Utica steam boiler

Supply House Rick

in a garage his only other alternative would have been to lower the entire floor 18". It's a no-win situation, and even with the swing joints crooked pipes don't help w/ the professionally installed look. You end up putting a drop header on it or was their enough height anyway?

Unknown

Piped in a Utica steam

boiler today. The old boiler was in a garage and was red tagged by local gas company. New boiler had to be lifted 18 inches in order to remain in garage. Anyway I thought I would give another supply house a shot at the boiler and they sold me a Utica. After I got the boiler up on the 18 inch high pad and started piping I realized the supply tappings were so crooked it made me sick. Have American cast iron foundries become so lame they cant even tap a section at a right angle? Of course it being in the 20s today and all the damn labor it took to get the thing up I wasnt going to remove it. Sad to say but just another example of the sad crap this country puts out.

bob young

65-R stock & die

IF you know how to use a 65-R you can cut some crooked threads, bro. bring you right into plumb. CASE CLOSED

Mark Hunt_6

What?

Your answer is to cut crooked threads?
Union guy right?

Unknown

Your right except I only had my

65R-TC on the truck and I wasnt going to spend 2 hours looking for the 65R-c. I shouldnt have to! If Buderus can get it right why cant we. One thing for sure is that was my first Utica and my last!

JackR

See many

of them with crooked threads, I would not put Buderus in a class by itself. The last two G115's I did were certainly not " Straight "by any means.

It happens.......

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Utica boiler

Are the tappings off the sides of the Utica? If not couldn't you use swing joints? They are required anyway. You are not supposed to put a steam boiler up on a pad, were you still able to get enough height from the top of the boiler to the steam main?

Thanks, Bob Gagnon

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bob young

teamwork

no, wrong grasshopper. i was simply trying to help a fellow tradesman solve an annoying problem. and i was a union guy local 1 bklyn & probably before you were born. something wrong being a union plumber ? great apprenticeship program , maybe you should look into it. then when you learn the trade you can get your license & open a business the way i did or not. btw everyone knows a crooked thread is not the premier method but sometimes a trick of the trade will get you out of a bind. its called experience.

Unknown

Bob

Yes the tappings were on the side of the boiler, both 2 inch and both were needed because it was a 250+ in boiler going into a 3inch main. Dimension A was still over 30 inches and a swing was placed at the top of dimesion A heading to the rear of the boiler and then swung again to the left side of the boiler pickiing up the second riser and then a drop equalizer directly in line with the 2 inch return tap. How long would it take for your guys to put a gunner in the tapping and make sure the tap set square....2 minutes maybe 3. Do you know how long it takes a mechanic to try to make it look square....shimming up half the boiler to try to split the difference ! Cutting a crooked thread! Trying to shift the gas pipe and water feed pipe a little bit to try to mask the poor workmanship!
Not to mention the fact that if your tappings are straight I could cut all the near boiler piping in the shop, in the heat,with just the dimesions on the cut. But when they are pitching like a ski slope it is hard to tell how long the next piece will be without actually fitting it!

Unknown

I`ve had to

cut crook-ed threads before, not very often thankfully, but it does get you out of a jam.
I`m with Bob.

Dave

greeny

How do you cut crooked threads?

Unknown

There are

2 adjustments on the 65-R, 1 is the dies, the other is the pipe alignment,,, how much to offset is a closely guarded secret!
Right Bob?

Hint-Think back to when you started using them,, you may have done this actually by mistake!

Dave

bob young

65R

i have all i can handle with the younger dudes cutting a standard thread correctly with the 65R. THEY ALL PREFER A DROP HEAD. Way too boring ....no challenge !! when i started the stocks were not jam proof. ever see a stock & universal cutting a thread on 4 " pipe lock up and spin a ridgid 400 in a tight corridor . heavy duty !!! lol

Unknown

Yep, a few times,,

years ago my Dad was lucky enough to have a power drive. Can`t remember the make(not Ridgid), no speed chucks then,, there were 3 holes in-it where you inserted an 18"(or so) machined round bar and hit with the hammer to tighten on the pipe.

Maybe we should start another thread about "old threading tools"? LOL.

Dave

Unknown

Sorry Bob

I misread your post yesterday, I thought you were Bob from Utica Boiler. Didnt mean to vent on you.
TONY

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

It's OK, Tony

You said nothing to be sorry about. I too have noticed the crooked threads on the Utica PEG Steam Series, but I'm sure you will find it an otherwise great boiler with great company support.

Thanks, Bob Gagnon

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bob young

SORRY 'BOUT THE CAPS...

THAT WAS PROBABLY AN OSTER. I HAD ONE THAT ACTUALLY HAD A SPEED CHUCK. WEIGHED ABOUT TEN MILLION POUNDS & HAD ENOUGH TORQUE TO RIP THE ARMS OUT OF THE SOCKETS OF ANDRE THE GIANT. A SERIOUS PIECE OF MACHINERY FOR SURE. LANDIS ALSO MADE THEM.

Unknown

Landis

I also remember many moons ago I took a hiatus and worked for an old shoemaker.
All his heavy stitching machines were Landis, could that be the same company?

Dave

Erich_3

Have You Called Utica?

Bob, you seem to have a good relationship with Utica. Have you called them up to inform them of the crooked threads? This seems to be a foundry problem. I think they would like to know so that they can take steps to correct the problem.

bob young

Landis

yep, Dave, same company Landis. Quincy, Mass. shipyard had their machinery, too

Charlie from wmass

Yep sounds like the oster I have in the shop. 4 legs of 1" iron pipe. We keep it in case the 300 rigid has an issue. only needed to use it once when the switch in the rigid, now 40 years old, burnt out. Of course in the middle of a gas piping job.

an old wrench puller

Cutting crooked threads.....

That made a smile come to the face. Havent done that in years, not that we dont have a need for it but I just try to plan in a swing joint.

How many of you ever used the old "take it out and beat it on the curb" method? That was one of my dad's.

A good buddy of mine, we were apprentices together. My dad took him on a job, handed him a short piece of pipe with a black cast 90 hand tight on one end and simply said "go outside beat this on the curb" My Buddy was dumb founded, but he did it. Told me later that he thought he must a did something wrong and my dad just wanted to get him out a the way. Man did I laugh over that....

The good old days....

pjc_2

utica crooked threads

I've been installing these boilers for thirty yrs. The crooked tappings are not new. I usually use a short nipple a skim tee at a 45 degree angle and a 45 pointing up, solves the problem every time. They really are great boilers steam boilers though.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Erich

I will send them an e-mail.

Thanks, Bob Gagnon

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