520 EFM HIGHBOY COAL STOKER

Recently I had a gentleman contact me looking for a used stoker to heat a large truck garage. His intentions were to use two modine blowers for this application. When he told me the size of his shop & he was talking about a 520 I suggested that he put a highboy 520 in because of the larger water capacity. He looked at me and said what the H!!! is a highboy, so here we go. Back in the early 50's EFM mfg built what they called a highboy. This 520 boiler was mfg. from around 1950 or 51-52 and was made till around 55 or 56. These units to the best of my knowledge had a rating of around 125,000 btus. I have a 1952 highboy sitting in the shop right now. These units were made with a larger capacity boiler which probably held about 20-30 gals more water than the 520 made in the 60's till now. These units were about 10 to 12 inches higher than a standard 520. The easiest way to tell these boilers is that the domestic coil is in the front. These boilers were mfg. by Fitzgibbons Boiler Co. in New York.These boilers were also capable of accepting a larger coil up to 7 gals. In my opinion these were the best units they ever made & don't pass one up because of the age. I have a 1952 that up till last Aug ran for 55 years and the only reason it was removed was to do a complete rebuid & it is going back in. Stuck a regular 520 in till I get it done and will do another transplant this summer. The nice thing about these units was the fact that the coil was in the front instead of the rear & you knew right away if the coil was weeping or starting to leak,instead of being in the rear where you don't see it. Hopes this helps some of you guys out.

Thanks for the info, I have always been interested in the ratings of the EFMs Vs the gross btu input. By my calculations a 520 has an input btu of 325,000 per hour (25 # per hour at max feed rate times avg 13,000 btus per #). Why are the output numbers so low? I think the specs show a gross btu rating of 214,000 per hour and a net around 150,000 per hour.

Thanks for joining the forum and sharing the results of your 30+ years of experience.

This posting drew some efm old-timers out of the closet. It required going back 50 years in time to find someone with knowledge about this. Here is the efm side of this story: Fitzgibbons, located near Center Valley/Coopersburg, PA, produced only the boiler for efm. The S20 stoker was efm's and was installed on the Fitzgibbons boiler. It was the old style, straight-rod, adjustable crank design, which can still be converted to the late model feed-control type.

The efm 350 used the same adjustable crank design. The stoker used in the 350 was the S15 model. The only difference in the old style S20 (520 boiler) and the S15 (350 boiler) was the size of the burner ring. The rings came in 3 sizes and there were S15, S20 and S22 burner rings. The S15 was the narrowest, the S20 is current, and the S22 is the widest. We aren't talking much difference in width; maybe 2 inches between the S15 and S22. All other parts used in the pot and stoker were the same in the 350 and 520. Both models have the round door.

When the DF520 was introduced in the late '70s, the square door was added, and the S20 stoker was used.

All stoker parts are available and interchangeable for the 520/DF520 and 350 models. The narrow 350 rings are not available, but as stated, the S20 ring is perfectly acceptable. The S22 ring is available for those who want to get a bit more btus out of their 520/DF520.

We have all the records of each S15/S20 stoker and what boiler it was matched with; either the 520 or 350. All we need is a serial number and time to look it up, for the original date of sale and owner.

The DF520 boiler uses either a 5 or 7 gpm coil.

efm and General Machine were the same company.

Thanks for jogging our memories.

Matthaus wrote:Thanks for the info, I have always been interested in the ratings of the EFMs Vs the gross btu input. By my calculations a 520 has an input btu of 325,000 per hour (25 # per hour at max feed rate times avg 13,000 btus per #). Why are the output numbers so low? I think the specs show a gross btu rating of 214,000 per hour and a net around 150,000 per hour.

Thanks for joining the forum and sharing the results of your 30+ years of experience.

Hey Matt I ask the same Question This is The Answer I got
go to the 7th post on the link to read the Answer

Good to see you made it back in from your trip in one Piece talk to you later

EFM 1300

Matthaus wrote:Thanks for the info, I have always been interested in the ratings of the EFMs Vs the gross btu input. By my calculations a 520 has an input btu of 325,000 per hour (25 # per hour at max feed rate times avg 13,000 btus per #). Why are the output numbers so low? I think the specs show a gross btu rating of 214,000 per hour and a net around 150,000 per hour.

Thanks for joining the forum and sharing the results of your 30+ years of experience.

So here's a question. My house calls for 198,000 btu's not including my indirect hot water heater. Would a 520 be big enough?
The Gross and Net BTU's have me confused.

I have a crown MS-40 for a hot water heater.
http://www.crownboiler.com/products/ind ... r_prnt.asp

You sound like a candidate for one of the larger units. There are several guys here who have rebuilt 700 and 900s.

stoker-man wrote:You sound like a candidate for one of the larger units. There are several guys here who have rebuilt 700 and 900s.

*Cough*

Names?

I sent PM.

I just recently purchased a EFM 520 I think its a highboy. I was told it was used for hot water but have some concerns. on the top left of the boiler there is two 1/2" npt holes does the model require a gauge or maybe it was a steam unit? can I plug them, I'm also missing a timer and temp gauge where is a good place for parts?

Coal-rules10 wrote:I just recently purchased a EFM 520 I think its a highboy. I was told it was used for hot water but have some concerns. on the top left of the boiler there is two 1/2" npt holes does the model require a gauge or maybe it was a steam unit? can I plug them, I'm also missing a timer and temp gauge where is a good place for parts?

The water coil is up front of boiler so you have a Highboy the only efm that came with a water coil on front and Ash door sticks out 10 to 12" on base . All efm boilers can be set up to run on steam or hotwater Contact member Scrapper 23 Jr he will hook you up with all parts and info .

http://nepacrossroads.com/member/scrapper_23jr/