Stoker Coal Boiler that would best meet my needs

Those ARE a funny 3 %. But read the post. They were suggestions for new names back in 2008

Up until now I have tried to help the original poster correctly evaluate the load, but the focus of the discussion seems to have drifted. It doesn't really matter which boiler casts a bigger shadow, you need one big enough to heat the houses on a very cold day, have some additional capacity to overcome piping losses, and finally...I would allow some capacity to help you in the event of poor quality coal, or a boiler that is overdue for a cleaning when that cold front rolls in (I shamelessly stole that last line from forum member Pacowy).

To the original poster - You have determined that the installed radiation can keep the houses warm, and you have measured it, good work. You have observed a low temperature drop over the pex runs, and that is also good. If you have a means of supplementing the heat to one or two houses in extreme weather, that might tip the scales one way or another. Boilers only come in so many sizes anyway, but a unit with an adjustable feed rate is more forgiving in operation over a wide range of conditions.

My opinion isn't even worth $0.02, but I'll give it to you anyway. 340 feet of radiation, 550 btu's per foot, 15% piping and pickup, and 20% on top of that for a "bad day" = 258k btu's per hour. You'd be hard pressed to move more than 210k through three sets of 1" pex lines anyway, so any boiler in the 250k ballpark should be reasonable. EFM 700 or 900, Keystoker K12, AA260...something like those. I fully admit that I am a big fan of EFM products...I have installed three 520's for family members, and 1 for myself. If you didn't mind firing an oil boiler in one house when the mercury drops out of sight, a 520 becomes a possibility...but you could forget about adding a fourth house to the mix. At the end of the day the guy selling you on the boiler needs to be accountable for the performance...but you should still do your homework.

lsayre wrote:The KD-12 looks like it would do the job. Keystoker boilers are noticeably less expensive than the others also.

Like anything else, that depends on who you price it from, and what you price it against. I have never run a Keystoker, but I have stood next to one that was running. They are very simple, quiet, and cheap to fix in the rare event it needs parts. Biggest downside (in my opinion) for a hard-working application is the additional cost of their auger package. Approvals and UL listings are another issue, but it sounds like this boiler would be located in an outbuilding...so that is a moot point.

Hello all...ALL of the posts you each have made have been very helpful in my quest to gain knowledge; and to boot I have gotten some entertainment with the bantering of what boiler is best!

You might want to consider a separate coal fired boiler for each home. The added bonus is no BTU's lost through the piping and the basements will be warm.

Honestly...I may just do that! At least for my home...I just don't want to install a chimney is all...if I could power vent a unit that would be real nice!

e!

When the basement is warm the whole house is warm!

I can say that because my EFM is in the basement here.

That said I can understand wanting to replace the current boiler with a coal stoker and use the same setup. Just something to consider.

My basement isn't heated and it stays at 62 degrees even at 30 below zero....its well insulated!

So did you find a coal boiler Northern Maine, or are you still looking for one? And either way, which one(s) are you considering? Is the project intended for next winter or this winter?

lsayre wrote:So did you find a coal boiler Northern Maine, or are you still looking for one? And either way, which one(s) are you considering? Is the project intended for next winter or this winter?

I have not found a boiler yet...still trying to determine the best fit for me....The project is for next winter as we have all of our wood for this winter....my brother is sold on another outdoor unit that is for coal....Portage and Main out door coal stoker....but, the price of that unit is very high and I think we could get a better deal with a refurbished AA, EFM or Keystoker that would meet our needs sufficiently! However, if I can not convince him otherwise....I am leaning towards the LL 120 and put it in my basement!

I looked at the diagram of the Portage & Main boiler, and am not real excited about horizontal firetubes in a coal boiler. We had that for a while in our last house (in a Pacific Steel boiler) and it was a PITA. I think most coal boilers have vertical ones, which don't require such frequent cleaning of flyash accumulations. They also seem to be kind of unconcerned with frozen coal, which should get careful attention in an outdoor set-up.

Mike

Northern Maine wrote:Portage and Main out door coal stoker....but, the price of that unit is very high and I think we could get a better deal with a refurbished AA, EFM or Keystoker that would meet our needs sufficiently! However, if I can not convince him otherwise....I am leaning towards the LL 120 and put it in my basement!

Just curious, what is the ballpark price on one of those Portage & Main units?

Between 12 and $14000

Northern Maine wrote:Between 12 and $14000

For $14,000 you could buy a new LL110 for each house, and pay someone to install them !!

I'l put a LL110 in your house, find a smaller boiler for the replacement of the wood boiler. Like an AA130.

Or have patience and find an AA260m to replace the wood boiler.. all calculations keep coming back to the AA260,
and they are plentifull, and you have plenty of experienc with them..

Greg L