It's Alive!

-10F here on the Canadian border, and the EFM came to life at 0700. I had it ready to fire late last night, but didn't have the nerve to fire a new installation and then go to bed. I ran it at 7 teeth 6.5 air for about an hour and a half to get everything up to temperature, now it is at 5 teeth 4.5 air. The weatherman says it will be -23 tonight, so it will be a good test for the boiler.



-Rob

If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about the up coming snow with that thing!!!! It looks awesome.

It's a good thing it is going to be 20 below, that DF will just be humming along at 5 and 5 and won't know the difference.
Perhaps a steady 30 mph wind would be helpful to see if you have to go up a click or two and give her a little more air.

As we watch all the home improvement shows, one wonders how thousands of older homes that don't have a half a million dumped into them can afford to be heated without the benefit of an affordable fuel........
Anthracite: It's what's for winter......

Nice work!! Time for a couple!!


Was that a Kimmel's bag I saw? Looks like your having better luck with it than I had ...

I torn into a 12 pack of Labatt Ice last night after the last stovepipe seam was taped. It brought new meaning to the words "cold beer" since the 12 pack had been out in the zero degree garage. This morning I have switched to coffee, and will probably wear out the cellar stairs if I go down to check on the EFM one more time...

The Kimmel's is burning excellent, and the basement is a cozy 75 degrees. The uninsulated boiler and 1.5" copper sure throws some nice heat.

-Rob

That's some serious looking equipment. I don't know much about stokers, and I'm puzzled -- it looks like the pipe from the coal barrel to the boiler runs up-hill, or is that an illusion? How does the coal get through that long pipe? Is the whole pipe filled with a long screw auger?

Outstanding neighbor

Looks great! Your place will be warm for sure! Nothing beats an EFM!
When I awoke at 6 AM this morning and was wandering around and brewing coffee (not a morning person) I was wondering why my EFM was running and running and running. Then I checked the temperature outside, it was -9° F.

I moved this thread to the EFM forum.

WooooHooooo! Congrats on a great job! You're sure going to enjoy that. It'll take a year or two to learn to ignore it. To answer rberg's question, yes, it has an auger the whole length of that tube. Speaking of which, I trust you have an extra shear pin? Every 15 or 20 years one shears & you have no heat until a new one is put in. I've read factory ones work best!

Freddy, I have six OEM shear pins in stock. Hopefully I don't need one tonight! It is up to -1 here, and I have burned about 50 lbs since this morning.

-Rob

I hate to report that you can fill the barrel, check the ash bucket, and forget about the beast, as it munches quietly on some Kimmels rice. The basement must be toasty by now, and the oil man crying, so either go upstairs to relax, or bring a comfy chair down to sit beside your new 'flame'. If you fall asleep beside the new 'honey', at least you will be warm. It sure seems that the hand fed set doesn't understand that stokers aren't as fussy about the coal they burn.
The ash will tell you how well it is blended at the breaker.
Enjoy your new friend.

I know if Smitty had an EFM, he would retrofit a couple of bottle holders to the base, so that maximum comfort was not an issue. Do you have a Slutty Nose Micro Brewery up there, too?

I fired my EFM on 12/20/10 at 5:05 PM. I'm still going down into the cellar at least twice a day to check on it, but now it's mostly just to hang out for awhile and listen to it run.

That awesome, great job! I'm jealous for sure! Enjoy it.

The stoker has been running continuously for the last two hours. The house is very comfortable, and we love the silent operation.

Good to hear!