When you hear AHS? (Please explain your choice)

PatrickAHS wrote:Technically not "taken". Same guys different name. Pretty Much

Poor choice of words on my part. I thought eshland was bought out by Jeff. Right?

PatrickAHS wrote:Wow, that about says it all.

We are just glad to be able to see folks educated about us and satisfied with their unit.

SORRY a little advertising would help i'm sure but inour area change is hard to come by oldtimers in my town have the Efm vs. Keystoker battle like Chevy vs. Ford maybe information pamphlets at coal breakers?? if your allowed to i think blashack coal has reading or alaska stoves on its site.


also i think i quoted the wrong post it was for an explanation i forgot to include

When I hear AHS I think good things. Early last year I decided to buy a coal boiler. I studied as best I could and almost bought an AHS. Because of my research one of my close friends did buy an AHS. I went with an Axeman Anderson instead though for two reasons. One, the Axeman is ASME certified, to get ASME certification with the AHS it was an extra couple of grand. My buddy didn't care as he installed it himself. In Maine a licensed installer would not be allowed to install an AHS without it having some sort of stamp of approval. Maine does not require ASME, but they do want some sort of approval stamp. The second reason I went with the Axeman was because I wanted auger feed. The Axeman comes with an auger for about the same price as the AHS without the auger.
The bottom line for myself and my friend, we are both very happy with our decisions. Both the AA and the AHS do what they are supposed to do and do it more efficiently than any other coal boiler that I know of.

Just found a Eshland 500, can't wait to rebuild that thing! Also own an Eshland 130 hopper fed unit. Can't seem to part with it, probably will have to some day.

From what I have seen of AHS they offer a quality and diverse product line. Hope to become a dealer some day, will compliment the AA product line since AHS offers wood gasification and waste oil technology.

I think good things, cool machine, but it took a while to figure that out. Initially, I was turned off.
I checked them out. Big money and the guy tried to sell me a certified boiler for an extra 2 or 3 K. My state does not require
a certified boiler in a residential application under 250000 BTU.The sales guy should have known that. Another thing that turned me away from them is the options.
Really, the unit should come with what ever it needs to run at its best. So extra for better fan drive, thermo grate thingy,
just turned me off as a consumer. The biggest thing that caught my attention was the puff backs some have experienced.
It alarmed me that some who have been using the boiler for a few years, still had BOOM issues. Not everyone had them,
but on initial investigation, no one could say why it happened. Draft issue? Just the deal with pea coal? During my research
the boom thing sealed the no deal. The way I figured it at the time, for the money spent, and the work involved, I did not
want to risk having the problem. Again, you have to remember, I was a non coal guy doing research. Knowing what I know
now, I would not be afraid of it. Most of new customers will be "non coal guys" So the potential boom thing is HUGE.
So , after doing home work looking for a boiler, they were a contender, but I decided against them.
People that have them are happy, once the BOOM thing is straightened out. The small flue size, the efficiency, fly ash containment , are all very attractive.

AHS does have a better web presence than the other manufactures. When doing research, I stumbled on you guys from
a couple of different sites. From those sites, I found this one. So, marketing wise, you are on the right track. Would I buy
one today? Knowing what I know now, yes.

Matthaus wrote:Just found a Eshland 500, can't wait to rebuild that thing! Also own an Eshland 130 hopper fed unit. Can't seem to part with it, probably will have to some day.

From what I have seen of AHS they offer a quality and diverse product line. Hope to become a dealer some day, will compliment the AA product line since AHS offers wood gasification and waste oil technology.

Hello Matthaus,

I may have a customer for that AHS 500. I was at my local greenhouse nursery and the owner was complaining about his heating bills, $3K a month. It's a very old nursery and at one time, before the current owner, they heated their greenhouse with coal. I asked to see the boiler and he showed me a hand fed modern Harmon. It's not the boiler I remember from 10+ years ago. He said it does not work well. It's obviously way undersized. It also appears to burn oil. He was busy with spring seasonal sales and I'll go back and talk to him in less busy times. I think we could engineer him a good system with a AHS 500.

John

I think the AHS is a fine boiler, but was too expensive compared to some other alternatives on the market. Between the AA and AHS, I like the design of the AHS more with the ashing mechanism seperated from the blower drive, simpler being better in this case. For the price that these units fetch I think that they should all come with painted sheetmetal covers as does the AHS, not the AA.

When I was making my boiler decision about two years ago, I seriously considered all the boilers, and collected as much information as I could on each. I looked at the AA, AHS, EFM, Keystoker and Harman.

I liked the AHS design, but with the belt driven fan, and the thermoash monitor, it was way more then what I would pay for a Harman or Keystoker. AHS did respond to my email with a brochure and pricing information, but no one ever called or followed up after that.

I have to agree with Paulie, that the belt drive fan and thermoash monitor should be part of the standard trim, not extra cost options.

I chose the second option, while the customers seem very happy with them, you don't make any bituminous burning stoker boilers