efm Bituminous boiler testing is next week

How did the test turn out? Will it work on an EFM?

"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAQaAaOIs7Q

The above link is the last posting of the testing. The ideal settings seems to be 4 feed and 6 air without wasting any coal. In this video, the stoker was shut down for 5 hours with no maintenance and restarted. The black pieces around the edge appear to be unburned coal, but are actually ash. The ash is of a powder consistency. This is the end of the testing of Wyoming coal."

What has become of the EFM Bit. coal experiment? Will a EFM 520 Highboy burn Bit. coal if it is the correct size? The Bit I get from Middlesboro, KY is really good quality and they have it in different sizes for stokers.
Thanks,
Gardnerbuddy

i have a customer burning middleboro ky stoker coal 1 1/4 inch about 50 tons a year heating 20,000 square footgrocerie store with a coalman

gardener buddy wrote:"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAQaAaOIs7Q

The above link is the last posting of the testing. The ideal settings seems to be 4 feed and 6 air without wasting any coal. In this video, the stoker was shut down for 5 hours with no maintenance and restarted. The black pieces around the edge appear to be unburned coal, but are actually ash. The ash is of a powder consistency. This is the end of the testing of Wyoming coal."

What has become of the EFM Bit. coal experiment? Will a EFM 520 Highboy burn Bit. coal if it is the correct size? The Bit I get from Middlesboro, KY is really good quality and they have it in different sizes for stokers.
Thanks,
Gardnerbuddy

Buckwheat Anthracite coal is the biggest that you will want to burn in a efm 350 or 520 the auger flights are 1.5" X 1.5"
The Auger tube is 2".

The EFM 700 900 & 1300 use a bigger Auger 2" X 2" Flights with a 2.5" auger tube .

Hi Coal Burner,
So do you think Middlesboro Bit would burn in an EFM700? They have what they coal "stoker coal" and it is about the size of "Pea" or whatever is above the "Buckwheat". What is the btu rating of the 700? Anybody have an EFM700 that I could send some samples for a test?
Thanks for the info!!!
Gardnerbuddy

pea stoker is sporadically available throughout the eastern coal regions. It is the same size as the coal I sent for EFM test. It is slightly smaller than "stoker" coal with a top size of about 3/4" to 1". stoker varies depending on who you talk to but usually is around 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" top size. be carefull, many coalyards mix these terms and will also call low grade spreader stoker coal as "stoker" but the top size is usually as big as 2-1/2", with a mix of much smaller sizes thrown in.

The soft coal experiments are over. We're moving the unit to our sister plant where they will use it for heat.

They all seemed successful for the small amount I burned. Some would really do well, such as the Wyoming coal.

gardener buddy wrote:Hi Coal Burner,
So do you think Middlesboro Bit would burn in an EFM700? They have what they coal "stoker coal" and it is about the size of "Pea" or whatever is above the "Buckwheat". What is the btu rating of the 700? Anybody have an EFM700 that I could send some samples for a test?
Thanks for the info!!!
Gardnerbuddy

Like Berlin says the size can & will vary in size with bit coal I would stick with Anthracite Buck size or somthing close to it
Buckwheat 9/16" X 5/16" Pea Anthracite is 13/16" x 9/16" any in between there should be ok

stoker-man wrote:The soft coal experiments are over. We're moving the unit to our sister plant where they will use it for heat.

They all seemed successful for the small amount I burned. Some would really do well, such as the Wyoming coal.

I would like to thank everyone who participated in these tests. I bet no one has ever done a test like this in a small heating plant with coals from so many different areas....from Alaska to eastern Canada, east and western US...That's impressive to me.

So I am assuming there is no EFM Bit coal boiler being produced as a result of the test out west?

Does anyone know of a stoker boiler that is made in the usa that can burn soft coal? Anthracite is a great fuel but the price has gone up so much in the past few years. I have a home in Vermont that is oil heated but has an coal stoker boiler for back up. Iam interested in any info anyone has. Thanks Tony

Stoker-man did alot of testing of Bituminus coal in EFM burners under the manufactures corner, he probably tested some coal from your area, the coal from Alaska burned well but is not redily available in the small sizes that burner uses.

there is no ready-made stoker/boiler unit for soft coal. You can, however, buy a new or used wil-burt stoker, iron fireman etc. and set it up in any boiler that it will properly fit in, from some large old cast iron boilers to many keystokers - bituminous stoker units fit well in many of the larger ones. for decent bit coal hauled to vermont you're probably looking at around 160/ton-200/ton depending, but you'd have to take a semi/tri-axle load to make it cost effective. The EFM stoker is a good stoker that may burn the smaller sizes well, but, unfortunately, the size needed is not available commerically for this stoker in bituminous coal.

There are a couple made in Canada, they start at 400,000BTU and are Expensive to say the least,


http://www.heatinnovations.com/coalman.html

http://www.portageandmainboilers.com/pd ... bApr19.pdf

bK

bksaun, as I have some suppliers of high grade bit pea stoker, I may be running it in an EFM 700 with a modification of the rotating ring later this summer/next fall. If this will work well, the EFM 700 would be an excellent choice at far lower cost than the coalman etc. If only EFM had made the auger larger on the 520 (along with a rotating head) they would be able to enter a largely untapped market. Of course if the auger on the 700 was only 1" bigger, we'd be able to run it with any readily available standard bit stoker coal throughout the US (and the world).