Installation Pricing

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billw
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Post by billw » Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 12:51 pm

I’ve spent a boatload of time reading different threads and using the information to come up with a solution for my heating needs. Geez, I even dreamt about it last night.

What seems to work best for us is a completely new boiler installation. I have no way to get coal anywhere near where my existing oil unit is located and I’m to darn old to be humping tons of coal by wheelbarrow to where I need it. Even if I could, the ceiling space is only about 5' 6" in that area of the basement so it would be tough fitting a coal furnace there.

I can put a new installation at the other end of the house where I have enough land to get a delivery truck in without a hassle, add a coal bin, install a new chimney and get the ashes out easily. That area, garage/workshop has a 10' ceiling height so there won't be any furnace height issues.

I’m heating about 2300 square ft of living space plus almost weekly heating an additional 1200 sq ft of basement/garage/workshop. My existing oil unit is 105,000 btu/hr and I use between 600 – 800 gallons of oil a year for heat and hot water. The AA 130-M is rated at 130,000 so I guess something in this size should handle what I need including domestic hot water.

Eventually I’ll find a good used hand fired stove to put in the basement on the existing chimney for those real cold days, long power failures or weekends when I work in the basement. We had a 3 hour power failure last night which changed my mind about power venting.

I’ve been on the manufacturers web sites. Everything is there except for pricing.

Does anyone have a ballpark figure for the cost of a new AA 130-M with domestic water heater or equivalent and a cost per foot of a block chimney? I live on the side of a hill. Where I need the chimney installed is approx 35 feet to the top of the roof.

I have every intention of switching next summer. I want to come up with an approximate price to make the changeover so I can start saving my dinero. I can do the plumbing and wiring myself although I’ll have to hire 4 men and a boy to move the furnaces.

Thanks for the help. Oh, by the way, does anyone want to buy a Peerless oil burner next summer? I can give you a great deal on it. :D
Last edited by billw on Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 3:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
ktm rider
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Post by ktm rider » Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 1:11 pm

Not sure about the price of the boiler but I just put a 40 ft block flue up last summer. I paid $300 for the material, flue block, sand, gravel and terra cota liner. I paid a contractor another $300 to put it up. This is where the prices vary WILDLY !! the contractor that put mine up has done a ton of work for me including building my 30x40 garage the previous year. So, I think they cut me a great deal on the flue.

 
U235a4
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Post by U235a4 » Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 1:23 pm

I'll send you a PM of the price of a 130m

 
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coal berner
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Post by coal berner » Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 1:42 pm

Hay U235a4 Why not just post the Prices on the A-A 's :?: I am sure there are lots of Members interested I believe They are posted on another thread here somewhere I think the A 130m is around 6800 & A 260m 8600 Anyway billw here is there site And you might want to look at The AHS 130 Aswell a little less money

http://www.axeman-anderson.com/coal.html

http://www.alternateheatingsystems.com/coalboilers.htm

 
U235a4
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Post by U235a4 » Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 2:18 pm

coal berner wrote:Hay U235a4 Why not just post the Prices on the A-A 's :?: I am sure there are lots of Members interested I believe They are posted on another thread here somewhere I think the A 130m is around 6800 & A 260m 8600 Anyway billw here is there site And you might want to look at The AHS 130 Aswell a little less money

http://www.axeman-anderson.com/coal.html

http://www.alternateheatingsystems.com/coalboilers.htm
J.C. I guess the reason I don't post prices because of my job in a multi billion dollar company and with a competitor of AA on the board I hate to post prices in a public forum with out there consent.


 
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Dallas
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Post by Dallas » Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 2:29 pm

A friend of mine installed an older stoker in his garage, to heat his house. He ran the insulated plumbing under ground to the house. All of the coal and dirt is in the garage, plus the boiler heats the detached garage. It makes a nice system!

 
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Yanche
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Post by Yanche » Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 3:24 pm

Posting prices is always a touchy subject. This forum is open to the manufactures and they can post their prices if they wish. I don't have any restrictions on posting what I paid for items. So here goes ...

On 5/4/04 I paid $4375 for a new AHS S130.

Belt drive model
No internal hot water coil
Standard grate timer control
Picked up at the factory

While I didn't know it at the time I likely got summer time pricing. The price was lower than their published list prices I had gotten earlier. Postings on this forum by AHS seems to indicate they have summer sale pricing. Buying the AHS S130 was on of the best decisions I have ever made. It's dramatically lowered the cost of keeping warm and heating hot water, increased my sense of security against spikes in fuel costs and found me new and great friends.
Last edited by Yanche on Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 7:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
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coal berner
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Post by coal berner » Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 3:29 pm

U235a4 wrote:
coal berner wrote:Hay U235a4 Why not just post the Prices on the A-A 's :?: I am sure there are lots of Members interested I believe They are posted on another thread here somewhere I think the A 130m is around 6800 & A 260m 8600 Anyway billw here is there site And you might want to look at The AHS 130 Aswell a little less money

http://www.axeman-anderson.com/coal.html

http://www.alternateheatingsystems.com/coalboilers.htm
J.C. I guess the reason I don't post prices because of my job in a multi billion dollar company and with a competitor of AA on the board I hate to post prices in a public forum with out there consent.
OK undestand but I also believe That A-A
was offered to Advertise on this Forum and Declined
So who is really losing out but I still understand Your point :D

 
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Flyer5
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Post by Flyer5 » Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 9:58 pm

If I was able to get one close to that price now one would be sitting in my basement . I should have started looking a few yrs earlier . Dave
Yanche wrote:Posting prices is always a touchy subject. This forum is open to the manufactures and they can post their prices if they wish. I don't have any restrictions on posting what I paid for items. So here goes ...

On 5/4/04 I paid $4375 for a new AHS S130.

Belt drive model
No internal hot water coil
Standard grate timer control
Picked up at the factory

While I didn't know it at the time I likely got summer time pricing. The price was lower than their published list prices I had gotten earlier. Postings on this forum by AHS seems to indicate they have summer sale pricing. Buying the AHS S130 was on of the best decisions I have ever made. It's dramatically lowered the cost of keeping warm and heating hot water, increased my sense of security against spikes in fuel costs and found me new and great friends.

 
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Greyhound
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Post by Greyhound » Mon. Nov. 19, 2007 11:44 pm

Actually, the price I was quoted last summer was not far above that price that Yanche paid. Where AHS gets expensive is if you add the bells and whistles that they offer as options.


 
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Post by traderfjp » Tue. Nov. 20, 2007 12:38 am

I can't help you with prices but I would bet it's around 5k plus plumbing. In any event, it sounds like you will keep the oil fired burner as a backup. I would since you never know what could happen with the availibility of coal. In the 70's when oil prices went sky high coal was a scarcity since the breakers couldn't ramp up faster enough to keep up with demand. I've had a stoker for 2 years now and the hassle is that for every 100lbs of coal 12lbs is ash. With my modest 75k BTU stoker running on half tilt I am still emptying the ash pan every few days. With a coal boiler I would think that you will have lots more ash and it may be a hassle to get rid, to load the hopper, etc. I was worried about smell, safety, dust, etc. It turns out that coal is very clean and much cleaner than wood. I use bagged coal. Why not just buy a stoker for the upstairs and then run a small pellet stove for the workshop when you need the chill taken out of the room. You can also get a domestic coil to make your hot water as well. The upfront costs will be much cheaper too. Installing your new boiler on the other side of the house doesn't seem like a simple weekend project.

 
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billw
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Post by billw » Tue. Nov. 20, 2007 5:40 pm

Yeah trader initially I'm going to keep the oil burner temporarily. It already has the domestic water coil installed. That should help keep my initial cost of the new boiler down a little. If I'm real happy with the coal stoker's reliability I plan on pulling the oil burner and putting a hand fired coal burner in it's place. That is down the road when I'm completely convinced I won't have problems with the coal burner. I really want to make this my last winter of buying oil. I would rather pay the local guy at the mine and the local delivery company for my energy needs than EXXON, Hugo Chavez, Ahmed whatisname and the rest of those dam loonies. Now if I could make my car run on coal I'd be a happy camper.

I figured this was going to be a 6,000-8,000 project at least and definitely not a weekend project. I'm used to big projects. My wife and I gutted and rebuilt this house by ourselves. The only thing I contracted out was the foundation and shell for the 25 x 25 addition we put on. I've never been afraid of hard work. The ashes aren't a problem for me. I've been srcounging clean fill for one end of my property over the years so I have a built in ash dump for myself. I'll just throw some dirt over it once a year and it's gone.

I found a comparison chart for different fuel types. With the amount of oil I'm burning 600 - 800 gallons it looks like I should burn about 4 - 5 tons of coal. Does this sound about right?

 
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Post by traderfjp » Tue. Nov. 20, 2007 8:53 pm

I usually go through 800 gallons in a season. Last year was a weird heating season. First it was very warm and then it got very cold. I had 4 tons delivered and went through about 1/2 of my supply. I have no idea if a boiler would burn more than a stoker. I'm heating an older colonial that is a bit drafty but I'm on Long Island so my weather is not as extreme as upsate NY or Penn, etc. I'm also in the process of installing a heating coil in my stove to heat my basement. We'll see. I also never hire contractors either and have done most of my home improvements myself. Sounds like a plan.

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Tue. Nov. 20, 2007 10:21 pm

billw wrote:I found a comparison chart for different fuel types. With the amount of oil I'm burning 600 - 800 gallons it looks like I should burn about 4 - 5 tons of coal. Does this sound about right?
Move it down a half ton or so. I have seen comparisons of 180-200 gallons of oil equals a ton of coal. It really depends on how good the coal is.

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