I recently purchase a used van wert simplex multitherm handfired wood/coal/oil fired boiler model ocf-120,anyone have experience w/one of these units. I also didnt get owners manuals or any other documentation with this unit,can anyone help. thanks in advance
carl
Van Wert Boiler
I've got the same one. It was made in about 1983. I've used it with a Beckett oil gun, straight wood, and just coal for heat and DHW for as much as 3400sq ft in Central NY.
With oil, it's efficiency sucks so bad that it should be scrapped. The oil gun effectively heated the house to be sure, but the stack temps made it clear that it was only viable when oil was cheap. Efficiencies are in the 60's.
With wood, it was fair. I had lots of free box elder available and I saved a lot of money, but, man, it was work. Even with oak or cherry, on a cold night, loaded at 11pm, you might only have embers at 6am.
Anthracite was different. It was designed for it. I wish I knew then what it took me years to figure out: the beast excels at cold weather heating with coal. Tune the Samson thermostatic damper to 170F and it will pretty much stay there, all 40 gallons or so. Build yourself an ash pan, get a shovel, feed it twice a day with Nut coal, and shake a few times a day. Pea took a lot of draft and still had dead spots. I didn't try stove coal, but I'm sure it would've worked. Even with nut, you will waste unburned coal, but it gets better as you learn the boiler. There is a learning curve. This is not a propane furnace or oil boiler; it is a relationship. Feel free to PM me for specifics.
Two notes of serious caution: opening the door on a hot oxygen starved fire will blow up in your face. Don't do it. Use the make up air vent or the ash door first. Second: this beast has a big coal box. It WILL make heat. You need an aquastat that will open a large zone when the temperature reaches around 190F. There's ton of heat tied up in those 40+ gallons and the burning coal. You need to have some way of using it or dumping it. For this reason, no matter how tempting the savings might seem by burning coal, exercise serious temerity in the spring and fall on warmer days. Your house will be 85+ degrees as the unit dumps heat and your yard will stink of smoldering coal smoke as the thermostatic damper shuts down to limit heat production.
Ah, but at -5F... now that's a different story!
So, for a family of 6, including DHW, I used, on average, 60-90# per day for 3400sq ft in Central New York. We're talking $180-270/mo. Including February. That could have been about 250 gal of oil, which could have cost $600-800. This year, oil is cheaper, but the savings are still real.
By the way, what did you pay for the boiler?
With oil, it's efficiency sucks so bad that it should be scrapped. The oil gun effectively heated the house to be sure, but the stack temps made it clear that it was only viable when oil was cheap. Efficiencies are in the 60's.
With wood, it was fair. I had lots of free box elder available and I saved a lot of money, but, man, it was work. Even with oak or cherry, on a cold night, loaded at 11pm, you might only have embers at 6am.
Anthracite was different. It was designed for it. I wish I knew then what it took me years to figure out: the beast excels at cold weather heating with coal. Tune the Samson thermostatic damper to 170F and it will pretty much stay there, all 40 gallons or so. Build yourself an ash pan, get a shovel, feed it twice a day with Nut coal, and shake a few times a day. Pea took a lot of draft and still had dead spots. I didn't try stove coal, but I'm sure it would've worked. Even with nut, you will waste unburned coal, but it gets better as you learn the boiler. There is a learning curve. This is not a propane furnace or oil boiler; it is a relationship. Feel free to PM me for specifics.
Two notes of serious caution: opening the door on a hot oxygen starved fire will blow up in your face. Don't do it. Use the make up air vent or the ash door first. Second: this beast has a big coal box. It WILL make heat. You need an aquastat that will open a large zone when the temperature reaches around 190F. There's ton of heat tied up in those 40+ gallons and the burning coal. You need to have some way of using it or dumping it. For this reason, no matter how tempting the savings might seem by burning coal, exercise serious temerity in the spring and fall on warmer days. Your house will be 85+ degrees as the unit dumps heat and your yard will stink of smoldering coal smoke as the thermostatic damper shuts down to limit heat production.
Ah, but at -5F... now that's a different story!
So, for a family of 6, including DHW, I used, on average, 60-90# per day for 3400sq ft in Central New York. We're talking $180-270/mo. Including February. That could have been about 250 gal of oil, which could have cost $600-800. This year, oil is cheaper, but the savings are still real.
By the way, what did you pay for the boiler?
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kevinjohn
- New Member
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Mon. Jan. 12, 2009 8:28 pm
- Location: new ringgold,pa
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1963 efm 350 coal stoker
- Coal Size/Type: buck
I picked it up for $1500 ,that included 4 taco pumps and a 275 gal fuel tank .I don't think that I will use the oil burner as I already have a nearly new weil mclean high eff. oil burner. I will probably hook oil up to the burner but use a switch to keep it off. when oil heat is needed I will just open valves and start the weil mclane. I have a really unusual set-up ,6 radiant zones,4 hydronic zones and dhw.I will store the heated water for the radiant zones in a 80 gal stone lined tank that I bought from a company named vaughn. This tank is really heavy and can take system pressure,it was designed as a range boilerand that is how I used it for several years.it will probly take me a little time to piece this together. thanks for your imput,all advice is welcomed.
carl
carl