where to buy a 300,000 BTU coal fired steam boiler stoker

Amen brother !! i think we're all on the same page now , rodney was rite we all can just get along jim

Pacowy wrote:

coaledsweat wrote:Axemans don't burn at idle, they basically choke off the fire.

This was bugging me at breakfast this morning. I think the earlier posts said the Axemans tend to maintain a high boiler water temp because the idle fire is the size of a basketball. If it's giving off enough heat to maintain high boiler water temps (relative to a stoker with a smaller idle fire), it seems like it has to be taking in air and burning fuel to do so?

Yes, it burns to some degree, but nothing like other appliances. When the fan runs, it sucks combustion air through 5-7 inches of solid ash laying on a solid steel plate. Very little air can be draw through that ash at idle because the observation port opens when the fan shuts down breaking the fire's draft and bypasses it. So it just sits there, a massive ball of heat, ready to burst into flame once air can get to it when the fan starts.

The column of hot coal is also surrounded by the hot boiler water, so it maintains itself for a long time. Typically you can recover from a power failure of 2-3 days. When the combustion blower does come back on there is considerable air sucked up through the "ash-burning coal-fresh coal" stack. This will ignite any remaining still glowing coal. The A-A or AHS coal stoker boiler is unlike any other. The AHS doesn't even have a "keep fire alive" timer. It just depends on the natural radiation from the boiler to cool the boiler vessel water below the aquastat low set point. This turns on the combustion blower.

Great thread! I think it is agreed upon now that for steam applications sizing by radiation is the best approach. Whereas I can agree with Mike that a coal appliance has different characteristics than an oil or gas burner I still feel it should be somewhat close to the ideal BTU for the radiators in the building, but like Mike says, preferably on the plus side.

I would like to know more about this poster's steam system. Is it one pipe or two? How was the 300,000 BTU figure attained?

I will also say what is just as critical in a steam set up as boiler sizing, if not more so, is the near boiler piping and the venting. And that includes the supply pipe size on the boiler. Here is a PDF of exit velocity of steam from the boiler and how pressure and temp are major components. The lower pressure the better the efficiency of the system. That's one of the reasons I love my 260, that four inch supply pipe.

http://www.gwgillplumbingandheating.com ... ge?pid=224

I also have to say that this Axeman is incredible in the steam set up I have. I was initially worried that since my timer that came with my boiler is kaput I would have trouble with maintaining a fire. Nothing could be further from that worry. Even during some of the mild weather we have had here in Connecticut I have not lost a fire. With a long twelve hour plus stretch for a call from heat, once that fan kicks on it is not long before there is a serious ball of fire in that boiler! Yanche, Coaledsweat, Greg, Steam-up and Rob each articulate well how this system operates. I was at Coaledsweat's house once sitting around his boiler. His 260 was just idling along on a mild day. We were actually talking about the subject of boiler fire temps and I was wondering aloud how hot his fire was since there was not much of a call for the motor. He took a piece of solid steel bar about three feet long, an inch wide and a quarter inch thick and opened his firebox plate and shoved the steel bar into the fire. I don't think it was over 3 to 4 minutes and he took the bar out and the end in the fire was solid cherry red and glowing! Yet, by looking into the firebox you would not have known the coal was even burning.

You have to see it to believe it, this 260 makes steam like there is no tomorrow. Even since I added the hot water coil in my boiler, it still cranks out steam at an amazing rate.

Burning coal, be it in an Axeman (AHS), an EFM, a Keystoker or any other unit set up properly, is THE best fuel for steam. Size your header, your equalizer, your loop properly, and VENT THOSE MAINS and you'll pump out some serious steam. If you're in CT please stop on by and we'll crank the thermostat and time the boiler's response. You'll be amazed.

I would love to see an EFM 700 or 900 set up for steam, or a big Keystoker with twin 4 inch supply pipes and a massive header like mine. I bet those units would rock as well.

Short video running at about 5 to 6 ounces of pressure during a call for heat. The stack temp is usually around 425 degrees. At the end of the video it reads in the 300's due to me opening the viewing port and letting excess air rush in.

Well, posted it and the movie comes up sideways. I'll have to figure out how to change viewing orientation and re post.

OK, held the camera horizontal and hopes this works.

As you can see in the first video the system actually went into a bit of a vacuum, hence the less than zero reading on that 0 to 3 pound gauge.

On the second video I waited about 5 minutes and got a pressure reading of 1.5 ounces. All the main lines were full of steam, the big Gorton main vents were hot to the touch and the rads were starting to get hot.

Infrequently will I see over 6 ounces of pressure, and it is very rare to have the vaporstat shut down due to pressure setting of 12 to 13 ounces I have it set for. That occurs only sometimes like if I set the thermostat at 62 at night and then got up in the AM and felt chilly so cranked the thermostat to 74 or something. But, that's what it is designed to do! And remember, usually steam jobs run off a pressuretrol that is set for a shut off at 2 pounds of pressure! Mine is set for less than half of that and it seldom ever reaches that 12 ounce mark even after a major call for heat. If I leave the TT set at a steady mark like 70 or 68 and don't adjust it I'd never see over 4 ounces of pressure.

The drawback? It gets too warm at night for me! I think I'm going to move the bedroom upstairs to a far room and shut off that radiator in the room. Or maybe, like the old timers, leave a window open!!!!

Here is the result of me playing around getting videos. Only 78 degrees. Turn on the AC!!!

Must be tough having too much heat !! I think it's time to convert to OIl or Propane, so you don't get so over heated.

Greg L

Townsend wrote:I was at Coaledsweat's house once sitting around his boiler. His 260 was just idling along on a mild day. We were actually talking about the subject of boiler fire temps and I was wondering aloud how hot his fire was since there was not much of a call for the motor. He took a piece of solid steel bar about three feet long, an inch wide and a quarter inch thick and opened his firebox plate and shoved the steel bar into the fire. I don't think it was over 3 to 4 minutes and he took the bar out and the end in the fire was solid cherry red and glowing! Yet, by looking into the firebox you would not have known the coal was even burning.

Yes, it got hot.

It's actually one straight bar, it just looks like a Q-tip from the glow!

I like the long probe thermometer with the needle that spins like a Sprint missile altimeter.

Here is an interesting article on boiler sizing, whereupon it is advocated to actually undersize a one pipe steam boiler. It's a good read.

http://www.heatinghelp.com/article/323/ ... ro-Bunnell

Leaning towards an EFM 1300 burning it at half steam to attain the 500,000 btu
s needed.
1. Any leads on a used EFM 1300?
2. Question: is a plate boiler "better" than a tube boiler?
3. Is there a bigger boiler than the EFM? Next goal is to heat a very large greenhouse to grow pumpkins.
Thank you.
pumpkinfarmer7

pumpkinfarmer7 wrote:Leaning towards an EFM 1300 burning it at half steam to attain the 500,000 btu
s needed.
1. Any leads on a used EFM 1300?
2. Question: is a plate boiler "better" than a tube boiler?
3. Is there a bigger boiler than the EFM? Next goal is to heat a very large greenhouse to grow pumpkins.
Thank you.
pumpkinfarmer7

I think a 1300 would be running at or close to flat out to generate 500k of gross input. The recommended firing rate on the S-45 stoker is 45 lb/hr. On an "as received" basis I think a representative btu/lb for anthracite is around 12,250. 45 x 12250 = 551,250 btu/hr, so an S-45 would have to be running hard to reach the 500k level, especially if there is any unburned coal.

1. Sorry, no leads at the moment.

2. The market prices for plate boilers tend to be higher than for tube boilers, but I think it would be misleading to interpret that as better/worse. Plate boilers and tube boilers are both capable of failing; to me the condition of the boiler is the more important thing.

3. EFM has made stokers bigger than the S-45, but I'm not aware of any EFM boilers that are bigger than the 1300. If you have a big heat load it might be possible to handle it with multiple smaller boilers.

Mike

If you're not right in NEPA, with 500,000btu+ heat requirements you may want to look into a bituminous fired appliance - stoker fired they produce no visible smoke/smell just like anthracite and you will cut your fuel costs quite a bit when firing that much load. Some EFM boilers/GJ etc. can handle "pea" sized bit stoker coal as is AND they burn anthracite as well. However, a dedicated bit stoker boiler will burn cheap plentiful (from many sources) bit stoker coal.

This is another option, an 'outdoor' (self-contained) bit stoker boiler (the seller is a forum member): http://www.outdoorstokerboilersofky.com/