Add on Coal Boiler? Best One for Job? NEWBIE!

Hey, first ever post in a forum and maybe the 10th time on a computer. Please bear with me. Ok, from what I understand I have a pretty much ideal setup for a coil (add on??) boiler, according to my idiot brother-in-law. Hence my seeking advise from people who actually know what they are talking about. My heating system now is slant fin baseboard water with oil fired boiler, with a separate AC system. For the past 10 years or so I've heated our 2500sq ft house with a wood burning fireplace insert, only using ~200 gal over ten years total. Unfortunate a series of back surgeries is going to limit my wood splitting weekends, so onto coal. I'm a contractor, and my plumber is one of my closest friends I'm sure we will be able to perform the task. However neither on of us knows the first thing about coal. My questions are:
Does the new coal boiler work with my existing oil fired boiler, or independently? Current boiler is old and unreliable, but as previously stated not used often at all. I did however install a new circulator pump and 4 new zone vales last year.
Is there a diagram or blueprints to hook up the new boiler?
I know this is subjective, but what is the BEST coal boiler I can install.
I know these are very broad question, but I do appreciate any and all help.
And for what it's worth we are in south eastern pa.
Thanks!
Matt

Oh boy, make some popcorn and set back.....you are going to get much advice.... Enjoy the process and learning curve, you will get the help you desire in here.

Kevin

And welcome to the forum and a better way to heat.

Welcome to the forum. It's August so it may take a bit, a lot busier around here when there is a chill in the air. Something tells me this will be a gold medal thread.

Oh yeah, let me shamelessly throw in Axeman-Anderson as best boiler!

Welcome to the forum KC!

The first answer is, YES, your "idiot brother-in-law" is correct, you have an excellent setup to add a coal stoker boiler to. There are a couple of ways to do this. Have the coal boiler heat the oil boiler, OR run the two boilers separately. If the oil boiler still works, I would service it and keep it. Then you will have a good tri-fuel system, coal, oil and wood. There are a lot of people on this forum that have been down the, "I burned wood for 25 years and I can't believe how easy coal is!" road, you are not alone.

Let's get one thing strait right off the bat, a coal stoker boiler needs a chimney with a good draft. If the only chimney is the one that the oil boiler is using, you can get a power vent for the oil boiler and use the chimney on the coal boiler.

The best coal stoker boiler to get is an under-fed pot type of stoker boiler, ie, Van Wert, Gentleman Janitor, EFM. An Axeman Anderson or AHS would be an excellent choice to. All of these can be found used for not much money. All but the Gentleman Janitor can be bought new. I almost forgot, D.S. is coming out with a brand new underfed coal stoker boiler. This will be the first new design in decades.

All of the stokers mentioned above can be fed directly from the coal bin. No need to fill a hopper every day or so, just take the ashes out every few days.

There are also very good, hopper fed, flat grate stokers, Keystoker, Leisure Line, Losch, Yellow Flame to name a few. You are looking for less work, so I would stick to the under-fed stokers. They are more money, but they are worth it!

The best coal stoker boiler you can get for your 2500 sq, ft home is a Van Wert VA600 or VA400. (here we go!)

-Don

Your brother-in-law may not be an idiot! You will love coal heat much better than wood heat. a heck of a lot less work too! Good luck whichever model you choose.

I agree with most of StokerDon's post, and would like to add a few things. First, used coal equipment can be found for "not much money", but since you don't have experience you might want to bring along someone who does if you are considering buying an inexpensive used unit that would need to be pulled out of somebody's basement. Alternatively, there are a few people who sell reconditioned units for far less than the $ of new ones, and that avoid some of the risks of the "basement" units.

I also like the underfeed-style units, though I don't think they save that much work compared to the hopper-type units. Ironically, some of the ones that no longer are produced had some advantages, like efficient heat exchange design (Gentleman Janitor, Wagner, old-style EFM's, etc.).

I think EFM and Keystoker have fairly detailed installation instructions, including wiring and plumbing diagrams, that you can see online.

Don't skimp on boiler capacity. Measure your installed radiation and make sure the boiler can carry it, including a pickup factor for distribution losses and any allowances needed for DHW, future expansion, etc.

Since 2004 we have heated two different houses primarily with EFM's, but I wouldn't have any major qualms about many other units.

Mike

Kaniacarpentry wrote: and my plumber is one of my closest friends I'm sure we will be able to perform the task. However neither on of us knows the first thing about coal.

On the plumbing end there is no difference between a coal boiler and any other boiler. Same controls, same pumps etc.

For setup the more important thing your plumber friend may not consider is where the coal is going and how you will feed it. For example you mentioned a bad back so perhaps you might want to consider something like this.

Does the new coal boiler work with my existing oil fired boiler, or independently?

Either, and I will add since you already have the tanks they do make coal boilers with oil add on. It's important to understand it's not a matter of flipping a switch and there is some work involved with switching it to oil. You would use this for example if you were going on vacation for a week in the winter and don't have someone to take care of the coal. It can also be used in case of breakdown.

Hi Matt. Welcome to the forum. How much wood do you normally burn?

If you have back problems, you will need to put a lot of thought into how the coal will be handled, and also how you will handle the ashes.

StokerDon wrote: All of the stokers mentioned above can be fed directly from the coal bin. No need to fill a hopper every day or so, just take the ashes out every few days.

Don, how much does a full ash tub weigh? I have never weighed mine.

Normally I am a big advocate for stoker boilers, but if you have any doubts about being able to handle the ashes routinely, I would look at a different option. It might make sense to upgrade your oil boiler and install a coal stove (use it if/when you want) to take a bite out of the oil bill.

The ash tub will weigh somewhere between 20 and 50 pounds. It depends on how hard the boiler is running and how long you let it go between ash pan changing.

For heating domestic water only, I have been changing the ash pan once a week, about 20 pounds or so. I am currently in the middle of my first 2 week run into a heavy duty trash bag. We'll see how that goes.

-Don

Kaniacarpentry, fill out the rest of your member infro. That way we know where you are located, you might be getting information from somebody 5000 miles away, when somebody right around the corner might be able to help you out with local infro.

First finish filling out your information, second have a heat loss study done,
third obtain an estimate for the upgrades in windows, doors, insulation,
new water heater or oil boiler with a coil, and perhaps replacing the baseboard
with hot water radiators-they provide more heat over time, more water to hold
heat more steel to radiate heat ,

I would also invest in two paperbacks first before you go any further,
those books are Classic Hydronics and Pumping Away written by
Dan Holohan and available at dansbooks.com, Amazon or
Barnes and Noble.

I learned a lot from these books and my friends here on the forum.
Sadly for me what I thought was going to be simple 2 day installation
because they said "they knew what they were" doing turned into a
mess, I had bad plumbers that took advantage of me in my opinion.

You may find a very small stoker stove, insulation upgrades and a new water heater
will cost less to own and operate than other options. DO YOUR HOMEWORK FIRST
AND BE SURE your spouse will help with the ashes-mine wont.

The new oil boilers are very small and condensing boilers to hold heat which are
much more efficient now.

ALSO be sure to have the best voltage surge protector you can buy to protect the
electronics on a coal stoker stove or boiler. You may have a Square D surge protector
in your panel box but that is no guarantee to prevent any damage or brown outs.

IF your plumber knows what he is doing and has good help that will not blow up an oil
burner you will be fine. Try to find a coal boiler retailer that will sell also install them for you MOST WONT.

If you decide on a dual fuel boiler use simple single aquastats in your installation and a separate
Low Water Cut Off to kill "all power" to the boiler.

Avoid at all costs the Chinese made gauges(unless they are made in "TAIWAN" they do not work well in my opinion and do fail. I am replacing my second one with a Marshalltown Triple Gauge.

My thoughts anyway from a coal stoker boiler newbie.

Calm down guys, he says he's in southeastern PA in the first post.

-Don