Coal boiler recommendation for my home

You're gonna be toasty!! Good luck with it.

Are you going to pipe up the 'Village"? Anyone with one of these knows what the potential is...and it loafs along, unaware that it actually has a load. I have some spare parts in my garage, PM me where to visit you.
The tankless was brand new when I bought it, never hooked up because I already had a super store online. That boiler is a good friend, and only departed because Mike needed more than I did......Got a coal supply yet? Buck was all I burned, and is recommended in 700's and 900's, and 1300's.
I was heating 8600 sq ft on 9 tons a year.....hot water, too. I'll pm you today.

Thanks. Step one accomplished, now I need to buy some coal, and get the boiler installed.

For various reasons, my choice came down to the new LL 220 or an EFM 700/900. I decided to go big, and then it largely came down to availability.

Thanks again to everyone who has help me so far. Doug (Whistlenut) has been very generous with his time in responding to my extensive list of questions. It's kind of cool that one of his former boilers will end up in my basement. Dave at LL was great about answering my questions about their boiler as well. Also, thanks to Scott (Scottscoaled) as well for his advice.

Doug, I haven't lined up a source for coal yet. I was planning to just buy whatever I can get delivered bagged for this season and then look for a cheaper option going forward; however, I would definitely welcome other suggestions. BTW., if I can heat our house with 9 tons per year, I will be VERY happy.

gwgjr34 wrote: Step one accomplished, now I need to buy some coal, and get the boiler installed.

Your 900 will run on rice, buck, or a mix of both. Buck is preferred for high-output applications, but if rice is all you have locally it will be fine.

Do you have an installer already lined up?

gwgjr34 wrote: if I can heat our house with 9 tons per year, I will be VERY happy.

I agree that would be great, but don't count on it. You will be heating a larger area to a higher temperature than you are used to. I say that because it is human nature to keep the house a little warmer than you don't get flashbacks of last months fuel bill every time you touch the thermostat...and the 900 will keep the basement cozy.

Wow! That is a BIG boy!

Congrats to switching to coal, and glad to see you came here.
Everyone is much help and also they are long timers that can help with the questions you will have fine tuning (you already know that)

Like Rob said, your usage will prob be a bit higher since you can heat warmer (tstats will be higher) and not have to worry too much.
Last year we were using oil at around 65F stats and bitter...bitter on the price mostly.
Battled it out and then just had the 520 installed a month ago.

tstats are up to 70 (might even be happy enough to boost them up to 72F, but couldnt take the heat and to hot for us younger folk)
Lil bit less sq ft than you Gary, but looking like we will be around the 9 ton range.
Only because at 4000 sq, 180 yr old house with the only insulation here is under the EFM jacket!

Good Luck on all, and hope you get that puppy hooked up soon.

Edit: oh, and on keeping the tstats higher, we are still looking at minimum savings of 50% plus hot water (have to calc in the DHW electric savings to get the full picture)
and payback for us will be only a few years.
Your payback should be a couple years. Nice!

Rob

Yes, I'm expecting to burn 10+ tons per year, and hope to be quite happy doing so. I'm expecting a complete payback of the equipment + install in about three years which is MUCH quicker than any of the other options I considered before deciding on coal.

If you have room in your basement, you could use feed skids, fed from a remote basement window.

Use 1-7/8" concrete blocks to set the boiler on so if you ever want to use skids, the boiler auger will be low enought to fit under the edge of the skids. Face the boiler where you will have room for the skid.

I couldn't imagine paying for 1000-2000 gallons of fuel oil...brutal expense there so congrats on the switch.


I think we used about 900 gallons in our first year in our home and then 150 gallons in our 2nd year after the stove was installed (hot water for showers, dishes, wash basically).

vermontday wrote:If you have room in your basement, you could use feed skids, fed from a remote basement window.

Use 1-7/8" concrete blocks to set the boiler on so if you ever want to use skids, the boiler auger will be low enought to fit under the edge of the skids. Face the boiler where you will have room for the skid.

I admire very much the supersack/skid system vermontday has pioneered, but I'd note that the 900 has a different feed auger setup than a 520, so the requirements to make a skid system work may be a little different.

Mike

Any updates on the 900?