chappee add on wood boiler

This my first posting so here it goes, I have been given a Chappee wood/coal add on boiler. My plan is to hook it up to my existing oil fired boiler. My oil boiler is a weil-mcclain with 4 heat zones and 1 zone for hot water that goes to a super-store. I have been searching all over the web for ways to hook these up togeather but seem's theres many different ways to do this. My hope is to hook the system up so I can run on wood and if for some reason the wood fire goes out the oil burner will take over. I'm pretty sure this can work but i"m just not sure how to go about it. Any thoughts?

It has been my experience that no one will weigh in on the Chappee boiler. If you do a search, there was a guy who came in a couple months ago that asked and ended up hooking it up with his own heating guy. I gave my old business partner his email because he has been running one for years. If you like, I can get him in touch with you. Just PM me with some info to get you in touch with him. You have a superb coal burning appliance, just not a lot of them in the US so not much knowledge in here about them. It is French.

Kevin

Mike67:
NOTE what Kevin said: Fine machine when burning coal......creosote is the enemy on ANY hydronic unit burning wood. Coal efficiency will show you the difference in a weeks burning. The wood will plug that rig up in that time.

IF your wood was properly seasoned, and stored, you might pull it off for a short time, but that is merely a crutch.....it will scare you down the road......and your chimney will send you a notice with the "Hook and Ladder' speed dial settings.
This isn't just for your boiler, and hydronic boiler is the same. OWB's make excellent creosote, stink like hell and are not real efficient. Go visit those guys before you get a bunch of wood. Another thought is to sell the wood and buy coal.

Thank you Whislenut, I should have elaborated more. That boiler burns wood well, but it burns coal better. If you have a masonry chimney, I guarantee the chimney fire. It is a fine sectional boiler and has a pass through design that cools the exhaust and REALLY makes creosote, about as good as the newer Biazi's. My old partner ruined his dual flue chimney and went the Selkirk metalbesto's for years before giving in and learning to burn coal. He is sold on coal now. Coal is so much better that he had added sections to his unit to burn wood, it made it longer. This last summer, he took sections OUT because the coal puts out so much heat. A coal bed needs to be deep not long. Consider coal, if not, you have to be aware of this problem of creosote with that boiler.
He hooked his up the simplest way, that is his return water comes to the Chappee, and goes on thru the oil boiler. He turns the high limit down on the oil boiler to prevent firing and maybe even had a switch to shut the burner off. Remember, if you burn wood you have to have a dump zone. because wood will overheat and you need to consider the expansion tank although you are not adding a lot of water, the Chappee does not hold much depending which one you got. He has manuals on this unit if you need more info.

kevin

I recommend at least talking with him as he has 30 years of experience with that unit.

Thanks KLook, as i am new to these forums what info do i need to give you in order to get in touch with your friend? I'm well aware of the creasote problem, it took me hours with a torch to clean the dam thing out! My family burned coal when i was a kid so i agree with whistlenut that its a much better fuel(except for the dust), but being an excavating contractor my wood is free. I have a steel insulated chimney and have it set up to be cleaned easily so I think I can keep up with the creasote. I would really love to see a schematic of the hook up. I hope to have this hooked up by weeks end. Today was warm here in upstate NY but i know our nice days will soon be a thing of the past.

I'll send a PM. At the top of the page you will see the new message as 1 and it will be flashing.


Kevin

Hi Mike67 - I'm looking at buying a Chappee boiler to burn wood and I was wondering how bad your creosote problems have been over the last couple of years?

Thanks for any input!

I will answer as I happened to see this post. the Chappee is no worse of better then any wood boiler. Although the longer the smoke stays in the stove the more it cools and condenses. The Chappee has a secondary pass system ans is a sectional so it does get very crusty inside. I know that my old business partners would have creosote running out of the pipe and dripping on the floor. His old masonry chimney was ruined with one chimney fire. He went to metalbesto's and solved that problem but it still condensed and leaked at the turn as the Chappee vents horizontally out the back.
Over all, If it is in good shape and has all the controls with it, you can't get a better wood burner and it is even better at burning coal. Well, you could go to a gasification wood boiler but that would be big bucks.

Hope that helped

Kevin

Thanks Kevin! That is very helpful info! I'm looking at Chappee that has never been used. I love my Harman, and have found that there is not a huge problem with creosote. But I need more output, and the Chappee is rated at 40,000 Btu's higher than my Harman.

In the future I would like to try burning anthracite rather than wood. From what I gather, burning coal is an art, with a relatively long learning curve, so it would be best to wait until the currrent cold snap has passed before venturing into uncharted waters.

Thanks again for your response. It made my day!

Fred

fastfred wrote:Thanks Kevin! That is very helpful info! I'm looking at Chappee that has never been used. I love my Harman, and have found that there is not a huge problem with creosote. But I need more output, and the Chappee is rated at 40,000 Btu's higher than my Harman.

In the future I would like to try burning anthracite rather than wood. From what I gather, burning coal is an art, with a relatively long learning curve, so it would be best to wait until the currrent cold snap has passed before venturing into uncharted waters.

Thanks again for your response. It made my day!

Fred

just jump right in on the coal.It's an art but you have many artist here to turn you into a picaso.You will love waking up to a nice warm house and getting a full nights sleep

yes I would enjoy that, Kevin, as right now I have neither!

Fred

I agree with Dennis, I finally got my friend to try coal and he messed it up! After another session and some helpful tips learned on this forum he "got the hang of it" and has never looked back and swears by coal instead of at it! You will never go back unless you have wood for free and by free, I mean magical fairies cutting, splitting, stacking, loading, and cleaning the chimney.

Kevin

You said that sucker was new?? How is that? They have not been sold in this country for years.

This is the response from the seller when I asked the same question:

"Just an fyi, I bought this four years ago from a friend of mine who has since passed away. He had a new home built approx. 20 years ago and installed this as a main source of heat, with an oil backup, but unfortunately he became sick and was unable to do the tasks necessary to run a wood furnace. Consequently it was never used. I hunt on a farm in Vermont where the farmer has the same exact furnace that he has used as his main source of heat for the last 35-40 years with not a single problem" .

I'm going to go take a look at the unit shortly. He's asking $1000 for it.

I can get you in touch with the friend that runs one and has since the early 80's. $1000 is not outrageous if it is good inside as well as outside. Setting and not running with water in it could cause some issues. Type of basement and such make a difference as to how much condensation may have formed. water quality that was setting in it also. Look it over REAL good for that price.

Kevin

Hi Kevin - picked up the boiler today. Got him down to $750. The unit was in like-new condition, other than a couple of dings in the sheet metal from when it was last moved. No rust to speak of anywhere. Even included a new circulator and some valves! I'll let you know how it runs after I get it installed, hopefully over the weekend.

Thanks again for your help!

Fred