Question about boiler during power outage?

If I open the valve coming right out of the top-middle of the unit, would it then act like a gravity system and by-pass the circulator pump? Also I can't tell on the plate if it reads 5 or S. Did Efm ever make a S20 stoker?

Their should be a flow control valve or zone valve you may be able to manually open to allow gravity flow, still would flow past the pump, this would be on the same loop as the circulator pump. Heat rises and would flow, not as well as the pump. I am not shure this is the valve you are talking about !!! Some pumps have flow checks built in and you could not manually open this type. Hope the electric stays on, makes things alot easier.

efm made S15, S20, S22, S30, S35 and S45 stokers. The larger the number, the more coal it could feed.

It will flo on gravity and heat the beginning of the loop, but with no power,no fire it will stop when the boiler cools down.




RY

On the pipe coming out of the top there is a branch going to below the pump before the valve. Then after the valve a copper line going to the expansion tank then the main line to the radiators. If I open this I don't expect to heat the house, but maybe prevent frozen pipes and if I'm lucky get a little heat. Do you guys think this would work? The unit was installed 1966 do you think it would be a 5 or S? I need to figure out how to put a picture on here, but that is a little advanced for an idiot like me!

A picture would be helpfull. Is the pipe hot ? Might this be your cold water fill valve ? Here is a picture of my flow checks, they are green, the thumb screw on top will allow manual flow.

Yes the pipe is hot. it comes out of the top of the boiler to the feed lines to the radiators. the cold water feed is in the back. Also the valve has "NORMAL" and "OPEN" cast on it. Of course its in the normal position now.

blau barrick wrote:On the pipe coming out of the top there is a branch going to below the pump before the valve. Then after the valve a copper line going to the expansion tank then the main line to the radiators. If I open this I don't expect to heat the house, but maybe prevent frozen pipes and if I'm lucky get a little heat. Do you guys think this would work? The unit was installed 1966 do you think it would be a 5 or S? I need to figure out how to put a picture on here, but that is a little advanced for an idiot like me!

on the tag on the blower housing it will have a S-15 or S-20 .
The S-15 were on the efm 350 and on some early 520 had a smaller Pots & the shorter gear box arm

S-20 was on efm 520's & the larger 520 High boys made from 48 to 54 and later were used on the 350.
S-30 are on efm 700
S-35 are on efm 900
S-45 are on efm 1300 these are the bigger units with a completely different stoker feed with a rotating Pot

S-15 means max feed rate of 15lbs per hr smaller burning pots were used each feed tooth feed rate was 2.5 lbs per hr
with Rice max was 6 teeth feed rate 15lbs per hr 2.5 lbs each tooth.
The early S-20 were 8 teeth feed rate max 20 lbs per hr 2.5lbs per hr each tooth the later S-20 like being used today
are 10 teeth max 25lbs per hr .

They use a longer gear motor arm to give you more stroke 2 extra teeth which can be put on the older S-20 to give you 10 Teeth feed rate max.
S-30 is 10 teeth max 30lbs per hr feed rate is 3 lbs per hr each tooth
S-35 10 teeth max 3.5 lbs per tooth
S-45 10 teeth max 4.5 lbs each tooth 45lbs max per hr.
S-15 & S-20 2.5 lbs per tooth on Rice coal On Buckwheat coal it is 2 lbs per tooth
Add a half lb on the feed rate per tooth on the S-30 S-35 S-45 when burning Rice coal they use a bigger Feed Auger and tube 2" Auger 2.5" Auger tube VS. 1.5" Auger & 2" Auger tube on 350"s & 520"
Now you might have a 350 instead of a 520 look on the blower housing mouth where it gos into the base there will be a 2.5" spacer plate between the blower housing mouth and the base if yours has it then you have a 350 with a S-15 Pot If you do
not have a spacer plate then you have a 520 with a S-15 stoker on it
another way to tell is to take off the Jackets / covers and look at the I.D. plate on front of the boiler above the door or on the back below the water coil area it will give you the make of the boiler Co. that made it and the model 350 or 520 Plus the year it was made

Wow coal berner you're like an encyclopedia of information! I could'nt tell if the plate on the blower read 5 or S-20 so the stoker must be a S-20. No spacer so 520, right? The plate above the round door reads- EFM EMMAUS, PA MAX STEAM 15 LB. WP WATER 30 LB. MIN SVRC 155 LBS HR MBI 1965 EF845 Thanks for all the info. I'm becoming addicted to this site. I bought this house 3 yrs. ago and only problem was one broken shear pin because of a piece of pea coal in the rice. This thing works great but the more time I spend here I get a little paranoid with all the what ifs.

yea not going to heat your house in a power failure. Do yourself a favor and buy a generator, even the $149.99 ones at Big Lots will run the stoker and circ pumps but you definitely get what you pay for. The only down side is your boiler is probably hard wired so you'll need an electrician to make something you can plug your generator in to.