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@ColdHouse replied: "I feel very insecure on the dependability of the Laars while away for two month of winter and really want a back-up source. The mini split seems like a good solution from a stand-alone true back-up."

In my subsequent post I wrote: "As far as an auxiliary separate heat source is concerned, Electric heat as a backup is the most reliable since there are very few moving parts involved.  Set the thermostat at 55° on the standard heating system when you are away,  set the electric heat at 50° all the time.  When you are away, if the boiler heat fails, the electric will keep the place from freezing up. "

You can also be selective on where the electric heat is installed. You only need to put them in locations where there are water pipes. I realise that you have heatig pipes full of water in every room, but PEX tubing will not burst like metal pipes when frozen. So you can probably put electric heat in the bathrooms and kitchen and leave the rooms without plumbing pipes without electric heat.

So many things hindsight is good for. I'm thinking how it used to be that real men didn't wear helmets on motorcycles, and guards on table and circular saws just got in the way, so we'd remove them or wedge them open. Guess I'm lucky to still have all of my fingers… 🤪 Thanks!

Yours, Larry

happy new year everyone.

Baltimore once had a High Pressure firefighting system- not sure they still do.

Rochester NY (about 50 miles from Lockport where Holly was born) has a downtown fire protection loop throughout the center of the city called "The Holly Loop". It maintains 135-140 PSI working pressure. Still in use over 125 years now. I saw an original high pressure pump on display.

Hello and good morning Expenses1188,

Have you contacted any of the coal breakers or suppliers such as Superior, Lehigh or Centralia Coal Sales for price quotes on bagged rice coal?

Anthracite coal has had a tremendous price jump due to the war in Ukraine. a great deal of the Anthracite Coal being mined here is being shipped to Europe.

Can you take advantage of buying your rice coal in bulk to save money?

The European made EKO DUO 15 hybrid boiler is another brand of coal boiler that can burn rice, buckwheat, pea and stoker anthracite and bituminous coal.

The EKO DUO 15 is an underfed auger pot/tuyere stoker which has the hopper connected to the boiler base. via the coal delivery tube. The coal hopper can hold 585 pounds of coal and the hopper has a sealed lid. The flue is 6 inches in size.

The mbtek home page has complete information on these coal stokers. There are videos of these coal stokers on you tube as well.

ww.mbtek.com

@Jamie Hall , the Big Mouths I recommended are direct replacements for the Hoffman #8 or #18 crossover traps on these systems, and they'll vent into the dry returns just like the originals. Might need to change the lengths of some pipe nipples but that's it. The effect is to vent the mains more quickly, evening out the heat and saving fuel.

Agree. Nothing wrong with steel. I have cut steel pipe apart from a hydronic systems that were 40-50 years old and the pipe is like new on the inside.

All high-pressure steam boilers are steel. No CI over 15psi on steam.. Used to be tons of steel boilers used on steam and HW. Kewanee, Dillon, Fitzgibbons, Spencer, GE. Columbia the list goes on.

Just looked I didn't realize Columbia went out of business last June.

Thermodynamics, EK and New Yorker make steel