My 520 Project

I enjoy pictures just as much as everyone else and thought I would share some of my project progress. The boiler is a 1986 model which I picked up in the Syracuse area this past summer. Not having as much time as I would like to devote to this project, I am running behind schedule, but thankfully, so is winter. What you see is the culmination of sandblasting and painting with the positioning of the boiler in its new home via a rented engine hoist. Now for insulating and dry walling the boiler room as well as a call to our trusted plumber to get things rolling. I am presently heating our 2800 sq ft cape cod home with a Heatmor outdoor wood furnace and a Takagi tankless propane backup as I have for the past 10 years. A water to air heat exchanger turns the hot water into comfortable heat for our home. Hopefully, it will soon be good-bye Heatmor and hello EFM. I would like to thank Scrapper and Anne Marie for their excellent advice and speedy parts delivery, as well as Jay at EFM who has always been very helpful in answering the questions that I have had. This is truly a great place for coal enthusiasts and I would like to thank all of the forum members that participate and share information as well as those who make this web site possible. A special thanks goes out to my father for his lifelong guidance, advice, and help with bearing replacement. Living in eastern Ohio bituminous country, I remember watching my father hand feeding our coal furnace before natural gas was made available to our neighborhood. He also tells me about the stoker fired furnace that my grandfather used when I was too young at the time to remember. I will do my best to update the progress as all of the parts that have been collected come together so that I can retire the chain saw and find a new home for the Heatmor.

Beautiful job on the boiler & base. How much wood are you currently putting through the Heatmor?

Thanks for the great photos.
You'll love that boiler. Please keep us updated!

Looks great!

I usually cut and collect fallen wood as I need it, so I have not purchased or collected large quantities to have a really good estimate for you. I would say that a heaping 6 ft bed of my F-150 would last most of a week in the coldest of weather. Now that I am getting older and have the area that we cleared to build the house cleaned up, I am only firing the Heatmor when it is consistently below freezing. It has paid for itself several times and kept me moving. Now, grandchildren will keep me moving.

Great looking job Creek, look forward to seeing more.

Your gonna have it made now. I went from the Heatmor 200 to the EFM 520 too.

Don't give up the Heatmor, keep it in series and fire it with
wind fall and clean up wood. Even once a week or so will help
heat the house.

tsb wrote:Don't give up the Heatmor, keep it in series and fire it with
wind fall and clean up wood. Even once a week or so will help
heat the house.

Considering what the Heatmor is probably worth second hand, I would cash flow it. If you have wood to burn, short & hot fires in a small woodstove is an economical way to get some BTU's out of it.

We have been busy insulating, putting up drywall, and plumbing during the past 2 weeks. I awoke to an unexpected couple of inches of snow this morning here in the Upper Ohio Valley which reminds us that winter will continue here. I am determined not to purchase any more propane for heating this winter. Unfortunately, I have been too busy to gather wood for the Heatmor and have been heating with propane during the past few weeks. Today I must collect enough wood for the Heatmor to keep it going until the start up of the EFM. My 500 gallon propane tank is down to 5%. These are good incentives to get the EFM on line in short order. As difficult as it will be to see the Heatmor go, I am graduating from Heatmor U and have enrolled for post graduate studies at EFM. I will find a new home for the Heatmor this year after this heating season is over. It makes sense to convert it into cash flow as Rob R suggests. I wanted to be heating with coal in 2 weeks a month and a half ago, so I will not predict when the start up will occur. My wife would like to see it start sooner than later as she has other projects in mind for me. She has been very supportive of this project so far and is anxious to experience the comfort that I promised the EFM will provide. I will post more pictures of the progress later this weekend.

Thanks for sharing your progress! Looking forward to seeing the install continue.

A few random thoughts for you. Make sure you put fresh gear lube in the gearbox and "pre-lube" the ratchet assembly, bushings, etc, before you fire the stoker up. Use anti-seize on all fasteners, make sure the cleanout-rod is adjusted properly, and make sure there is NO GAP between the bin and burner pipe in the coupler.

Here is the progress so far. The plumbing should be finished this week. I have been completing the painting of the side and end panels to prepare for the final assembly. I decided to replace the burner plates with new ones for a fresh start and keep what I had for spares. As they say, pictures are worth thousands of words..........

Your work is very neat.

Beautiful workmanship. Not many people use threaded pipe these days, but you are doing a great job.