The efm WCB-24 hand fired wood/coal boiler

[FCAvery]

I have a WCB-24, 1988 vintage. I was heating my entire house (2400 square ft) with the unit and doing domestic hot water. I took the unit out of operation in 1990 and installed an oil-fired boiler, because I was travelling 2 1/2 hours round-trip to work and could not keep the fire going. However, since I'm now retired and the price of oil has gone ballistic, I've reinstalled the WCB-24. I've hooked it in parallel with the oil-fired boiler and have it connected to 2 zones (Each with its own circulator). One zone will circulate water between the 2 boilers and 2nd zone is hooked up to a 36 Gallon Indirect fired water heater. I've used wood and coal with this unit. Coal, of course, allows you to go longer between fill-ups. I've had some problems with the grates warping (probably because I was over firing the unit). I have replacement grates and firebrick. I want to rebuild the unit. However, I'm having problems with getting instructions on installation of the firebrick. I've called EFM to get some support on these instructions, they take my phone number and never call back. Any suggestions??

[stoker-man]

I'm there all day. You have to call and ask for stokerman. Accept no substitutes !

[EasySteaminBT]

Hi,

Does the boiler come in steam trim? Will you offer a boiler with a higher BTU output in the future. Is the 100K Btu/HR the gross or net number? Would you be able to customize the boiler to accept a Riello Nat gas burner along with an increase in output? Just some questions, hope you can help. Thanks

[stoker-man]

The 100K gross output is conservative. I'm heating 2200 sq. ft to 70-75 degrees, plus domestic hot water, in PA with pallet wood and I have the 30-year-old 60K boiler. There is no burner package for this unit; also no steam.

[davelikesbeer]

Hi, I am very interested in getting one of these. Even willing to send down payment. Please feel free to cantact me through PM, or send me a phone number, or email. Thanks, DAVE

[stoker-man]

For BT, there is no steam package on this.

Dave, the prototype is being built now and I suppose ready for testing in a week or two. If all goes well, they should be ready by Fall.

[stoker-man]

We did the initial firing yesterday with wood. I loaded the firebox with about 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket's worth of wood. The boiler was filled with house water, about 70 degrees and after about 15-20 minutes, the boiler water was up to about 210 degrees. By then the wood was a pile of orange embers and a good lunch became the focal point. The burn test went as we expected it to go, with minimal smoke. The final two pictures were taken with the unit burning wood. I'm going to experiment with some PA soft coal and see how it would work. A few little tweaks here and there will be incorporated into the second prototype.

All the people involved in the project deserve credit for dealing with old blueprints and some very unclear parts of the design. It will take another 6-8 weeks to get a vital iron casting made for the unit, but production should still be this Fall.

[thetaspica]

What size coal will work best in the WCB-24?

[Richard S.]

Probably anything larger than pea, I had a lot of older customers with old coal boilers similar to this. The majority if them used nut, followed by range which is a pea and nut mix and lastly straight pea. The "best" is probably contingent on your needs. I had one customer that would get about 4 tons of nut in one side o the bin and 2 pea in the other. He didn't want them mixed. I had other that would request more or less of one size in the range too...

Overall range is proabably your best choice. I've had many customers that have used all three options and most stuck with range once they used that.

[stoker-man]

Nut coal

[thetaspica]

stoker man,

EFM told me rice. I am not sure rice is right because of the grate size and lack of blower. Thanks.

[stoker-man]

I have an idea who said rice, but no, chestnut coal is used. For coal related questions, ask for me and if I don't know, I'll ask Jim.

[thetaspica]

Stoker-man,

Are you at the Emmaus facility? That is where I visited, called and got my information. Thanks.

[stoker-man]

Usually. Sometimes, rarely, I visit the other plants.

[thetaspica]

Stokerman,

Wow, what an interesting phone call I had today. I'm glad to know that I still have a good chance of getting my hands on a WCB-24 before the snow flies. Now, what to do with the 6 tons of rice in my coal bin.