Cold Weather in Upstate Ny - Boiler Not Keeping up

I heat about the same size house in Buffalo. Built in 1910. Little insulation and only in few walls. Howling winds of Lake Erie. You get the picture.

Usual consumption is about 7 to 8 tons a year of pea coal in an AA 130. Although this winter who knows...

I have a converted gravity system with over 1000 square feet of big old ARCO rads. In other words, lots of water to keep hot.

I can't see how you'll use that much more than me. I figure the cost savings to be at least 1/3 of using gas.

Get it working right and enjoy the savings and warmth. Coal heat is the right thing for big old heating systems. They work like they are supposed to.

One thing I just thought of is maybe the spreader plate is too low. By raising it you could increase the amount of coal on the grates thus creating more BTU's when needed during the colder periods.
Jon

Mine is a stove, hot air, not a boiler

nunuvero wrote: Last year I spend like 2500 galons of oil,.

That would be about 14 tons of coal so if you're using 2 tons in month during weather like this that sounds about right. If you only use 14 or even 15 tons the whole year I wouldn't consider it excessive. You mentioned the house was insulated but how well insulated? I'm assuming you have the attic insulated? How about the walls, are they fully insulated?

Does that three floors include the the floor the unit is installed on? Even with a boiler that has a insulated jacket it's going to keep it reasonably warm in the basement. If you have it in a basement have you insulated along the joists where the sill is? If it's an old house all them little nooks and crannies that some people will not insulate really add up. That space between the joists, sill and the outside wall is very important especially in old house because they usually don't have a fire stop anywhere in the wall and it basically will act like a chimney sucking all the warm out of the basement up through the wall space.

i had a similar problem, found out 2 baseboard heaters were cool, had to re bleed them. Also vented the pressure relief valve on the boiler until all water came out (there was a little air in the top of the boiler too).

i had a similar problem, found out 2 baseboard heaters were cool, had to re bleed them. Also vented the pressure relief valve on the boiler until all water came out (there was a little air in the top of the boiler too).

and you do have a barometric damper installed right? Draft set to ~.04 at full fire