It's Alive!

Nice!

Beautiful looking install Rob. It's nice that it covers the fire pot door, helping to reduce heat loss.

Where did you get such a nice enclosure?

A person looking into buying a used EFM wanted to know.

Thanks

vermontday wrote:Where did you get such a nice enclosure?

A person looking into buying a used EFM wanted to know.

Thanks

I got the jackets in exchange for helping with the sale of another EFM. They are a rare find, so you will have to call around and see if there are any dealers with a set of "Custom Line" jackets hiding in the corner.

A couple weeks ago I insulated the front of the boiler & base with foil-faced foam insulation. It was the last thing I could do to try and hold all the heat in the boiler. It seems to run around 180 degrees from the timer cycles, and that is fine with me. Basement is 75-78 degrees, nice and dry.

Rob, I'm glad to hear that the steps you have taken to insulate your boiler have achieved your intended goal. The efficiency of your system must be measurably higher now than when there was no insulation.

My record keeping last summer was rather poor, but I remember burning 20-25 lbs per day for domestic hot water. I am burning the same or a little less right now, and compared to this time last year we now have an 11 month old son that uses a fair amount of hot water.

The biggest impact I observed from insulating the boiler was the basement temperature...it is about 5 degrees cooler. Hopefully that reduces the AC load on the first floor.

Rob R. wrote:My record keeping last summer was rather poor, but I remember burning 20-25 lbs per day for domestic hot water. I am burning the same or a little less right now, and compared to this time last year we now have an 11 month old son that uses a fair amount of hot water.

The biggest impact I observed from insulating the boiler was the basement temperature...it is about 5 degrees cooler. Hopefully that reduces the AC load on the first floor.

I'm baffled by the concept that you even have an AC load. Have the glaciers retreated so far that they don't do the job any more?

And I have a sneaking suspicion that all of the talk about reduced coal consumption is a ruse, and that the real agenda with those fancy covers is to repackage the 520 so you can persuade the Mrs. that it's really a "boiler stove" (per the ongoing thread on that topic) that belongs in the living room. Any truth to that?

Mike

Pacowy wrote:I'm baffled by the concept that you even have an AC load. Have the glaciers retreated so far that they don't do the job any more?

Must be global warming... Believe it or not, we do run two window AC units for about 2.5-3 months. We could get by without them, but it is nice to have the house in the 70's instead of the 80's - especially when it is humid.

Another heating season is upon us. It finally got cold enough to turn a few zones on and load the boiler for a 40 minute burn.

5 teeth, just under 5 on the air, burning buck.

Now thats a fire!! Looks good partner!

Such a nice boiler, Rob!

Reminds me of the great pre-war Cadillacs like the Eldorado and the sweet Sixteen.

EarthWindandFire wrote:Such a nice boiler, Rob!

Reminds me of the great pre-war Cadillacs like the Eldorado and the sweet Sixteen.

I've never seen either of those make a fire like that on 5 teeth.

Mike

I'm glad I watched your vid Rob -- now I know what to do with the 2 plastic 55 gallon drums next season when I hook up my stoker boiler - great idea!

Mine is a completely different setup though, so I'm thinking of an auger setup to keep the hopper full ...

Update: New blower motor installed, Marathon 1/8th hp. VERY QUIET. Also installed a home-built timer, 2 minutes every 45 minutes...also VERY QUIET. I think it has finally reached "stealth stoker" status...I can barely hear it when standing directly above on the first floor.