Shut down or burn year round??

I'm contemplating weather I should run all year or shut down in the spring. Per the boss, the heat runs from November 1 and gets shut off April 1, so that's seven months of just DHW use. I've kept the boiler blind sense October 2011, and last summer was interesting, I had an outfire every day it went over 85 and my basement was very hot. I also wasn't a fan of all the heat that radiated through the floor. I averaged about 110 lbs per week. I'm thinking of getting a heat pump for my summer DHW production and shutting down. What pros and cons are there.

I too considered a year round burning with a boiler, but I don't think I'm into it.. There probably would be a little money saved over using electric for DHW but would it be worth the added burden of running the appliance? A 110 pounds per week is $47.30 per month (at $200 per ton) Plus the additional cost of electric the appliance uses. How much more would an electric water tank use? Another $20? There are pros and cons.. Heres a few I looked at. I'm sure more can be added to each side but these seemed most important to me.

Pros -
Dry basement
More economical
No worry of corrosion from humidity since no down time

Cons -
Too much heat in the basement
The added burden of tending
Problems with draft in the chimney when its warm outside
Out fires due to scarce calls for heat?

I've concluded that I'll be happy to save on electric while I need to heat the house and not worry about it in the summer

Hopefully someone who does burn year round can chime in
Wheres Larry??

I burned all summer last year, and I intend to do so this coming summer as well. The primary benefit is to prohibit corrosion that would eventually take years of life away from my boiler and my flue pipes.

It is less expensive to run an electric hot water tank than to burn coal in the summer for DHW.

An electric hot water tank uses about 400 KWH of electricity per month. At $0.11 per KWH, that is $44 per month for electricity.

My boiler provides our DHW all summer while using about 445 lbs. per month of coal. At $0.14/lb. that comes to $62 per month for coal.

$18 difference per month over 5 nominally summer months = $90 lost over the summer in burning coal vs. utilizing an electric hot water tank.

The question becomes, is $90 per year (or $7.50 per month if annualized) worth it as an insurance policy that can add years of life to your boiler and flue pipes?

I tried the year round deal with my Kaa-2. It was expensive. Last summer, I emptied the hopper of coal, and plugged the bottom of hopper with insulation. Took the stove pipe off the boiler, and plugged smoke outlet. I put one of them small thermostatic ceramic heaters in the ash pit, and closed the door. Results were GREAT! The heater would actually shut off after reaching temp. After all summer, No Rust. No seized up handles. No signs what so ever of being shut down. It worked so good, I'll do the same from here on out. Oliver

I have burned all year round for several years. Every year was a pain with outfires due to timers taking a crap and other coal related issues. I put a hybrid water heater in my fairly compact furnace room. The heat pump dehumidifies and air conditions the room pretty good. I'll shut down, pull the stove pipe going to the chimney and clean this spring. I'll find out how the DF likes that.

Mr Plumber ,I don't have a boiler but If I did I would try to burn year round(because I love burning the black rock,that answer may be different 30 years from now)but there are pros and cons as the others have said but I like my AC(I can't stand the heat in the summer but lately if the house isn't 75*in the winter then I'm cold go figure)so that being said how much more will the AC run to cool the house from the extra heat created by the boiler .Trying to cool the house while heating DHW will more then likely cost you more then you think but that my opinion,but If you don't use or have AC then I guess it doesn't matter so keep this thread going I'm curious to see what the others have to say .Keepaeyeonit

oliver power wrote:I tried the year round deal with my Kaa-2. It was expensive. Last summer, I emptied the hopper of coal, and plugged the bottom of hopper with insulation. Took the stove pipe off the boiler, and plugged smoke outlet. I put one of them small thermostatic ceramic heaters in the ash pit, and closed the door. Results were GREAT! The heater would actually shut off after reaching temp. After all summer, No Rust. No seized up handles. No signs what so ever of being shut down. It worked so good, I'll do the same from here on out. Oliver

I'm also wondering the same question, but I will try Oliver's idea to keep rust out of k-6. Has anyone have good results just using light bulb, would it be enough heat to keep rust away?

I burn year round, have been for a long time. No issues and I don't have a hot water storage tank. The coal consumption has gone down noticeably though, since the boys are grown

I ran my EFM through last summer. I found that it was more economical than my oil boiler.

Oliver, just how much coal did that "big" KAA-2 burn? I would have expected it to be pretty thrifty with coal.

I plan on a shut down for the summer as I can't buy coal in my area as cheaply as some of you . It would cost me about $650 for coal for the summer and I only use about 100 gal. of fuel oil for that same period . The 110 looks like a fairly easy boiler to clean so I will give it a real good cleaning and have it ready for fall .

By: Wiz On: Tue Jan 08, 2013 6:52 am

oliver power wrote:
I tried the year round deal with my Kaa-2. It was expensive. Last summer, I emptied the hopper of coal, and plugged the bottom of hopper with insulation. Took the stove pipe off the boiler, and plugged smoke outlet. I put one of them small thermostatic ceramic heaters in the ash pit, and closed the door. Results were GREAT! The heater would actually shut off after reaching temp. After all summer, No Rust. No seized up handles. No signs what so ever of being shut down. It worked so good, I'll do the same from here on out. Oliver


I'm also wondering the same question, but I will try Oliver's idea to keep rust out of k-6. Has anyone have good results just using light bulb, would it be enough heat to keep rust away?

i have read in other similair posts where a light bulb has done the trick, in most cases deffinetly a 60 watt, freddy posted that a 40 watt worked just fine. little easier on the electric bill.

I used a 100 watt bulb. 100 watts on 24/7 costs about $9 per month at 12.5 cents per kilowatt.

We burn year round but I'm not paying $250 a ton for coal either. You need to weigh the costs, you are probably going to use at least one ton of coal from the end of May into Sept. At best you might break even unless you have 10 teenagers or using it for something else like sauna. There is also the other costs, I have no figures but a boiler run 24/7/365 is going to add years of service and that includes the flue pipe. I think we only replaced the flue pipe once in 25 years.

Lightning wrote:Too much heat in the basement

Ours is insulated and truthfully that was never an issue, it wasn't excessively hot in the basement but also bear in mind we had a rock wall foundation with no insulation so certainly some of that was being absorbed by the ground.. There is some residual heat from the flue pipe but 99% of the time it's just slightly warm to the touch.

Richard S. wrote:it wasn't excessively hot in the basement but also bear in mind we had a rock wall foundation with no insulation so certainly some of that was being absorbed by the ground.. There is some residual heat from the flue pipe but 99% of the time it's just slightly warm to the touch.

I think a coal boiler can help keep a basement like that dry and comfortable. If the basement was totally insulated...it might get uncomfortably warm. My brother's new house has those styrofoam forms that are left in place. 2" of foam insulation inside and outside...plus there is a thermal break under the floor. I am curious to see how warm it gets in the summer with that EFM down there.

My basement was hot last summer, and averaged $55 a month for DHW. Had a few hot weather outfires, only to find out when I came home to take a cd shower after working a double. I'm really thinking about a heat pump for DHW production, that would also keep the basement dry. And cool.