Install photos and first fire in efm520

Good evening gentleman,
I fired my new to me efm about an hour ago and have been staring at it since. I cant believe I didnt do this sooner. Ive had quite a project getting the thing installed as it has involved getting rid of my hand fired wood/coal boiler,my oil burner ,installing a propane boiler and moving the efm to a new spot in the garage. Ill post some photos and a project summary soon, but I have only one concern right now and that is.... Should the gear reduction be warm to the touch or not. Im afraid I dont have enough oil in it but I dont want to overfill it. anybody help me out?

Thanx in advance jeff

Jeff, do you have a new EFM? The new ones use a different gearbox than the older ones. To answer your question, it is normal for the gearbox to be warm. The oil level should be roughly to the bottom shaft, but there should be a check plug for the exact level.

Rob,

Not a new unit . 1990 waterjacket and Im guessing probably the original stoker. I dont hay a check plug only a drain and a fill on top. there is however an 50 cent size inspection plate on the front which I very reluctant to remove. maybe I can see down in the fill port in the am. or too, make a dipstick out of a nylon tywrap . The thing is turning on and off with temp and time, leaving only ash and the most amazing blue fire. I am so stoked if youll indulge my pun. Thanx for your help......

Best, jeff

Jeff

I can tell you 6 years of burning my EFM it doesn't lose its effect. I stare at my boiler reguarly also...



They are great pieces of equipment.

Jeff, does yours have a small square gearbox with a bolt through each corner? If so, the proper oil level is halfway up the large cross-shaft...a piece of wire through the top fill plug makes an excellent dipstick.

The fascination with the boiler will continue, I still visit mine regularly. Please post pictures, we love pictures here, you know.

Moving this discussion to the EFM heading.

Rob,
I checked the oil level and it appears to be right. The box isnt hot by any stretch so Im callin' it macaroni. Ive started building my own cabinet as I want more insulation and durability. As soon a I get that done IVE gotta get the hopper built. Ill post pics as soon as I can get the pics on my computer. I can fly a plane but I cant do that! I am glad for this forum for many reasons but the most suprising is that I can prove to my wife that Im not crazy, or at least Im not alone......

Regards to all...... Jeff

Jeff, here is a link to instructions on how to upload picture files: How to Upload Files

If you can't get the pictures off your camera, well that is a different story.

So.... I bought this efm520 from a pluming contractor,Bob, in Scranton,PA . Ill post his info after I get his ok. Its a 1990 unit that has been refurbed as follows ; new pot grates , gooseneck bushing, auger and pipe and he included a new honeywell digital aquastat , new wilburt timer, new burner motor should the one on it go bad and the base and water jacket had been blasted and painted. $4000 . Im not sure how that stacks up with everybody else but a lot more reasonable than some Ive seen.



The first thing I did was to fiberglass the ash pit and the smoke chamber


After adding the stoker and auger as well as the rear plate using neversieze on all the joints and fasteners I called for my main man John D to mate the two sections

Stay tuned......

waldo lemieux wrote: I called for my main man John D to mate the two sections

A yellow deere,are the wheels painted green Looks like you have 2 serious working units. Keep up the good work

Well done, enjoy your investment.

So I did all the plumbing and chimney stuff and lit the first fire. Now that Im used to the beauty Ive started to build an enclosure from steel studs . I welded 4 anchor points to the top of the boiler to mount the track to. The bottom track attatches to the base.

I finished the framing and put insulation on the top and 16" down the sides. Im going to leave the rest open to keep the garage from freezing . The final step is to fashion the panels and get some purdy blue paint.

Beer me......

Even with the boiler completely insulated I'd be very surprised if the garage reached freezing temperatures.

Did you pipe the boiler with 3/4" copper?

waldo lemieux wrote:So I did all the plumbing and chimney stuff and lit the first fire. Now that Im used to the beauty Ive started to build an enclosure from steel studs . I welded 4 anchor points to the top of the boiler to mount the track to. The bottom track attatches to the base.

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welded anchors

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steel stud and track

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I finished the framing and put insulation on the top and 16" down the sides

Please remove the paper from the insulation "THE FIRE BELONGS INSIDE THE BOILER ONLY" and nice job.

i cant believe I wrapped my BURNING DEVICE WITH PAPER. I have another confession....... When I installed the chimney and poked it through the wall there was alot of cold air rushing in so.........
I stuffed the thing full of insulation, no... really! It took a couple of days to fit the boiler in and guess what, when I hooked it up I forgot. Thats right, no draft and then I lit a fire! There was a plume of smoke out the damper but it quit and i wrote it off as a very cold flue. Well I was getting quite a bit of smell so I wondered how much was coming from the damper and how much was coming from a leaky gasket ect. So I taped a plastic bag over the damper and it puffed up like a hot air balloon and when the thing turned off the bag turned inside itself. So I says to myself , "self" you need to get rid of that damper. Again Im not makin this up, and so out goes the damper and I thought " good ,now I wont have to worry about setting draft ect..." ,I started another fire and all was wonderful again and I had myself a beer. Next day , no smell , life is good. Later the next evening I was watching a show in which several people in a family were killed and the authorities were stumped until somone decided to check the chimney, which , was plugged up . Weeell, at 11:30 pm under mostly beery skies the light went on so I trundles out to the shop gets out a ladder and in my jammies and slippers I climb the ladder and start unscrewing the smoke pipe and ........... nothing! I momentarily thought ,"great I not as bad off as I thought" But then a little voice. Tiny and slurred said "ya better go out and pull the cleanout plug just to be sure and there it was about three feet up the chimney. I weaseled the damn thing out swore and thru @$!% around. After a few moments of being totally disgusted with my self putting things back together again I turned the switch back to fire and stood back with the boiler door open and the light out and just watched the beautiful thing. Life was good again.......... untill,
I realized I was wearing my nearly white christmas jammies. I have arrived at old man......