504 Tarm Boiler

 
memco man
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Location: vermont
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1981 KA-6 Keystoker
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarms 504
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: alaska liberty
Hand Fed Coal Stove: jotul NR 507, crane coal cooker 44, crane 404, chubby w/blower, chubby w/out blower, franco blege 10-475 Montgomery ward laundry stove Moore's Brother seventeen circulator stove
Coal Size/Type: nut/anthracite/pea
Other Heating: harman p68, elmtree,harthstone,new mack

Post by memco man » Sun. Nov. 30, 2014 8:50 pm

Good evening BlueFlame I have a question for you I was looking at the back of your boiler where it forty five up it looked like it was a fire brick on mine it is cast that overlap each other in the middle, one side wants to lean more the then other making a gap that goes into the other chamber on yours it looked like the seem in the middle butted together
Have a good evening
Memco man


 
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BlueFlame
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Location: Lehigh Valley
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: HS Tarm 504
Coal Size/Type: Nut

Post by BlueFlame » Thu. Dec. 04, 2014 9:35 am

It's overlapped cast, just like yours.

 
memco man
Member
Posts: 217
Joined: Mon. Oct. 24, 2011 10:18 pm
Location: vermont
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1981 KA-6 Keystoker
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarms 504
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: alaska liberty
Hand Fed Coal Stove: jotul NR 507, crane coal cooker 44, crane 404, chubby w/blower, chubby w/out blower, franco blege 10-475 Montgomery ward laundry stove Moore's Brother seventeen circulator stove
Coal Size/Type: nut/anthracite/pea
Other Heating: harman p68, elmtree,harthstone,new mack

Post by memco man » Thu. Dec. 04, 2014 6:52 pm

Thank you for the information

 
Antique-Engine
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Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarm 504 Wood/Coal/Oil Boiler & Chappee C-210 Coal Boiler
Coal Size/Type: Nut
Other Heating: Propane, Firewood, & Oil

Post by Antique-Engine » Fri. May. 13, 2022 8:28 am

Hi, I'm new here and want to start out by saying that I appreciate how helpful everyone on this site is. Once I have more experience, I'll do my best to help others as well. I recently bought and installed a Tarm model 504 wood/coal/oil boiler in my shop/home building and I have some questions about burning coal in it. Before I get to my questions, I'll give a brief summary of what I'm doing for anyone who's interested. The building is approximately 12,000 sq. ft. and roughly 2/3 of it was heated with 4 old and very inefficient hanging propane unit heaters, and the remainder was heated with a small (undersized) propane boiler and tube/fin type wall heaters. I also have a triple-barrel wood stove in the main part of the shop. I decided to remove two of the propane unit heaters and replace them with large Modine hydronic heaters and pipe all of the heating zones off of a small balance tank so that I can run multiple boilers and have the flexibility of being able to burn coal, wood, oil or propane depending on pricing and availability. I got the tank installed and moved the propane boiler to another room which was easy to do because it vents out the wall, and I installed the Tarm where the propane boiler was. There was an old, unused 8" x 12" tile-lined chimney in that location that my Dad helped me to repair so it's now in great shape. We also went up through the old part of the building and opened up the walls and moved floor joists, etc. so there's now 2" of clearance to combustibles all the way up through the building. Of course the whole project took longer than expected so I was just able to test the Tarm boiler a little before getting roasted out of the building. It works really great on wood. I then bought 20 bags of anthracite nut coal and managed to burn all of it which led me to this discussion group in search of answers as to why I'm having such a hard time burning coal. I found these discussions about the optional coal baffles and it looks like I need to either buy or make them. Does anyone know if they're still available? If not, I have the capability to make them if I know exactly what I'm making. Also, for anyone who's interested, I'll try to figure out how to attach some photos of my installation a little later. Thanks in advance for any help.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Fri. May. 13, 2022 9:25 am

Antique-Engine wrote:
Fri. May. 13, 2022 8:28 am
Hi, I'm new here and want to start out by saying that I appreciate how helpful everyone on this site is. Once I have more experience, I'll do my best to help others as well. I recently bought and installed a Tarm model 504 wood/coal/oil boiler in my shop/home building and I have some questions about burning coal in it. Before I get to my questions, I'll give a brief summary of what I'm doing for anyone who's interested. The building is approximately 12,000 sq. ft. and roughly 2/3 of it was heated with 4 old and very inefficient hanging propane unit heaters, and the remainder was heated with a small (undersized) propane boiler and tube/fin type wall heaters. I also have a triple-barrel wood stove in the main part of the shop. I decided to remove two of the propane unit heaters and replace them with large Modine hydronic heaters and pipe all of the heating zones off of a small balance tank so that I can run multiple boilers and have the flexibility of being able to burn coal, wood, oil or propane depending on pricing and availability. I got the tank installed and moved the propane boiler to another room which was easy to do because it vents out the wall, and I installed the Tarm where the propane boiler was. There was an old, unused 8" x 12" tile-lined chimney in that location that my Dad helped me to repair so it's now in great shape. We also went up through the old part of the building and opened up the walls and moved floor joists, etc. so there's now 2" of clearance to combustibles all the way up through the building. Of course the whole project took longer than expected so I was just able to test the Tarm boiler a little before getting roasted out of the building. It works really great on wood. I then bought 20 bags of anthracite nut coal and managed to burn all of it which led me to this discussion group in search of answers as to why I'm having such a hard time burning coal. I found these discussions about the optional coal baffles and it looks like I need to either buy or make them. Does anyone know if they're still available? If not, I have the capability to make them if I know exactly what I'm making. Also, for anyone who's interested, I'll try to figure out how to attach some photos of my installation a little later. Thanks in advance for any help.
Welcome.

Can you be more specific about the problems you are having burning coal?

I do see coal baffles in the parts diagram for your boiler, but no mention of where they go. I would give Tarm a call and see if they can give you some measurements for how to make your own. https://woodboilers.com/

 
Antique-Engine
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Posts: 10
Joined: Sat. Apr. 30, 2022 11:57 am
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarm 504 Wood/Coal/Oil Boiler & Chappee C-210 Coal Boiler
Coal Size/Type: Nut
Other Heating: Propane, Firewood, & Oil

Post by Antique-Engine » Fri. May. 13, 2022 10:10 am

Here are some photos of the installation for anyone who's interested:

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Antique-Engine
New Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat. Apr. 30, 2022 11:57 am
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarm 504 Wood/Coal/Oil Boiler & Chappee C-210 Coal Boiler
Coal Size/Type: Nut
Other Heating: Propane, Firewood, & Oil

Post by Antique-Engine » Fri. May. 13, 2022 10:15 am

Here are some more photos:

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Antique-Engine
New Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat. Apr. 30, 2022 11:57 am
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarm 504 Wood/Coal/Oil Boiler & Chappee C-210 Coal Boiler
Coal Size/Type: Nut
Other Heating: Propane, Firewood, & Oil

Post by Antique-Engine » Fri. May. 13, 2022 10:33 am

Hi, I was trying to add photos and didn't see your reply, so I think I replied to your answer with my photos. Anyway, thanks for the reply. I found that it was hard to keep the coal burning unless everything was going at maximum capacity. With the water temperature up to 180 degrees or higher, the chimney warm, and the draft control set for an even higher temperature so it was fairly well open, I could keep it going continuously with no problem. Even after having a nice bed of glowing coals across the entire grate surface and the grates shaken to where hot sparks were starting to come through all the way across under the grates, if I tried to throttle it down a little, I would lose the fire. A couple of times I had to take everything out and start over.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Fri. May. 13, 2022 11:28 am

Antique-Engine wrote:
Fri. May. 13, 2022 10:33 am
Hi, I was trying to add photos and didn't see your reply, so I think I replied to your answer with my photos. Anyway, thanks for the reply. I found that it was hard to keep the coal burning unless everything was going at maximum capacity. With the water temperature up to 180 degrees or higher, the chimney warm, and the draft control set for an even higher temperature so it was fairly well open, I could keep it going continuously with no problem. Even after having a nice bed of glowing coals across the entire grate surface and the grates shaken to where hot sparks were starting to come through all the way across under the grates, if I tried to throttle it down a little, I would lose the fire. A couple of times I had to take everything out and start over.
What you described normally results from the bed of coal being too shallow. I think the coal baffles allow you to run a deeper fire, which should eliminate your outfire problems.

The mechanical systems in your building are quite impressive. I am surprised you stayed with the B&G series 100 circulators (parts are expensive and they are power hogs). As they fail I would replace them with wet rotor circulators.

 
Antique-Engine
New Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat. Apr. 30, 2022 11:57 am
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarm 504 Wood/Coal/Oil Boiler & Chappee C-210 Coal Boiler
Coal Size/Type: Nut
Other Heating: Propane, Firewood, & Oil

Post by Antique-Engine » Fri. May. 13, 2022 12:29 pm

Thanks for your reply. I get the same idea on the bed being too shallow. I had to be careful not to load the bed up too high or it could block off the area at the back where the air goes down under the back of the firebox. I can see now that these baffles would take card of that. I'll contact Tarm to see if the baffles are still available. If not, I'll be asking for more help to see if anyone can get me some dimensions so I can make them.

Thanks for the compliment on the impressive system. All of the 2", 1-1/2" and 1-1/4" piping that you see in the photos were just run in the last couple of months. The balance tank started out as a truck propane tank and the expansion tank started out as three 100lb. propane tanks that I welded together. As far as the B&G circulators go, I just installed every one that you see. I bought them all used fairly cheap, and we disassembled every one and rebuild them. They are all sized for each application. Four are series 100, two are 2" pumps, and one is a model HV. I also rebuilt two spare 100s that I ended up with and I have spare parts on hand for the 2" and HV pumps. I'm not concerned about excess power consumption. That all goes into the building as heat anyway. I like these pumps and I'm very happy with them.

 
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McGiever
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Coal Size/Type: PEA,NUT,STOVE /ANTHRACITE
Other Heating: Ground Source Heat Pump and some Solar

Post by McGiever » Fri. May. 13, 2022 9:26 pm

Being Happy is the Wild Card!!!
Go for it!!! 👍

 
Antique-Engine
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Posts: 10
Joined: Sat. Apr. 30, 2022 11:57 am
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarm 504 Wood/Coal/Oil Boiler & Chappee C-210 Coal Boiler
Coal Size/Type: Nut
Other Heating: Propane, Firewood, & Oil

Post by Antique-Engine » Fri. May. 13, 2022 9:34 pm

Yes, putting in this whole system made me happy!

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. May. 15, 2022 10:45 am

Antique-Engine wrote:
Fri. May. 13, 2022 12:29 pm
I'm not concerned about excess power consumption. That all goes into the building as heat anyway.
That is a good point. As long as you are attempting to heat those areas anyway.

If you get to the point that you are sick of burning wood a stoker boiler would be a nice upgrade.

 
Antique-Engine
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Posts: 10
Joined: Sat. Apr. 30, 2022 11:57 am
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarm 504 Wood/Coal/Oil Boiler & Chappee C-210 Coal Boiler
Coal Size/Type: Nut
Other Heating: Propane, Firewood, & Oil

Post by Antique-Engine » Sun. May. 15, 2022 11:29 am

Right now I live in the building, so burning wood and/or hand feeding coal isn't a big deal. I have thought about a stoker, but I've decided to do wood and hand-fed coal for now. I'm looking for another hand-fed coal/wood boiler right now to add to the system before the winter. I'm looking at several that are for sale and the most interesting to me so far is a Chappee cast iron sectional boiler made in Paris France. It looks like a well made unit. Any input on this boiler would be appreciated. My biggest concern is spare grates, but that's also a concern with my Tarm 504, which I figured I could have cast at a foundry if I ever need them. I guess I could do the same with the Chappee.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. May. 15, 2022 4:40 pm

The Chappee boilers are well made, but I have always heard they load up with creosote very quickly. Some guys do well by burning wood during the day and coal at night, but even then you would have ti make sure you were firing it hard when burning wood.


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