Burnham 2706A-1 coal boiler
Good morning,
I was wondering if any of you have a copy of the owners manual for the Burnham 2706A-1 hand fed coal boiler that you could scan and send to me?
A new member of the coalpail forum with a new to him home has one of these beautiful boilers in his basement and would like to know more about it as he heats his old home with oil fired steam and he would like to use it again using Anthracite Coal for fuel to make steam.
Yes, I know, I am helping him by explaining how everything on it works before we go further as it needs to be cleaned, inspected, pressure tested and the mud leg rodded and flushed out and everything else to upgrade it "if possible" and I also explained to him that a small coal stoker boiler with a double drop header would make plenty of steam and hot water for him. He stated the Burnham folks could not help him with a manual for it.
I do not know if he talked to the local Burnham dealer or Burnham Directly. I will be checking the U.S. patent office for the boilers patent today.
Thanks much for the help.
Leon
Comments
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He needs to check his local regulations. It may not be legal to use an old coal boiler like that, since they typically make a lot of smoke. In Baltimore, they are illegal.
Also, that boiler may have failed, and some slacker was too lazy to haul it out of the basement.
If he's interested in coal, he might look at this:
All Steamed Up, Inc.
Towson, MD, USA
Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
Oil & Gas Burner Service
Consulting0 -
Hello and good morning to you Steamhead,
I addressed this with him in the very beginning and I spent a great deal of time explaining why he should be looking at a modern coal stoker boiler to make steam, the four examples I mentioned are the Axeman Anderson 130S, 260S; the Keystoker KAA-6 steam boiler ; The Alternate Heating systems S130 and S260 steam boilers and the EFM DF520 coal stoker boilers.
I will get him through this as he has plenty for room for a small stoker boiler with a double drop header to make dry steam.
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Where is this located?
All Steamed Up, Inc.
Towson, MD, USA
Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
Oil & Gas Burner Service
Consulting0 -
Hello and good morning Steamhead,
He mentioned that he is in New Jersey and stated he was looking at using coal for fuel in the old boiler as oil is getting more expensive to use for heating fuel.
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Interested to see if NJ will allow coal.
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how is this monitored?
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According to AI;
You can still burn coal for heat in an existing coal boiler according to the NJDEP.
It still has to be permitted/follow state and local codes, so I would imagine the plumbing inspector would have to examine it.
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Well, I assume they would require a low-water cutoff. How do you do that on coal?
All Steamed Up, Inc.
Towson, MD, USA
Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
Oil & Gas Burner Service
Consulting0 -
Yea, try to find a local plumbing inspector that understands Steam heat , let alone Coal fired steam heat. Good luck with that!
Edward Young Retired
After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?
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They would pipe it the same way on a coal stoker boiler for hot water or steam as they are designed to have tapping's for them as each boiler is individually made when ordered but with two tappings for the two LWCO's for steam systems.
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But how would the LWCO actually cut off the flame? The coal will burn for a while after the stoker and fan shut down………………….
All Steamed Up, Inc.
Towson, MD, USA
Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
Oil & Gas Burner Service
Consulting
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didn't the old controls close off the draft and hope for the best?
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Yes the old boilers it would be close the damper and if the water got low the fusible plug would melt and dump water on the fire………Hope for the best. Other than that, there is nothing I know of. LWCO was not invented till the 20s when oil came on the scene.
Don't know if the "NEW coal boilers have a fuse plug.
Maybe that's why a lot of coal and wood boilers are outside.
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i think there was a this old house season about 20 years ago about why they're outside now…
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A large hand fired boiler with manual dampers, air regulators and a big deep fire box would have no protection in the event of a water loss and the LWCO activating a shut down as there is no electric control. Someone would have to hit with a large dry chemical fire extinguisher charge to stop the fire.
With slope grate and flat grate stokers like mine with a closed water supply and using a steel compression tank the minute the LWCO cuts the power, the fan stops and 5 minutes later the fire dies down to cold ashes.
The rolling grate stokers Axeman Anderson 130-S and 260-S the low water cut off would kill the power and stop the auger feeding the coal and the fire would die down to a dead fire over time.
The rolling grate stokers made by Alternate Heating systems which are knock off of the Axeman Anderson units depend on a hopper fed coal delivery system that can be equipped with an auger to deliver smaller amounts of pea coal by using a light sensor to control the auger feed time. They depend on a snap switch in the hopper to shut the boiler down in the event of a runaway temperature sensing. The AHS coal gun boilers are equipped with LWCO switches now as standard equipment.
Both the Axeman Anthratube coal stokers and the Alternate Heating Systems employ an induced draft fan to provide combustion air for the fire bed on the rolling grate.
The Alternate Heating Systems coal guns come equipped with low water cut off switches as standard equipment; I do not know which brand of LWCO switch they use. I am not sure if they still use Dwyer boiler controls.
The tuyere/underfed/burn pot stoker like the EFM DF 520 depend on a combustion fan blowing air through the coal delivery auger tube with a turbine fan is also used to power the auger that delivers the rice coal to the base of the burn pot. A low water cut off would shut the fan and auger off in the event of a water loss and the fire would die down and eventually go out.
I just hope the fellow passes on using this boiler and installs a small stoker with steam controls and a double drop header as he has a massive home with a full basement and very long main steam main with 2 vents.
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The manually adjusted coal boilers like the one in his basement required near constant tending and manual air shutter adjustment to control the fire.
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Nope, no fusible plug on the coal boilers, the forest eaters have them.
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The Alternate Heating folks have 2 outdoor coal stoker boilers for hot water heating that requires a small tractor with a loader to fill the coal hopper after the roof of its enclosure is tilted back to open it, the ash pit is large enough that the loader bucket is also used to carry away the ashes. The coal hoppers on the outdoor S130 and S260 models are large enough to hold a months supply of Anthracite Pea Coal.
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It should be stated, that anthracite coal burns nearly the opposite of wood. It is a very misunderstood fuel unless you've used it.
It does not burn unless oxygen is fed from UNDERNEATH. wood just needs the presence of oxygen, anthracite must come from under. Coal would rather go out than burn, so simply by preventing the combustion fan from supplying air, the fire will die, the heat an idling fire puts out is nearly nothing.
If i quenched a towel in kerosene and lit it, and then threw it onto a truckload pile of coal, the coal would not light. And if it did it would shortly go out.
You'll have to forgive leon and i, we are quite the addicts. And coal is a very viable, safe and in some areas more cost effective than all other fuel sources at a ratio of double if not three to one.
It may be politically called old fashioned, but just like other areas of life, results of modern development do not always trump or surpass tried and true methods in every single scenario.
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My electric bill is 88.00 a month on the night rate plan, I would hate to see what it would be if I had electric elements in my boiler.
I wish I could get sub bituminous coal from The State of Wyoming, it burns even cleaner than anthracite with a light thin ash and it costs less than ten dollars a ton. Anthracite coal is $448.00 a ton now.
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Can you put a cord on the shovel, then if the water is too low, the LWCO will pull the cord and the shovel will be wedged up between the rafters until you add water? Then the cord will release the shovel and you can fire the boiler again.
Of corse after the inspector passes the job…. you can just cut the cord
Edward Young Retired
After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?
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Hello Ed,
I am hoping this fellow comes to his senses and does not use this coal boiler. Others with no experience with hand fed coal boilers are telling him to go ahead and use it😲
The plumber that installed the newer oil fired steamer years ago tied the two boilers together with connecting plumbing and valves and used heavy metal label tags to identify each valve.
The fellow has not responded to any of my inquiries as of this morning and I am not sure if he will contact me.
I labored to explain that a modern low water cut off would not work on this boiler as it has no electrical parts such as a combustion fan, or aquastat.
To date he has not provided more pictures of the controls at the rear or top of the boiler. I have to make more popcorn using olive oil and just wait……
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is there a setting on combustion analyzers for coal? 🤔
Bob "hot rod" Rohr
trainer for Caleffi NA
Living the hydronic dream0 -
Hello Bob,
I am not positive as to whether an oil or gas combustion analyser could be used for soft coal or hard coal.
The mines do test burns of the Sub bituminous, Bituminous and Anthracite coal they mine periodically to determine the BTU for an average and not for pollutants. When you see a blue flame coming off the Sub Bituminous or Anthracite coal in a rolling fire grate stoker or in a hand fed boiler you know the combustion is right.
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Thank you for the compliment RascalOrnery,
If I was burning l kerosene, I would be burning a gallon an hour, the house would be cold, I would be out of kerosene if the 275 gallons was delivered on Monday at 8AM and I would be out of oil 11 days later and suburban propain would have an oopsy, and tell me their lone driver is on vacation and the manager would be whining, saying "I will have to call him back to work to fill your tank".
I have been burning on average 60-75 pounds per day to heat my old leaky home with Anthracite Rice Coal.
If I was burning Sub Bituminous Coal from Montana or Wyoming I would be burning 130-140 pounds a day and one ton would cost me $10.00 a ton at the mine gate, the killjoy is the freight cost as I was quoted $1,100.00 plus sales and fuel tax for one ton of bagged Montana Sub Bituminous coal delivered by truck.
Bringing 120+ tons of palleted bagged Sub Bituminous coal in a high cube boxcar would be more economical if you could share a carload of cleaner burning coal with a few coal burners.
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