EFM Video

Attached is a video for those trying to avoid heating oil prices;

There are quite a few EFM videos on Youtube, I have watched a few and commented on at least one of them, the restored one that looks great!

Pretty nifty setup with the bags.

I noted you said "you don't have to clean out the chimney". I'm assuming you have clean out on the bottom? The fly ash will accumulate in the bottom of the chimney.

That restored 1954 Highboy in one of the videos is a beauty (good year too, same year I was born). There are not too many devices that remain viable and functional for that long. EFM's really are built like a tank. How many other devices could run so long and retain such a high resale value?

There were a few things I forgot in the video, such as you only have to light the boiler once and you are good for the whole season, or that with oil prices as high as they are now, you cut your heating bills more than in half. If you live in the Northeast (close to PA) and have a big house, the payback can be less than 3 years, including installation.

Yes, I should have also said to clean out the very bottom of your chimney, which I do.

The best part of the EFM system is that you can go enjoy life, instead of dealing with frozen woodpiles and staying home to "keep the fire going".

Thanks

Great video! I really wanted to install an EFM-520 in our home; but, unfortunately, the 520 requires an 8" flue---I only have a 6" flue... Funny how the AHS-260 and AA-260 boilers vent into a 6" flue---what's up with that?? So I made the decision to go with an AHS S-130. BTW: the 130 uses a 5" flue---what's up with that?? I was tempted to go with the S-260; but, I don't think I'll have enough of a heat load to keep the 260 busy. I"m going with the 130; hopefully, I won't need to upgrade to the 260...

I completely agree with the wood stove---to anthracite stove---to anthracite boiler comment. I've often weighed in on posts at this form with the same advice: Go with the anthracite boiler regardless of your existing HVAC system (FHW or FHA). Save your cash and do it right the first time.

The bulk bags look like an interesting solution. Do you have detailed plans for them? And willing to share??

Is the 130 there yet? You will appreciate the ability to carry the 2 part 130 with a couple guys to set it up. Bulk bags are terrific if you can move them around.....Nice video!

whistlenut wrote: Bulk bags are terrific if you can move them around.....Nice video!

If you were getting bulk delivery from a coal truck you'd be able to chute right into the bag. Just move the bag over to the window and keep repeating.

That's not such a bad idea at all he has there, I may even consider this as way to set the furnace up here. You can fit one ton in one of those bags.

For build details, go to the following thread;

EFM 520 Install with skid/bulk bags feed

The bags are designed to be filled to one ton for lifting with a crane, if your cellar window is high enough, you can fill into the top skirt and have 1-1/4 tons.

The restored '54 is my dad's. Dave, thanks for the comment.

If that bag system isn't the hot set-up, I don't know what is. (If you can't have a dedicated bin). Great idea about covering the ash can and 4 teeth feed is amazing. Great, informative video, but the blue footnotes are almost impossible to read.

stoker-man wrote:If that bag system isn't the hot set-up, I don't know what is. (If you can't have a dedicated bin)..

Frankly I think it's better than dedicated, one of the issues with dedicated bin is all the coal is on the floor and you have to shovel it into hopper. You can set it up as giant hopper but you need really high basement. With this system it's like having a whole bunch of little hoppers, all the coal is on the worm and it's going to work in most basements. Like I've said you can fill those bags with a truck, winter time delivery might be an issue because you can't be messing around with it because of the freezing but other than filling them is easy.

I may have missed it, but how does the coal get into the supersacks to begin with?

You move the empty pallet with the pallet jack to under the window, hook up to the ceiling bungie straps, and chute the coal from the coal truck into the open bag. When the bag is full, the driver shuts off his discharge gate and you move another pallet into position and repeat the process.

It goes very smoothly and quickly.

As to the concern with winter delivery, we did get a delivery this winter, (the one on the video). The coal was oiled and had very few frozen chunks. As long the chunks fit out the coal truck slidegate, they will make it into the 36"x 36" bag opening. They then thaw out in the basement.

I suppose you could make enough skids to go a whole winter worth if you had enough room in your cellar for more skids.

Another thing I didn't show in the video is we only have one chimney flue. We remove our oil boiler flue pipe in the fall and put in our EFM flue pipe. The oil boiler is shut down cold for the winter. I was worried about doing this when I bought it, but the EFM is so reliable that it has never been an issue. We didn't get the oil burner backup option for the EFM. Switching back to the oil boiler for vacation or the season takes less than an hour including simply dragging the hot coals over the edge of the burn pot with a large soup spoon to fall into the ash can.

Sadly, the only bulk anthracite delivery that I can get locally is from a dump truck which backs in and unloads it all in one fell swoop. No discharge gate mechanism.

vermontday wrote:As to the concern with winter delivery, we did get a delivery this winter, (the one on the video). The coal was oiled and had very few frozen chunks. As long the chunks fit out the coal truck slidegate, they will make it into the 36"x 36" bag opening. They then thaw out in the basement.

It's not the frozen chunks that are the issue that much, it's the coal and water freezing to the chute. Never dealt with oiled coal but I'd imagine that would help. You usually have to keep more of an angle in the winter which means more velocity, when it's warmer you could set the angle so it just dribbles off the end. In the cold weather as long as you keep it running down the chute there is no issues. If you have to stop usually because you have frozen chunk blocking the outlet on the truck and get some coal frozen to the chute you have to go and clean it all off. When it's really cold you'll get streaks of frozen water and eventually it will just stop running until you remove them.

You have to keep in mind you might be at the limits of what you can do many of these deliveries with the truck all the way up in the air and the coal barely running. You'll have situations where you have to use a flat chute at the bottom. Starting and stopping becomes problematic, when you first let it go down the chute this is where it's the slowest. Once it makes it the bottom and is running the full length of the chute it will speed up a bit, it's kind like a mudslide where the front is moving much slower but at a greater volume.