Expanding EFM Ash Bin

Hi, just bought a used EFM 520 -which my wife and I are going to install ourselves. Since we have 8 ft ceilings in our basement, I was thinking of putting the boiler up on two courses of cement blocks and cutting out the ash bin to add another 16 inches to it's size. I am planning on extending the current clean out door opening with angle iron to maintain a tight seal. The bottom portion of the boiler seems relatively flimsy to carry the weight of the top of the boiler already. Would it be ok not to support the front edge of the boiler? Do you guys see a problem with my plan? thanks, Mike

Hi Mike E.F.M. has been making them since 1930 I don't think you will have any Problems with it holding the weight unless the base is in poor shape the 520 is 1250lbs shipped and 1300lbs when the water coil is full As far as the ash bin you can use
1 bushel round tub or 2 bushel Sq. you should get 2 to 3 days on the 1 and 4 to 6 days on the other depending how hard you are burning it And how good the coal is the lower the ash content the more days you will go with out dumping the ash You can set them for 2 1/2 lbs of coal a day up to 25lbs of coal a day depending how much B.T.U. s you want You can also put a pit in the basement floor and put the unit over it but you will also need a steel plate door in the floor on the side so you can clean the ash out or pull the tubs out

The EFM's are similar to our Van-Wert, they generally have a smaller ash tub though. If I was going to do that I would leave the original base as is except add some rails to the bottom where the floor would be so you can continue to use it as intended. Get some custom made tubs for the new portion below the existing ash bin and build it its own door. The size(s) and configuration of the custom ash tubs would depend on the mount on space you have mostly on how high it is. 3 courses you could make 4 to fit in their nicely and they would fill up nicely.

The original ash bin will now be elevated and be easier to handle, the additional ash bins below can be used for a overflow. You could even skip the custom ash tubs but then you would have to shovel the excess which is going to make a lot of dust.

Better yet get a auger that goes outside the garbage truck can pull up too... The only thing I really hate about coal is taking the ashes out.

I thought about making a pit for my EFM as well, but after some thought I realized taking out a 20 pound bucket of ash every couple days is much easier than trying to deal with a ton of ash when the pit fills up. I have 2 large galvanized buckets, they are as big as will fit through the ash pit door. One comes out and the other goes in, if I don't feel like going outside then the full bucket can sit there until morning. I don't let the tub get full either, Every 200 pounds of coal will make the bucket about 1/3 full which is less dusty than trying to carry a 80 pound full ash bucket out.

Hello Mike, welcome to the forum. The real issue with the ashes is where you have to take them to dispose of them. Will you have the boiler in a basement where you have to carry an ash tub upstairs to et outdoors? Or will the boiler be in a walkout basement where climbing stairs is not an issue. Or will the boiler be in an outbuilding or garage?

I'm considering making a custom ashpan for my AxemanAnderson Boiler. It would have wheels on one end, and an extendable or attachable handle on the opposite side. This way I could just wheel the pan out of the boiler's base and out the door, much easier than dragging the current pan out and carrying it outdoors. But so far I don't know how often I'll be emptying the pan, so it may not be but a once a week chore.

One item to include in this discussion is the ash content of the coal you are burning. I'm now burning deep-mined coal I bourght home from the June coal-tour. This coal has about half the ash content of the previous coals I was burning. So the quantiy of ash is MUCH less of an issue than in the past. This is in my old 'big Bertha' stoker-fed boiler.

Just some ideas.

greg L

LsFarm wrote:Hello Mike, welcome to the forum. The real issue with the ashes is where you have to take them to dispose of them. Will you have the boiler in a basement where you have to carry an ash tub upstairs to et outdoors? Or will the boiler be in a walkout basement where climbing stairs is not an issue. Or will the boiler be in an outbuilding or garage?

I'm considering making a custom ashpan for my AxemanAnderson Boiler. It would have wheels on one end, and an extendable or attachable handle on the opposite side. This way I could just wheel the pan out of the boiler's base and out the door, much easier than dragging the current pan out and carrying it outdoors. But so far I don't know how often I'll be emptying the pan, so it may not be but a once a week chore.

One item to include in this discussion is the ash content of the coal you are burning. I'm now burning deep-mined coal I brought home from the June coal-tour. This coal has about half the ash content of the previous coals I was burning. So the quantiy of ash is MUCH less of an issue than in the past. This is in my old 'big Bertha' stoker-fed boiler.

Just some ideas.

greg L

Hi Greg I did mentioned the ash content in my reply

Thanks for the replies. I just took the base of the boiler to my local welder, hoping to get him to add some reinforcement at the corners to make up for the support lost, with the bottom being cut out, to allow for the bigger bin. He convinced me that air tightness would be greatly compromised with my plan. His buddy remembered a coal boiler from his youth, which had a auger for the ashes. They both seemed convinced it would be much easier to maintain air tightness with a circular hole in the side of the current ash area, than in expanding down.
I know that the ash auger question has been addressed in this forum before, I'll have to search it out. At least having the two courses of block I've already placed to support the boiler, will make emptying the ashes easier at the worst . The best would be a bigger bin at the end of an ash auger, if I get that going at some point. It certainly seems like an ash auger could be added at any time, where as I felt pressure to get my larger ash bin fabricated before hooking the rest of the boiler hooked up. It's getting cold around here [near Syracuse] My ten year old and I just came back from our first snow tubing on the local hill. Every gallon of oil not burned this winter will make her old man [and King Coal], a merry old soul................................Mike

You have to maintain a good seal with putty between the boiler and base. 5/16 boiler plate, of which your boiler is constructed, won't sag and the boiler should be setting inside the lips of the base, so the base can't fold under itself, but I would make sure you have all 3 plates and the perimeter of the boiler/base intersection sealed well with putty or you will affect your draft. Same goes for the ash pit door gasket.