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

pumpkinfarmer7 · By: **pumpkinfarmer7** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:01 am

Where to but a 300,000 BTU coal fired steam boiler stoker? Thank you.

freetown fred · By: **freetown fred** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:05 am

Welcome to the FORUM my friend. You gotta come up with more info then that. What are you looking for, what are your options, where are you from, what size/style house/barn. Come on, we're good, but we're not mind readers.How is your current system set up?? :clap:

Rob R. · By: **Rob R.** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:24 am

Where do you live?

Do you want to burn anthracite or bituminous? How did you determine the boiler needs to be 300,000 btu's per hour? Did you measure the steam radiation?

If the answer is anthracite, and you're sure of the btu requirement, I think one of the big EFM's would be just the ticket. If you give us a little more information about the system and your plans for the boiler, I'm sure we can refer you to the right people.

LsFarm · By: **LsFarm** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:35 am

Or if your 300K btu requirement is an estimate, An AA260 set up for steam will do the job very well.

Here is a thread on installing an AA 260 for steam heat.. the AA is very good for steam, because the water is kept hotter than other designs by the water vessel in contact with the fire when idling. it takes only a minute or two to create steam.

New (to me) Axeman 260

Greg L

whistlenut · By: **whistlenut** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:41 am

In an area that is easily accessible with a tractor, skid steer, conveyor and big enough building to dance in. You won't be packaging this rig for a space launch, so spread out, safety is no accident, make yourself comfortable, some guys have a bunk room because they LUV their stoker soooo much. If you are frequently in the Dawg House.......well you understand.

Keep it high enough so floods won't hamper it's operation (if possible), don't cheat on wiring and safeties......and all Greg says, also. We like AA's, but they all work well with steam.

Pacowy · By: **Pacowy** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:35 am

My advice would be to include plenty of excess boiler capacity above whatever the computations show is the load corresponding to your installed radiation. As discussed in other threads, many factors can cause coal boilers to come up short relative to their nameplate capacity (e.g., substandard coal, boiler in need of cleaning), and if you don't make enough steam to build a positive pressure in your system you are likely to be quite unhappy with the results. This issue is compounded if the unit is going to produce DHW, support hydronic loops or other future expansion, run with the jackets off to heat the basement, etc.

Above and beyond making sure the system actually works, oversizing the boiler also may have efficiency advantages because big boilers tend to have larger heat exchange surfaces relative to smaller boilers. Using EFM's as an example, an EFM 900 has a heat exchange area of 59 s.f., while an EFM 1300 has a heat exchange area of 80 s.f. Even if you didn't need the full output of a 1300, you likely would use less coal to make the steam you need by running the 1300 at a jog rather than running a 900 flat out.

Our last 2 houses have been heated by steam with stoker boilers that can handle all of our normal btu requirements running at 60-70% of their rated capacity. Prior to that, we had an underpowered steam system. I vote for the excess capacity.

Mike

freetown fred · By: **freetown fred** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:52 am

OOOOOhhhh, where to BUY, not where to PUT :bang:

--go top right search box & put boilers for sale, see what pops up--you could still answer all the questions people been asking, that'll be some help. Sorry, still in the middle of getting my cataracts straightened out. :eek2:

pumpkinfarmer7 wrote:Where to but a 300,000 BTU coal fired steam boiler stoker? Thank you.

steamup · By: **steamup** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:12 am

300,000 is a lot of heat unless for a commercial application.

Verify if you need ASME rated pressure vessels for your application. This may narrow your options. Make sure 300,000 is the right number by doing a load analysis with safety and pickup factors. You didn't say whether that was input or output.

Salemcoal · By: **Salemcoal** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 12:00 pm

Dave O neil, Advanced Energy in Warrensburg, NY

freetown fred · By: **freetown fred** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 1:33 pm

Oh no, somebody actually answered the initial question. :doh:

ValterBorges · By: **ValterBorges** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:06 pm

There are also AHS 500 and 1000s.

lsayre · By: **lsayre** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:09 pm

freetown fred wrote:Oh no, somebody actually answered the initial question.

Is that allowed? :confused:

LsFarm · By: **LsFarm** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 7:48 pm

Pacowy wrote:My advice would be to include plenty of excess boiler capacity above whatever the computations show is the load corresponding to your installed radiation. As discussed in other threads, many factors can cause coal boilers to come up short relative to their nameplate capacity (e.g., substandard coal, boiler in need of cleaning), and if you don't make enough steam to build a positive pressure in your system you are likely to be quite unhappy with the results. This issue is compounded if the unit is going to produce DHW, support hydronic loops or other future expansion, run with the jackets off to heat the basement, etc.

Above and beyond making sure the system actually works, oversizing the boiler also may have efficiency advantages because big boilers tend to have larger heat exchange surfaces relative to smaller boilers. Using EFM's as an example, an EFM 900 has a heat exchange area of 59 s.f., while an EFM 1300 has a heat exchange area of 80 s.f. Even if you didn't need the full output of a 1300, you likely would use less coal to make the steam you need by running the 1300 at a jog rather than running a 900 flat out.

Our last 2 houses have been heated by steam with stoker boilers that can handle all of our normal btu requirements running at 60-70% of their rated capacity. Prior to that, we had an underpowered steam system. I vote for the excess capacity.

Mike

Hi Mike, I have a concern with oversizing for steam heat.. especially with a boiler where the water can cool down quite a bit.
Since an oversize boiler will not only have more heated surface [good for heating the water] but it will ALSO have a lot more water...
So when on a fall or spring day.. or virtually any day this winter.. the boiler sits and idles [assuming it's not set up for DHW with an aquastat keeping the water hot].. then the water cools quite a bit.. then the house thermostat calls for heat. and it takes a LONG time to get the water up to making steam, and once it makes steam,, the thermosat is satisfied easlily,, since it's warm outdoors.

It seems to me that an oversize boiler will cost a great deal more in fuel and 'wait for steam' time than a 'correctly' sized boiler ???

I've quizzed 'Townsend' extensively about his AA260, and it sits and idles.. he doesn't have a timer on it yet,, and the water seems to stay at 190* just from the fire in contact with the water jacket around the firepot..
I dont think a keystoker or EFM with a idling fire will keep the water that warm,, and the design of the Keystoker and EFM stokers, will also require more time to generate a full fire to create steam.. ?? so there will be considerable lag before steam and heat for the house is created.. and even MORE lag with a significant increast in water int he vessel??

Please correct me if I"m wrong,, maybe the steam boiler would be set up with an aquastat to keep the water nearer to boiling? so it has less lag? I know that if you have a DHW coil, it would have to have a minimum setting to provide hot water..

Anyway,, just thinking and wondering..

Greg L

Pacowy · By: **Pacowy** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 8:51 pm

Greg,

I think in general steam systems do better when there is a big/steady load. In spring and fall, as you note, you may have long periods with little action. During those times, I think you have a trade-off between efficiency and response time. If you want it to make steam at the drop of a hat, you have to maintain the boiler water at a high temperature, which causes greater heat losses during the idle period (i.e., lower efficiency). If you don't mind having it take a little while to get back up to temperature, you can let the boiler cool down more. I don't think it has much to do with the boiler or stoker type - with the EFM's, at least, it's more a matter of aquastat settings and personal preference.

My current boiler has neither an aquastat nor a timer. But it does have a lot of distribution piping, so I lean towards having it make long runs with cool-down periods in between. The thermostat sets back to let it rest at night. It goes for a long run in the morning to bring things up to temp, then coasts through the afternoon to another long run in the evening. On cold winter days it might do a cycle mid-day.

At our old house the stoker boiler (EFM 900) had a timer and aquastat, and made DHW, so the response time was a little faster, and it did more normal cycling.

In both cases, the boilers are oversized relative to the btu/hr it takes to fill the radiators. In the old house I probably could have gotten by with an EFM 700, but the 900 has about 36% more heat exchange area, so even if it's a little less efficient than a 700 would be in spring and fall, I think it's quite a bit more efficient during the winter when most of the coal actually gets burned.

Mike

coaledsweat · By: **coaledsweat** On: Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:24 pm

LsFarm wrote:I've quizzed 'Townsend' extensively about his AA260, and it sits and idles.. he doesn't have a timer on it yet,, and the water seems to stay at 190* just from the fire in contact with the water jacket around the firepot..
I dont think a keystoker or EFM with a idling fire will keep the water that warm,, and the design of the Keystoker and EFM stokers, will also require more time to generate a full fire to create steam.. ?? so there will be considerable lag before steam and heat for the house is created.. and even MORE lag with a significant increast in water int he vessel??

I was amazed at Townsend's AA, the response was very fast. He made the point about that big 4" port on the output can move a lot more energy in a hurry than a smaller port. IIRC, that was why he decided he had to have an Axeman. I think that coupled with the basketball sized fire sitting against the boiler's inner wall gives it kind of an edge in a steam application.

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

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

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