail.com Forum

Found this dinosaur for sale cheap on marketplace. I have decided that I would prefer to burn coal, and not deal with wood. I am currently burning stoker lignite in my outdoor wood boiler, but it needs attention every couple hours to keep the fire going. If I could get this cheap, would it be worth the hassle of setting it up? The only identification on it is "Will-Burt".

That's a will burt stoker mechanism I don't know for sure but the boiler is probably a different make. https://www.willburt.com/

Will burt sold the rights to the stokers to jonmar gear an machine a few years ago. http://www.jonmargear.com/coal-and-wood-stokers/

Lol I was looking at that yesterday. It is a great price.

Looks like nobody bought this, any reason why? I might buy it tomorrow.

I'm just getting ready to make the switch to a boiler of any form from propane!

Leaks. Won’t know until you pressure test it. I unknowingly bought a leaker a few weeks ago. It was cheap enough that the steel was worth what I paid for it. So not really a loss.

I don’t really know the anatomy of that model boiler. Take a wire brush and a good light. Wire all the inside of the firebox that touches the boiler and look for cracks. Doesn’t mean there won’t be leaks in places you can’t see though.

Good luck.

You know it leaks? So your talking the firebox leaking air or leaking coolant? I'm scheduled to look at this same boiler with the same exact pictures as the op tomorrow.

No I was just saying that is what you should look for. “Leaks”

Thanks for the advice, I'll be sure and bring a wire brush and a light. Any harm in adding some stop leaking solution to it from the get-go to be safe?

I wouldn't add stop leak. When you get it home you can pressure test it. You want to know if it leaks BEFORE you invest time and money. Fill it with water and then charge it with 15# of air. If you can't see a leak after 24 hours, it doesn't leak.

Leak test with a pressure gauge of suitable range may reveal leak(s) otherwise missed by visible wetness.

Thanks for the advice yall. I don't think I'll be able to pressure test it before bringing it home and shelling out $500. Seems like a relatively low-risk, but it could end up being a waste of money/time.

I suppose a part of any purchase relies on questioning the buyer - why are you not using this, when was it last in service, why did you stop using it, etc.

Went and saw this today. The guy seemed unhappy I wasn't taking it away on the spot. To me his answers to my questions seemed dodgy and inconsistent.

Inside - I don't see how this thing burns coal, it doesn't have any shaker grates or grates at all. It looks like the entire bottom is firebrick / concrete. There is an area that looks like it used to hold a grate or burning bowl that air would have come up through. This has a large steel plate welded / set over it. It was filled with ash / clinkers? I brought a shovel and a bucket to investigate.

It seems to have no ash bucket or ash removal process other than shoveling it out. Maybe I am missing something, but I just don't think this will properly burn coal in its current setup. (any second opinions?)

Found a 'model number' No brand just says '4510'. If I had to guess, this used to have shaker grates and some serious strange stuff happened to it.

I think I'm going to have to keep on looking for my first boiler. I'm open to the idea of wood, coal and biomass heaters. I'd prefer something hopper fed - pellets, corn or coal. I might be leaning in the pellet / corn direction as I can get corn for real cheap from some neighboring farmers.

It is setup for a underfeed stoker. The firebowl is where coal and air feed from. Ash/clinker is removed from the firedoor. It will burn bituminous coal very well.

Pretty sure the 'fire bowl' has a large flat metal plate welded over it.

If I would have seen this, I would have bought it.