Another old gravity hot-water system converted to Vapor

Steamhead

This is the third such conversion we've seen in Baltimore. If you can picture an 1890's-vintage end-of-group rowhouse that's big enough to get lost in, you get the idea of what the place is like. It originally had gas lighting, an annunciator near the kitchen and a set of speaking tubes going to the various parts of the house from below the annunciator. In this way the owners called and communicated with the servants.



We knew it was gonna be special when we walked in and saw a group of indirect radiators, an Italian Flue radiator, and a corner Rococo!

Steamhead

In the basement

We see the indirects and ducting. Some of the indirects still had fresh-air ducts but all are now set up to recirculate. Some still had Hoffman #2 vacuum vents- they all drain straight to a wet return and don't have traps, so vents are needed. They all have Gortons now.



All the piping pitches up from the boiler. The steam and return sides are the same size- that's how we know it's not a Tudor. The last pic is of a pair of 1" risers going to a second or third floor rad- one of the few uninsulated locations.



The cave-like area in the first pic is the old coal bin, built under the front walk and filled from the street.

Steamhead

The Vapor conversion

used Bishop & Babcock rad valves, Webster 512 traps and the famous "cast-iron ham", a Dunham #9 Return Trap. It looks like the original boiler was a Mills or similar header-type unit- the header is still there!



The Burnham V-904 replaced an older Weil-McLain 76 series boiler- we found the tag from it. Note the lack of a barometric on a three-story-high chimney.

Steamhead

The de-knuckleheading began

When we had first fired the boiler, it ran 15 minutes and didn't even come close to making steam. Definitely not normal for a V-9. We discovered that it was being fired at about 2.2 GPH instead of 4.2 like it was supposed to, which made the boiler condense, and with a 60° nozzle instead of the specified 45° which did a great job of coking up the burner head.  We put in the proper nozzle, set the fuel unit to the correct pressure, brushed and vacuumed it and added a barometric.



We replaced the cute little Hoffman #75 dry return vent with a pair of Gorton #2s, fresh from the Gorton offices. We rebuilt the Webster traps on two radiators that the owner said didn't heat well, and removed all the one-pipe vents on the radiators that some knucklehead had added. Then we fired her up and tuned the burner, and noticed the feeder was coming on a lot more than it should have. As I was printing the combustion test results, water started streaming from the new Gortons.



Turned out the Return Trap was stuck, and a vacuum had formed in it which was pulling the flooded Gortons open. We came back today and removed it, changed the Pressuretrol to a Vaporstat and added a low-pressure gauge. Now all the radiators heat more or less evenly on 2 ounces and the water can return as it should. The Vaporstat cuts out at 8 ounces and the water never reaches the vents.



We found the Webster trap elements had a 1928 date code. This matches the vintages of the Hoffman #2 vents and the Return Trap. So we have a pretty good idea when the conversion was made. I don't think Homer Thrush came out with his hot-water circulator until a couple years later.



We look forward to the fuel-savings figures from this one!

Brian_74

Love the corner radiator!

I really enjoyed the photographs and your description of what you did. Thanks for taking the time to share this.

Steamhead

Our pleasure

that's one reason we're here. 

gerry gill

wow, neat job to work on..

is that common to run into a conversion like that out there? i don't think i've ever seen that done.

Unknown

Frank do I get this right?,,

originally it was steam?

Later converted to hot-water.

You converted-it back to steam?

Help me understand,,,



Been a long-day for me! ;-)

Steamhead

Originally it was hot-water

and in 1928 or so it was converted to Vapor. So far we've been in three homes where this was done.



In one case, the owner had the original plans which showed the hot-water system that was to be installed. All the piping matched the plans.

Dave in QCA

Fantastic!

What an amazing system.  Lots of wonderful details and good engineering.  The pics taken in the house let me understand the overal scope of this amazing building.  Any chance of an exterior photo?

Steamhead

Maybe

I'll see what I can do when we go to that area next.