Buying a Hotbox

R

rick77

Member
If you were going to buy a new hotbox for a cold water 8 GPM machine which brand would you choose and why?
 
Largo coil made of us steel no imported steel used in there process.Plus Steve is a super guy if you get a big one with the sdc burner an 12 volt make sure you get two marine batteries an link them together.Prevent problems down the road.Good luck
 
Vince Wood said:
I know they aren't the cheapest but I would have one built by Farley's.
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I've had my mind set on a Farley for over a year and have found a great buy on one from my favorite dealer. The Farley is considered the best by many but I'm finding a few drawbacks even with the Farley as far as my situation goes. Mainly, the Farley weighs 800 lbs and drinks 3.5 gallons of fuel per hour. I don't want to add that much weight to my rig and I'm hoping for unit that will drink less fuel per hour. There are other brands that do the same thing but weigh less and may cost less to operate. I just want to find out what's out there I guess.

The Largo hotbox sound interesting. I like the horizontal oil fired 8 GPM hotbox shown on their site.
 
The Farley's 88OF vertical heater advertises a heat rise of 130° at 9 gpm. It is 24" wide, 3/4" pipe, 750,000 btu.
The 75OF horizontal heater advertises a heat rise of 120° at 9 gpm.
 
Any of these big burners are going to burn a lot of fuel it's got a lot of volume going through the coil and the longer the coil is the longer the water stays there giving it more time to heat largo vertical boxes have over 250 feet of 1/2 coil.Also Farley uses imported steel an that was the drawback for me an they were a lot higher.Farleys coil on that heavy of a hotbox may be 3/4 inch coil which does let the water flow with as much restriction however the coil isn't as thick so you possibly could decrease the life of the coil.When you order the hotbox you could tell them to put a smaller fuel nozzel in it.With the right chemical 95 percent of all surfaces can be cleaned with 180 degree water.Good luck an keep us posted .
 
rick77 said:
I've had my mind set on a Farley for over a year and have found a great buy on one from my favorite dealer. The Farley is considered the best by many but I'm finding a few drawbacks even with the Farley as far as my situation goes. Mainly, the Farley weighs 800 lbs and drinks 3.5 gallons of fuel per hour. I don't want to add that much weight to my rig and I'm hoping for unit that will drink less fuel per hour. There are other brands that do the same thing but weigh less and may cost less to operate. I just want to find out what's out there I guess.

The Largo hotbox sound interesting. I like the horizontal oil fired 8 GPM hotbox shown on their site.
Click to expand...

For a heater to use less fuel, it must contain more pipe, increasing the weight. A smaller coil will use more fuel to attain the same heat rating. I sold a couple of custom units a while back. 17 gpm, 10000 psi, schedule 160, 1" coil, 36" across and 5' high without the stand. And, used a 3 gph fuel nozzle.
 
I bought the largo 880,000 btu burner 120v version and have run the crap out of it for 3.5 years now. My biggest issue I had when I first got it was that it was advertised for 8-12 gpm, but the plate on the side said 8 gpm. Also has a small 8 gpm max flow switch on it which I considered a restriction as well. I did complain to envirospec since I got it from them and they did send out a flow switch that could handle more then 8 gpm technically. I have since redesigned everything from the input of the coil/flow switch area to be able to handle my larger setup.

I have 2 pumps, so I put in 2 flow switches with a 1/2 inch tee to tie them together with one way flow switches on both inputs as well.

Only had to replace 2 thermostats and redid the fuel filter setup to handle racor filters.
 
Has or dose anyone have good data on hot water, like what temps they are getting at the nozzle, 8 GPM at 200 feet hose? Dose the thermostat really work or are most running at full hot? What is the lowest temp for popping gum, helping with grease and oil? Looking at a hot box myself and I am trying to do my do diligence before I call Russ to order one. Thanks to all in advance!
 
Yeah I changed my thermostate out to a digital one that keeps the temps within 5 degrees of the set temp it's basically an exhaust alarm for race cars it's great no more dealing with those cheap crappy ones that go out every six months.I also got a bigger flow switch but can't figure out of to make it work on the current set up.Gum will pop fine with a dual wand easily at 160 I think.
 
Just an update on this thread........I ordered the Largo 115v 8-12 GPM Horizontal Hotbox a week ago. It should ship out in about a week. Looking forward to crankin' that thing up and chasing some commercial flatwork.
 
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