Boiler Jackets

Alright so I've heard both sides to insulating your boiler with a jacket. My question is: is it really worth it?

In my situation i have my boiler in the basement (which is also my garage) and have no jacket on it. My house is really large (approximately 5,500sq ft.) and i'm getting some radiant heat off the boiler, however i do burn a lot of coal. I've already went through roughly 5.5 tons. I'm curious if i would see a large decrease in coal usage if i placed the jacket on the boiler.

I've heard to do it because you get better coal usage, and i've heard don't do it because you don't get as good of radiant heat, and the jacket also makes it difficult for maintenance and yearly cleaning.

Any thoughts on the radiant heat compared to keeping the heat contained inside the boiler.

Axeman sold very few with the jackets on. Does the boiler overshoot temps ? If someone will chime in on how to figure the btu's lost, temperature x sq' of the boiler surface. I seem to remember an axeman loosing 5,000 btu's if those #'s were correct. That is a large area 5500 sq' you are heating.

From the information I can gather, one sq foot of carbon steel at 180 degrees and a 70 degree room temperature will loose approximately 265 BTUH/SF

How can you go wrong with the boiler in the basement. All the heat that comes off stays in the house instead of up the chimney. If your basement was too hot, it would be a good idea to put on the covers and keep the heat out to the zones. I ran mine without covers for a year and ran with a cover for several and the covers didn't really make a noticeable difference. Except in the summer. But reading your post a little more, it raises the question of how well your basement/garage is insulated. If you are puking heat out thru a poorly insulated garage door, it would make more sense to insulate the boiler.

With the size of your home, I'd say the coal usage is normal. The jackets will help somewhat, but in your situation I'd save the money for more coal. Can you imagine using oil or propane to heat that size home? Are you buying bulk or bagged?
You are sure due to save on bulk delivery and a large coal bin. I've never seen an AA jacket, and can't really understand why anyone would want to cover up all the mechanical parts....just to uncover them to look at, or service them.

I never think of "heat loss" inside a structure. I prefer to call it radiant heat escaping from the vessel.

The covers on an EFM are not that big of a problem for maintenence issues. There are removeable portions for just about every problem or cleaning style.

Understood on an EFM, but what could you do with an AA? It is purely cosmetic for those who have to have a pristine appearance to view every day. Function over form works for me. But I don't go to 'EFM Shiny Ole Blue' round-ups.

My last house was pretty large (4850 sf, not including the basement), and was heated by an EFM 900 with no jacket. When we first installed the 900, it immediately made the basement habitable year-round, eliminating the "meat locker" effect in the winter and the dampness in the summer (we kept it on for DHW). Even more noticeable was the change in the winter temperature of the first floor floors - from cold and drafty to comfortably warm. It definitely burned more coal, but the increased comfort made it worthwhile.

Mike

whistlenut wrote: but what could you do with an AA? It is purely cosmetic for those who have to have a pristine appearance to view every day.

I believe allen jackson wrote a song about it (she thinks my boiler's sexy, it really turns the heat on)

Something about while it's chugging along.

Sure that wasn't Kenny talkin' about his tractor........

AA130 in Black....'The Johnny Cash Edition!' Everyone who sees my AA's thinks they are a 'Willy Wanka Chocolate Factory'
prototype. As long as they are fuel efficient and reliable, every brand works well for me. That is why we have dozens of automobiles, planes, boats, toys of all sorts. Lots of folks tried and failed the mass production success, but many are here for us to enjoy today, decades after they have faded from fame. The oil companies won that battle, but the War is still on.......as we coalburners enjoy our afford-ably warm homes.

whistlenut wrote:Sure that wasn't Kenny talkin' about his tractor........

I think stokerscot has been in the coal dust again...

Mike

Scotty told me that he saves the 'fines' from the 520 and smokes them in a 'stoker pipe'.....and we can now see the follies that has caused. I was wondering why the NYC Mayor didn't call upon the' A-Dust Shuttle Motor' Scott has and melt the mess in NYC last week. He could have blown a few blasts of 'Hot Air' from Albany to thaw the region.

Uh Oh! Sounds like the fun police are coming out

Something else to consider is the operating temperature of the boiler. No need to run it at 180 all the time if 160 will do the job. A few other thoughts:

1. What are you running for a feed rate?
2. Timer setting?
3. How long since the boiler surfaces were cleaned?

-Rob