Serviced Interesting Vintage Steamer

ttekushan_3

ttekushan_3

A Joy to Work With a B-Line

Do you ever run into an ancient piece of equipment that just makes you shake your head in amazement?

I followed up with an earlier service call on this B-Line steam boiler this week. It was a total fire-side and water-side cleaning, etc. The whole home is a first class place, around 1929 or so, and everything is extremely well preserved, including the heating system. The boiler room is clean and well lit. Virtually everything is original. Its a two-pipe system. The giant pilot lights apparently preserved the whole boiler as its in excellent condition overall.

I re-attached the draft damper control to improve seasonal efficiency, but the original gas modulating controls are gone or disabled. Otherwise, it rarely has to pressurize over about 6 ounces of steam pressure to heat the house evenly and quietly.

This is one great old manufacturer that didn't seem to exaggerate their performance claims (one printout is for the left section 4 burners, the other for the right section 3 burners).

-Terry

Check it out: Also check out the Library under Long Gone Manufacturers.

Christian Egli_2

Making a B-line to the future

What a marvelously serviceable boiler. What an investment that has paid off big time. What a guy you are.

A question

What happened in the seven minutes between the two test printouts? Was it warming up and then warm?

Thanks for sharing, and keep warm, winter is coming back.

ttekushan_3

the 18 minutes of missing tape, er,

The difference is that its got two stacks on it, one with 4 burners under it and the other with 3. Sort of multi-base but with only one burner manifold and gas valve. It took that long to get everything repositioned for the measurements from the second stack.

Steamhead (in transit)

Nice job

resulting in some real good numbers.

So, what variety of Vapor system was it?

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Unknown

How does that draft damper control work? I read something in the catalog about it being actuated by gas pressure. Is the original actuator still working or was it replaced by something else? Was the original gas valve replaced with a more modern diaphragm or solenoid valve?

Thats a pretty unique pressure-vacuum gauge. Looks like it reads pressure linearly up to 5 PSI and then goes to 30 PSI at the end of the scale!

Its really interesting to hear that such an old gas boiler is still operating, and pretty efficiently at that!

ttekushan_3

everything

> resulting in some real good numbers.

>

> So, what

> variety of Vapor system was it?

>

> _A

> HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=

> 367&Step=30"_To Learn More About This

> Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in

> "Find A Professional"_/A_

ttekushan_3

everything in the system

was made by Crane. The radiators have those little metal inserts that block the rear half of the radiator top to deflect the heat into the room.

The radiator traps are the style that look more like a 1G air vent in that their inlet is at the "bottom" of the trap.So they are flipped 90 degrees from what I ordinarily see. The Crane hand valves connect the supply to the radiator top inlets. I dared not touch any of that since it all works. Extended run cycles produce no steam in the dry returns. Of course, I fired it to the load. The system is very responsive yet gentle and quiet.

Those are the kind of systems that make me jealous!

ttekushan_3

The original damper still

works. It had been disabled when the original gas valve was replaced with one of those honeywell motorized devices. Also removed was the balance beam on top to handle pressure modulation.

So within the confines of my job there, I did at least get the go-ahead to bring a new 1/8" gas line from the manifold to the actuator and get it back on line. It works so sublimely smoothly and quietly. No more modulation, but it opens to an adjustable maximum point and closes with the gas off.

Here's a lousy picture from the cell phone:

Steamhead (in transit)

Those traps

were probably supplied by Illinois, Sterling or Marsh. Crane often had their name put on these things when they bought them.

By 1931, according to a catalog I have, they were supplying Hoffman equipment, including the later-style Differential Loop.

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