AHS Multi-Fuel Boiler.

I was browsing the AHS website and came upon the WOC boilers. They seem to be very well designed from what I've read but not well publicized. I like the fact that they have a Riello oil burner and have Auto switch over. The Riello is a better burner than Beckett in my opinion and of course, the Auto switch over is priceless!

Does anyone have one of these units or have any feedback?

Off the top of my head I can think of two forum members that have one. Here are some of their posts:

AHS Customer Experience Poll (EVEN IF YOU DON"T OWN ONE)

Real Rating BTU

Dennis seems to like his, Phil sounds like he is struggling...perhaps due to a sizing or piping issue. They look like a well built unit...but I have never cared for coal/oil units; there is always a compromise.

I have the woc55, 225kbtu coal & oil,180k wood,55% effencinty on wood,70% on coal and 88% on oil. 1400 lbs.,3/4" stainless steel fire box,1/4" outer shell, 59 gal. vessel
it can burn bit. coal also. It has the combustion blower in the ash pan for ant. coal and has a motorized air draft on the door for wood and hook up a chain to the door lever to the bottom ash door draft for bit. coal. And for the Riello burner i used it for 1 1/2 days and only fire it once a month,it sounds like a jet plane with the size of the firebox.Yes,you can have the auto switch over from coal/wood to oil when the boiler temps. drop below set temps.I believe they had thought of everything on their multi-fuel burners.Its a real heat monster,I have reduced the firebox in half and still have 80 lbs. of coal in it at 13"deep bed for 15 hr. burns without having to nurse the fire back.I shake down and throw 30 lbs. on and shut the door a walk away(5 minutes).Before I reduced the firebox I was always dumping into my radatiors. I had asked Ben at AHS why they dont advertise or push their multi-fuels,his reply was they want to sell their coal and wood guns. Dennis

When I was in the showroom at AHS I looked at the WOC models and was very impressed. I just wish they would make a WOC model that is a stoker also or a wood/ coal stoker even would be nice. After moving on from a DS handfed boiler I don't think I could ever go back from the coalgun or any kind of a stoker. Cutting wood or even stacking the wood didn't bother me. The fact I had to be around at that particular moment in time to refuel the boiler was the issue.

Mac

yes, They are very inpressive boilers,and agree about having to be there to feed the boiler,but with 12 hrs. plus burns its not all that bad,if needed to go away thats what the oil gun is for,just need oil and at the price oil is going for,thats not going to happen when i have 8 tons in the basement. I was kicking the idea of putting a stoker in ,I dont think it would be that hard,but must likely more expensive than practial, but if I could find a under feed stoker cheap,maybe Dennis

A little update.
I've been using my oil burner almost everyday and loving it, I finally found a use for it (pics. inclosed). Boots nice and dry next morning.

I have also gotten 24 and 27 hour burns with boiler temps. and recover times the same as 12 hr. burns,I've been expermenting since I might need to work out of town.

They are a well built unit. They are overrated for btu available. The rating on them is max output with feeding constantly. As long as they are oversized for the load it will work perfect. If you want to buy one mine is for sale. It does not have an oil burner just wood and coal.

Denis,
How did you go about reducing the firebox size?

ValterBorges wrote:Denis,
How did you go about reducing the firebox size?

I placed an 8" block in the front and a 6" block in the back of the firebox then caped the top off with 3" solid blocks to stop air flow. The 16" long block sits on the fire brick 2" above the grates and makes a 13" deep coal bed. At the end of the season the 6 and 8" block are destroyed by the heat of the coal and throw them away.

Thx, Dennis.

I wonder if this could be done to an S260 for summer, kind of turning it into an S130.
It would be interesting to see how it interacts with the moving grate.

I don't see how you could put blocks into an AA. You'd have to stick them to the burn chamber and that would not help your transfer of heat to the vessel itself. They wouldn't accomplish anything sitting on the ash grate other than raising your coal height in the chamber as far as I can see.

'Twas a good thought though.