Pictures of Your Boiler

lzaharis wrote:Hello John,

Welcome to the forum.

With your current Hurst Boiler can I assume it is
the Coal Miser Model that had their underfed stoker that you
modified by exchanging bases and stokers????

I tried to look up the burners you mentioned that you
replaced the base with but I was unable to locate them with
what little digging I did.

It was the Firebox model with an added base for the chain grate from the Miser. This was their answer for the temp demand of the greenhouse. The problem was the idle time, the fire would back up into the box. And the chain grate itself, broke down once a week. Not to mention soft coal isnt all that "grate" (get it? lol). We would have to get it from Williamsport I think, and by the time it got here it was frozen in the truck. I do not miss that at all.
Here is a link to the BG&W Energy website. You will see a few pics of our boiler on the front page, numbers 3,4, and 5. http://bgwenergy.com/
I seen somewhere in the forum that someone found an old boiler with a fire-jet burner in it. They were talking about putting it in a barn or something. If I remember correctly it was a 24" fire-jet. I know Marion High School burns coal and has fire-jet burners also. I think they are switching soon (rumor has it). And if anyone is looking, I know a guy from NY that has a boiler for sale with 1 60" fire-jet burner and another boiler with 3 72" fire-jet burners. Fairly cheap. Everything is unhooked and ready to load. I was up there last week looking and bought a few parts off of him. I will post a video soon of ours in burn mode.

Rob R. wrote:

JohnTresk wrote: I do not use it for dhw.

Depending on how many people live in your house and how you make DHW currently, there might be a pretty quick return on getting the Efm setup for dhw.

Rob I was thinking about it but heres my problem. My 520 is below my kitchen (HI 180, LO 140, Dif about 17) and the kitchen is too hot. Actually the whole house is too hot since I started it up. The temp on it is usually around 150-155. Now if I use it for DHW then it will be running more and creating more heat--at least thats what I think, maybe im wrong. I have all the covers on except on the back (return side). It's my wife & I along with our 2 girls ages 10 and 6. Thermostat is at 65, circulator only comes on for heat (which is never). Idk why its so hot.

Did you insulate under the covers? ANY chance you have some gravity circulation in the pipes?

In any case, it is still early in the season. in another month your kitchen will feel just right.

I have not started my EFM yet for the same reason.

Rob R. wrote:

JohnTresk wrote: I do not use it for dhw.

Depending on how many people live in your house and how you make DHW currently, there might be a pretty quick return on getting the Efm setup for dhw.

I figured my DHW cost me about $30 a month. I burn about 7 lbs of coal a day in the summer at less then $290 per ton delivered.

JohnTresk wrote: Here you are. I only have 3 burners running right now. This is my full time job here. PADEP had us install an O2 analyzer so I can see my oxygen levels via a pc/phone. It's pretty neat.

That is one serious coal stoker and boiler! Thank you for sharing.

On the little EFM, Rob could be right. Put your hand on the pipes that go to your convectors. If there is no heat call, they should not be hot. If they are hot or warm, your boiler is thermo-siphoning through the convectors. This is almost like having the pump running and you will not be able to shut down the heat.

If there are flow checks in your system, see if they are open. Shutting them will stop the heat flow until the pump comes on. If there are no flow checks, you may have to install them. One other thing to try is if there are shut off valves on the convectors, close them down part way. This may break the thermo-siphon.

-Don

Yeah it has the flow check on it. When I got this EFM I was in such a hurry to get it in and make sure everything was going to work that I reused a few parts that maybe I should have replaced, the flow check being one of them. This summer I plan on doing a complete rebuild on it and changing a few parts. There is insulation under the skin but its not in the best of shape. I plan on redoing that also. I plan on doing a lot of things, lol, getting to it is the problem.

Today I will try to post that video.

thegreatone wrote:Here is my newly installed 520. I bought it a week or so ago for $2000. I'm going to leave the jacket off for a few days to be sure there are no leaks and to see how well it heats my basement. Right now I have it at 4 teeth and 5.5 air. I would also like to paint it before I add the jackets. I'll get some better pics soon

Updated pic with the jacket on

Man I like those 520.

thegreatone wrote:

thegreatone wrote:Here is my newly installed 520. I bought it a week or so ago for $2000. I'm going to leave the jacket off for a few days to be sure there are no leaks and to see how well it heats my basement. Right now I have it at 4 teeth and 5.5 air. I would also like to paint it before I add the jackets. I'll get some better pics soon

Updated pic with the jacket on

Looks great. Try backing the air down to 4.5 and see how the ash ring looks on long burns. 5.5 is pretty high and is likely sending extra heat up the chimney.

Beautiful!!
I can't get enough of this forum, I love it!! I thought I was half crazy bc I was so excited over my first hand fed, the DS 1600, about 10 months ago. Apparently a lot of people love it.

I have a question about an old thread where the guy was burning a ton of coal every 6 days. Did anyone ever find out what the problem was? On page 2, his pictures of the fire look very weak.

JohnTresk wrote: I have a question about an old thread where the guy was burning a ton of coal every 6 days. Did anyone ever find out what the problem was? On page 2, his pictures of the fire look very weak.

An you post a link to said thread? That's a lot of coal!

coaledsweat wrote:

JohnTresk wrote: I have a question about an old thread where the guy was burning a ton of coal every 6 days. Did anyone ever find out what the problem was? On page 2, his pictures of the fire look very weak.

An you post a link to said thread? That's a lot of coal!

Burning a Ton of Coal Every 6 Days in My EFM 520 What Can I
Im new to this forum so if I do anything or am doing anything that is against the rules please let me know.
But that's your link coaledsweat

He didn't literally mean a "ton" per week. He was burning a lot more than he thought he should have been burning.

The original poster never showed back up to update the thread. What likely happened was he took the advice he got from the forum, it solved his problem and he was done with it. That's what we call an "Open-Ender", We spend time figuring out problems, give advice and we never find out what the outcome was. It's much better when the original poster updates the thread with the results. Then everybody will benefit from the lesson learned.

-Don

I hate when topics just end like that. But I do think he was talking about a real ton. Or at less he thought. "we been burning a ton of coal every 5 to 7 days for the last year. what can I try?" And later in the thread talked about it being 2000#. Remember people saying it wasn't possible at his settings to burn a ton that fast. I think he was very confused.

This is my first boiler. efm 520. It's still a work in progress and a good learning experience. Sorry I don't know how to rotate the pictures.