# What to buy for a used wood fired boiler?  New Yorker wf100 or Powrmatic mw100?



## ladyfire (Jan 17, 2008)

Hey...this seems to be a great place to get some advice as to what I should do pertaining to purchasing a new wood fired indoor boiler furnace (add on to an oil hot water boiler furnace)!  I am currently going through oil like crazy (have a high efficiency Newmac oil furnace system with cast iron radiators) but we have a 2 1/2 storey 100 year old Victorian home.  We are only heating the first 2 levels with oil hot water heat and the square footage is approximately 2200.  We have 11 cast iron rads (the number of them seem to heat our home rather well...26 degrees upstairs and 20 degrees downstairs-we have only one zone, hence the major diff in temp between the 2 levels).  We want to purchase an indoor wood boiler furnace because it is currently costing us $700.00/month to heat our home with oil.  We cannot afford a brand new one so we have been looking for used ones for sale.  We have come across 2 wood boilers. (1) Powrmatic of Canada MW100; airtight, wet; 25 years old but not used the past 10 years (stored in dry basement as a back-up for current wood boiler in case it went..wood boiler is still going and they are selling their home so they are getting rid of the Powrmatic (this is how it is spelled).  The price is $800.00 delivered to our home.  (2) New Yorker MF100; 18-20 years old; totallly cleaned up; all controls; 100, 000BTUs (not sure of the BTUs on the Powrmatic, as there is no real info that I can find on the net about this particular model, but it should be said that this Powrmatic is in excellent condition for it's age...you can tell they are telling the truth by saying that it has not been used the past 10 years).  The price for the New Yorker is also $800.00 delivered to our home. 

Will either of these furnaces be sufficient to properly heat my home (considering the sq footage)?  I like my house really warm...I would love it to be around 23 degrees Celcius.  Any information, opinions, would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!


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## Eric Johnson (Jan 17, 2008)

Welcome to the Boiler Room, ladyfire.

Just to be clear, you're talking about hot water boilers, not furnaces.

I have about 15 cast iron radiators heating my house, and you're right--give them enough hot water and they do a great job. Nothing better, in my opinion, though I hear that infloor radiant is really the way to go. 

We have at least one New Yorker owner on this board, so I'll wait for him to jump in. I'm not familiar with either of those boilers, but the price/condition sounds right. If they're sized correctly they should do the job.

But before you go too much further, what's your firewood supply? And, what do you have for a spare chimney or flue? You'll need a Class A chimney or liner to put a wood-fired appliance in your basement.


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## ladyfire (Jan 17, 2008)

Thanks so much for your help!  We have a large brick flue that would easily accomodate another SS insert for a wood boiler...we have dry, seasoned hardwood available to us so that is what we will be using.  The problem is, I don't know if either will heat the sq footage home that I have or not...there seems to be little regarding that on the internet.  I know we must also consider our adding at least one other zone in our home too...it's scorching hot upstairs!!  

I too, have heard about the radiant in-floor heating...it's supposed to be fantastic, but the intial cost is phenomenal when you are putting it in as a reno, rather than in a new home.  We got a quote for $3800.00 just to do our kitchen!  That is just one room!  It isn't plausible for us to do the rest of the house anyway, even if we did have the budget because we have original hardwood floors everywhere and we would have to tear them all up and replace them.  The enormous inital cost would be too great to justify, so that is why we are wanting an indoor wood boiler.  Efficient, cost-effective; modest initial investment...warm heat Thanks again!


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## Eric Johnson (Jan 17, 2008)

100,000 btus sounds around right for the house you're describing. I heated about 1,800 square feet of poorly insulated old house in upstate NY with a boiler rated for 70,000 btus. Kept it nice and warm, too.


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## ladyfire (Jan 17, 2008)

Keeping the BTUs in mind, I am veering more toward the New Yorker...at least I know what it's rated and that it is sufficient for my home; it's just that the Powrmatic is in such incredible condition for its age...


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## atlarge54 (Jan 18, 2008)

Feel free to correct me but both are a "100" boiler mw or wf, if chimney is the same on both and pipe connections are the same size it's a pretty safe bet they're comparable units. Are the units approx. the same size firebox? A 2.5 story victorian in Nova Scotia, I'm getting cold just thinking about that.


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## machinistbcb (Jan 18, 2008)

I have  MEMCO MW 100 boiler thats about 25 years old.  I would geuss that it might be the same model just a different name on the tag.  It is a good depenable boiler.  I have to add wood about every 4 hours to keep the water up to temp and I go through about 8 cords of wood a year.  But I do not run my oil boiler at all, if you were to run it in combination with your oil boiler you probably would not have to fill it as often.  If you can post a pic I could tell if its the same model


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## machinistbcb (Jan 18, 2008)

OH Yeah !!  I think the $800.00 price is a little high.  I see them for sale in the $400 to $500 price all the time in Maine.


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## ladyfire (Jan 18, 2008)

I can get my hands on a New Yorker 200 hot water wood boiler that is only 9 years old for $1150.00 firm...they are $3800.00 new in Nova Scotia...anyone have any info on this type/name of boiler?  It's in really great shape...the guy was asking $1400.00.

To the guy who mentioned that the others are both 100s, you are most likely correct...they are prob both 100, 000BTU.  Thanks for the info...much appreciated!  I'm going to post this new furnace possibilty in a new thread to see what opinions/facts ppl can give me...this forum is great!


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## cguida (Jan 18, 2008)

Hello Machinistbtb,

I thought I was the only Memco MW100 user left in the world. Nice to see that I am not alone. 

Is there a trick to getting a 4 hour burn with this boiler?  Best I have been able to do is 2-3 hours. We have a 3 story chimney that draws like crazy, and no amount of flue-damper and air intake throttling seems to slow it down very much.  In addition, most of my wood is split on the fine side.

I hope soon to build a water tank, and just let the boiler go full blast on junk wood. That should simplify things. 

Having this boiler in series with our oilburner has saved us a bundle on heating oil. And when our attention wonders, the sound of the oil burner coming on calls us back to the wood boiler.  If the Nova Scotia person has wood and didn't mind baby-sitting the boiler, she could save a bundle.

Do you know anything about the history and fate of the company in Jay that made these boilers?


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## machinistbcb (Jan 18, 2008)

Smee,   

I think there are still quite a few MW100 sitting in Maine basements, but I don't think many people use them. 

I understand your problem with the high draft I have a simular set-up.  The fact that the smoke pipe is located directly at the top of the boiler doesn't help etheir.  At times I will have roaring flames that get pulled right into the smoke pipe.   

As for the 4 hour burn time, what I usally try to do is time my fire so that I will have a good hot bed of coals going in the evening and then I fill the stove with big round unsplit hardwood. I completly close the threaded draft knob on the door and have and the damper by the ash tray set to close at 190 degrees.  Also I make sure that my gaskets on my fill door and damper door are in good shape.  I have tried filling the boiler with super dry, split hardwood and the fire got so hot so fast that I had to throw sand on the fire to put it out.   I think the ideal way to run these boiler is in combination with an oil boiler like you said,  but I am a cheapo so I turned the power off on my oil burner which means I wake up at about 2:00 a.m. everynight and fill it, and I come home in the afternoon to a house that is about 60 degrees.

I am pretty sure MEMCO as like many other types of manufacturing industries in Maine is long gone.


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## spason (Feb 6, 2008)

Is there any chance either of you have the manual for your MW100?  There is one in my basement that I would really like to hook back up to the system, ideally without hiring someone to do it.

Thanks,
j


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## machinistbcb (Feb 6, 2008)

Yes,  I do have the manual


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## cguida (Feb 6, 2008)

Maybe if you can send me the manual or xerox of same, I could scan and pdf it, so we could all have a copy.  

I don't have a manual either.

Regards,
Chris


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## machinistbcb (Feb 7, 2008)

I will try to work on getting a copy made.  Then I could mail the copy.  It will probably be next week before I get a chance to do it


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## sparke (Feb 7, 2008)

My first wood boiler was a Memco.  The company is still in business in Jay Maine.  They don't make wood boilers anymore but they are still in business.  I think the name changed too.  Check plumbing supplies in yellow pages for Jay, Maine.  It might be called Melvin Manufacturing, maybe that was the original name, I digress...

Machbob, I live in Winslow.  If you ever want to check out my new boiler give me a shout.  It sure is nice to throw 2 big rounds in it at 9 P.M. and wake up to 74* house with coals to restart.  Not trying to rub it in or anything


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## sparke (Feb 7, 2008)

Here ya go:  http://www.yellowpages.com/name/Jay-ME/memco?search_mode=all&search_terms=memco


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## machinistbcb (Feb 7, 2008)

Sparke,    I might just take you up on that offer.  I live in Sabattus, but I am always traveling throughout the state for work.  After reading your post about your Greenfire boiler  I am seriously considering ethier building or buying one myself.  I would love to see one in action.


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## sparke (Feb 7, 2008)

Send me an email when you want to come up and I will give you directions...


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## Mainewood (Feb 7, 2008)

machinistbcb said:
			
		

> I have  MEMCO MW 100 boiler thats about 25 years old.  I would geuss that it might be the same model just a different name on the tag.  It is a good depenable boiler.  I have to add wood about every 4 hours to keep the water up to temp and I go through about 8 cords of wood a year.  But I do not run my oil boiler at all, if you were to run it in combination with your oil boiler you probably would not have to fill it as often.  If you can post a pic I could tell if its the same model



Machinisbcb, I am running a Benjamin DO-180. 150,000btu add on wood boiler in my basement.  I fill the the firebox with dry hardwood at 9pm and return at 5:30 am to find hot coals and a water temp of 150.


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## machinistbcb (Feb 7, 2008)

Mainewood thats great.   I assume your boiler is not 25 years old.  Also I have another problem, I live in a 200 year old 2800 square foot brick house with little to no insulation.  I plan on working on the insulation problem this summer and hopfully updating the boiler as well.   Like I said, really the only good thing I can say about my memco is it is 25 years old and still working fine.


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## Mainewood (Feb 7, 2008)

machinistbcb, You definitely have a different heating challenge.  My boiler is about 3yrs old and I have a 3200sf. colonial that was built 15 yrs ago.


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## Mainewood (Feb 8, 2008)

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				sparke said:
			
		

> Send me an email when you want to come up and I will give you directions...




Sparke, nobody likes a party crasher, but I sure would like to see your greenfire in operation.  Maybe you can convert me to the gasification side.


thanks, mainewood


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## sparke (Feb 8, 2008)

This type of gasser is not as neat to watch as the ones with the lower chamber.  But you are welcome to come check it out...


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## Mainewood (Feb 9, 2008)

sparke, what type of chimney are you using and how is the draft?  How about a dump zone & and power outage?

thanks.

P. S.  I would like to see your set-up when ever it is convenient for you.


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## sparke (Feb 9, 2008)

Mainewood,  email me,  we can arrange a mutal time...


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## Brown (Oct 29, 2008)

machinistbcb said:
			
		

> I will try to work on getting a copy made.  Then I could mail the copy.  It will probably be next week before I get a chance to do it



I am new to this forum.  I am searching for an owner's manual for my Powrmatic MW-100.  One or more people on this forum indicated that they had an owner's manual.  I would love to get a copy.  I recently moved into a house with one of these in the basement.  I have not yet fired up the boiler.  I am concerned that I may have a valve turned the wrong way or that I'll run it too hot and blow up or burn down the house.  Can anyone out there direct me to a place or person where I might find an owner's manual for this thing?


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## ManiacPD (Oct 29, 2008)

I have a manual.  I'll PM you.

If anyone else needs a copy let me know.

Thanks,

Paul


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## jmcnally (Nov 20, 2008)

Add one more Memco MW-100 120,000 BTU add-on wood boiler user to the email thread.  My family had one growihng up and my parents use a comparable brand/model now.  I purchased the Memco from private owner in Orland, Meaine after seeing it listed in swap/buy/sell book.  Having considered/looked at other brands/models of used add-on indoor traditional-style wood boilers, when I saw this one, it appeared in excellent condition and previous owner's statement that he hadn't used it for 8 years seemed accurate.  Purchased and brought it back in September and installed it first week in November and just fired it up two weeks ago.  

Am extremely happy with it so far, especially since the weather has turned cold the past few days and have been able to reasonably fine tune the control settings, when/how much to add wood, boiler temp/pressure management, etc.  It is add-on to my oil boiler and supplies both baseboard heat in two story 2,000 square foot 6 year old, relatively well-insulated home plus heats all the domestic hot water).  Oil boiler has only come on one period of time in past 48 hours when wasn't able to tend the wood boiler for about 8 hours.  Have a designated chimney flue that had built just for wood when built house and have own woodlot plus neighboring family wood lot to get wood off and generally enjoy cutting/preparing firewood so pretty much all set in that regard.  

Can say that so far the unit in the colder weather right now burns/idles at approx. 200 F +/- 15 F wood boiler temp w/ pressure between 15-20, maybe 21 or 22 if temp happens to creep over 210.  When around and tending the fire, once strong bed of coals is established have been able to add a 6 inch diameter or 6 inch wide split piece of wood approximatley every hour and half to maintain good idling burning temp at approx. the 200 F noted above.  Have generally found that if can time it to add about 3 average size pieces of wood to a strong bed of hot coals when leaving or going to bed, I can tend it again in about 3-1/2 hours later at which time the boiler temp has been around 180 F and there has been an adequate bed of coals to add more wood to.

The traditional style wood boilers may indeed not be as efficient as the newer gasification boilers, but bottom line so far with my Memco is that...........it is cold outside, very warm inside, not burning oil, and MUCH less expensive to purchase/start up.  I am happy with that.


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## spason (Jan 26, 2009)

Oops.  Wrong thread!

But since I'm here and can't tell how to delete this, in your experience if the gauges and switches are dead or missing on the Memco MW100 would it be smarter to just purchase a working boiler that is maybe more efficient?  The Honeywells on those suckers are expensive.

Thanks,

j


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