Iron Fireman for Ky Coal?

Hi guys, I'm up here in Northern Wisconsin. I've been burning chunk wood in a gasification stove for the last 4 years.. I've gotta get to something more hands-off. I was thinking of going to anthracite, but up here, it's super expensive...... Wood pellets are also spendy, and extrememly volatile.... THEN, I found an add where I can get 1.25" Kentucky stoker coal for $125/ton in bulk... 127 miles from my house...... I could easily get my years supply in 2 trips with my gooseneck.

So I enbarked on a massive craigslist search and found an Iron Fireman stoker in working condition for $200 in Ohio. I've talked to the owner and he said as soon as he gets home from a biz trip, he's going to snap some pictures and inspect the situation to see if the burner head is cemented into the boiler.... At this point, I've already told him I'd take it and to consider it sold. Just waiting for him to get back...

How well do these units work with Kentucky coal? Also, I'll need to have a boiler vessel to put this inside of. I have a good friend that owns a fab shop and has big press brakes, shears, etc so I can build a water jacket for it fairly cheap... he's done several outdoor wood boilers so he's got a good design for doors too.

What do you guys think? Am I jumping from the pot to the fire? LOL

Before you buy somthing used and modify it to your needs, I think you should try to find somthing that will work well without modifications. I dont know what you price range is but I think you should consider a new stove/boiler here is a link to
ds machine stoves website http://rtstoves.com/stoves.htm.

How hands off are you looking for?
Are you wanting to burn only coal?
Is this set up going to in your house or outside?

These stokers work VERY well with KY coal. I highly recommend using it and think you'll be very happy with your project.

Glad to hear the Iron Firemen work well with KY coal... As for the DS Stoves, there's a local amish guy that has one, but they're a non-electric hopper feed aren't they? I want something fairly hands-off and automated.....

Also, can anybody tell me how often you have to remove the clinker from a properly designed boiler with a stoker in it? What I'm wondering is can I go for the entire hopperful of coal before I have to remove clinker? I guess what I'm fishing for is knowing if I can leave for a few days in the winter if I want to and turn the thermostat's down and not have to worry about clinker buildup? I'm new to this whole thing, but studying and reading all I can..... Where I live its ALL about wood burning, so there's no local input on the subject other than the people who tell me I'm nuts. LOL

I have a stoker like you are getting and with my coal, one hopper full is all I burn before I remove cliker.
I think it all depends on the room for ash and clinkers in your boiler stoker assembly, different coals produce different byproducts after they burn.
As far as going on a three day trip, I think that is optomistic, turn on the oil while you are away, I tend mine every 24 hours, in good weather, above -10, and twice a day below that, although I think I could streach that to -30 for a once a day tending, but with my schedual I can get called away and I don't want to freeze up because I ran out of coal.
Everyones situation is different, heating load, insulation quality, wind ?
Shear pins can break right after tending, and if you don't have a back up plan, things are going to freeze, I have only broke one pin in 50 tons.

as short bus said, it depends on the volume of your firebox. If you have LOTS of space around the tuyeres and/or angle the hearth (floor) of the firebox so that one end of it drops below the tuyeres, the stoker will simply roll and push the clinker out of the way periodically. The size of the firebox and design is going to determine how often you must remove the clinker. Using a very low ash coal such as a good KY coal AND having firebrick well up the sides of the firebox around the tuyeres (to fully combust all coke) will result in much less ash/clinker volume and longer clean-out times.

Thanks for the inputs! I'll be building my own boiler, so I can build it with any kind of floor or slope I want...

Makes sense for the shear pin breakage right after loading. I have a propane furnace in the house for backup. And the shop takes a LONG time to get below freezing....

As for insulation quality, in a hard winter, I'll easily suck down 20 full cord of wood (in a hi-efficiency gasification stove)... On -20 nights, I'm stoking the wood boiler 3-6 times a day.... So yah, this will definitely be an improvement.

I'm thinking about building my coal bin with a sloped floor leading down to an elevator "drag" to pull the coal out of the bin.... Take it right to the boiler.... Just open the hopper lid and feed it in!

Hello Deerefanatic,

An almost neighbor to you built a hybrid boiler using an EFM boiler and an Iron Fireman stoker.

You can learn a lot from reading his thread on the building and running of his boiler.

Here is the link to the thread: EFM = Electric Fireman (new project alert)

I think you will find a lot of information in this thread.

Greg L.

The Iron Fireman stoker is pretty tough, the biggest problem is the burnpot can be burnt out from letting the fire burn down into the pot, There are no
new pot castings available.. you 'd have to have some made if you need them..

Also, coal is corrosive, so make sure the hopper isn't rusted through from years of sitting with coal in it.

My iron Fireman works very well, and it will hold about 2-3 days worth of coal in the hopper.

Greg L

OK. Good things to know Greg..... As for the hopper, I can make another one of those....... For the burnpot, I'll just have to be reaaallll careful. :O

you can replace the burnpot tuyeres on an iron fireman with tuyeres from a will-burt stoker. These are still available from will-burt and require a little screwing around to get them to fit, but they will fit. Either way, they're not cheap, so don't run too low a feed rate with too much air and always leave a deep bed of loose ash inside the firebox. If you keep it adjusted properly those tuyeres will last decades.

Ok. Sounds good... Any ideas on my boiler thoughts Berlin?

I'm trying to come up with a good design for a boiler vessel.... Doesn't SEEM like it should be rocket science. LOL

Boiler building is a science, not to be taken lightly, or they can help you become a rocketed fool.
I think you need a boiler built with coal and fly ash removal conciderations.
I was lucky and found a Kewanee boiler that was sized for residential use.
Pease feed and coal may be able to help.
http://peasefeedandcoal.com/
If you are in coal country you might be able to find one that hasn't been fired in years, in somones barn or basement, ask around.
I've never seen the EFM boilers but they may mount nicely above your burner.
Please see the second line in my signature, directly below.

On the boiler design considerations, is the main concern about the fly ash removal, or is the main concern obtaining favorable heat exchange??? For cleanout, the big thing is having doors at the ends of your firetubes that you can open to brush out the tubes.... Or is the firebox shape/design critical in the actual quality of burn for the fire itself?????

Good questions all.
My boiler has about 3" tubes horiontal and I'm impressed by how often they need to be brushed, at least every two tons.
I don't even know what books to recomend on boiler design.