Farewell, Mr. Snowman!

Steamhead

This week's boiler job was replacing this 1920s-vintage Weil-McLain round boiler. It had been converted from coal to gas with a Janitrol atmospheric burner, equipped with ceramic radiants that would glow when the gas flames hit them. We didn't test this thing before stripping it, but the flame hitting the radiants would have probably made a lot of CO!



The photo through the door shows the radiants before they were removed, most of them had fallen off their mountings.



The gas valve on this thing had a lever which operated a damper, to only allow secondary air into the unit when the unit was running. The primary air shutters were open all the time. And apparently this valve needed to be oiled periodically, and the gas company was supposed to do it, as shown on the label. Tim M., this unit brings back some memories, eh?



And your eyes are not deceiving you: there was no low-water cutoff. It did have a Series 10 Pressuretrol though.



Our regular asbestos/demo sub, ARC Construction Services, made this old beast disappear. We'll probably see it again next year as Chinese pipe and fittings.

Steamhead

The new one

our usual choice for a small system such as this one, the 3-section Smith G-8 with Carlin EZ-Gas. Gordon did his usual beautiful piping job on the returns and Hartford Loop.



We also moved a small rad that had been added to the living room, into an adjacent enclosed porch. We discovered that it had been connected to the tee for the former bathroom rad, so we left that tee there for whenever they get tired of a cold bathroom.



We installed Vent-Rite #1 vents in the bedrooms, so the owners could adjust them easily. 



One of my Dead Men's Books says a snowman boiler is usually only about 40% efficient on oil, and I think it was probably as bad on gas. We look forward to the fuel-savings figures on this one!

Brad White

Another Before and After Inspiration!

Something about seeing the "Before" pictures and holding off on the treat to see the final shots that has such suspense...



Classic All Steamed Up piping job, so neat and tidy.



Always a pleasure to see your collective work. Great job, Gordo!

Charlie from wmass

Girlfriend has a snow man in the basement

Her mother says she will change it when it leaks. I have other plans. I put the analyzer on it last fall and it said it was actually getting 70%. I am sure the readings were off from too much fresh air coming through the combustion chamber. But I had a good laugh at the readings.

Steamhead

Maybe

when she sees the fuel-savings figures from this one? We can hope.........



Forgot one pic- this thermostat was still in use. It's a Honeywell Series 10 with a wind-up clock. We changed it to a VisionPro 8000.

Steamhead

Thanks, Brad

good to have you back!

gerry gill

great looking job guys!

Frank / Gordo, you guys really do a great job..very nice looking work..is this a regular customer where you will be able to find out from them how much it saved on the fuel?

Steamhead

He's a regular customer

and we hope to have the figures next summer. It used to take up to a half-hour for the snowman to get steam to the rads' inlet valves, even with proper main vents. Now it takes about 10 minutes from the time the G8 starts up cold, this includes the boiler warm-up and the main venting stage.



We've been advising him to replace that snowman for some time, and he finally did. 

gerry gill

30 minutes...jeeeezzz

i bet you cut his gas bill in half...he better buy you a beer next time he see's you..

Steamhead

We'll settle for

some referrals!

SBoston

Copper above the water line



I noticed that you used copper above the water line; is this an issue with the steam (expansion and contraction)? I thought this was generally a bad idea?

Very nice job, I wish the guy that installed our Burnham Independence had told us about the Smith boiler with a power burner, or did a nice piping job (live and learn).

Steamhead

In the equalizer

It's not an issue if steam doesn't get that far. If your Hartford Loop is properly configured, it won't. Also, expansion in the equalizer does not strain against the other end of a cast-iron boiler, so the joint-breaking torsion isn't there. 



All the piping that steam travels through is black steel.



Smith doesn't do a good job of marketing the G-8. Slant/Fin could also do better marketing the gas-fired Intrepid. Both are much better than atmospherics.

SBoston

Last Question

Why not use both taps? Wouldn't that slow the velocity of the steam going into the header?

Steamhead

The manual for these boilers

says two risers are not needed until you get to the 6-section boiler. But, as you see, the header is 2-1/2", which is one size larger than specified. We cap the second tapping if it's not going to be used, rather than plugging it, since we can then remove the cap if we need to flush out the boiler with a hose.



For the 6-section, we'd use a 3-inch header.

Danny Scully

And lets not forget

And lets not forget, you're running a business here! Increasing to 4" would slow the velocity of the steam as well! Hehe

Gordo

One Thing The Customer Did Say Regarding Fuel Savings

When we first looked at this old snowman earlier  this summer, we noticed that the boiler was really warm as if it had been run recently.  We realized that the standing pilot was large enough to heat the boiler significantly and we shut it off right then and there.  The customer subsequently reported a noticeable drop in fuel consumption.