Field trip to Boyertown foundry and Peerless factory

Luv'nsteam

Dan and all the great people at Peerless,



Thank you for this great, awe-inspiring trip and to the great people at Peerless for opening their facility to everyone who attended. I met many great people today (including Dan) and had a great time. The foundry was so cool - it is amazing to me the process of how things come to be - from ore, to different kinds of metal, to forms, to uses. Amazing! Thank you again Dan, the folks at Peerless and the great Wallies I met today!





Thank you,



Mike Mumma

R Mannino

Interesting

tour and bus ride!



Thanks Dan.

DanHolohan

So good to be with you, Mike..

And yes, thanks to our friends at Peerless for a wonderful, all-American day. Bravo!

Charlie from wmass

One of these days

I am going to get to go on one of Dan's trips, in the mean time I hope you guys took lots of pictures to share. I spent my day cleaning out a Buderus GB that was never cleaned for 3 years.

Mpj

Trip

Thanks Dan,

I had great day at Peerless, a factory rich in American history from its people to the building itself. It was sad to hear about the 160 people that were laid off for the month,this is a great reason to BUY AMERICAN products. I know the trip changed my thinking.

billtwocase

Peerless trip

I went there about 5 years ago thru Sids. I was a trip well worth taking, and I agree Mpj, buy American. Yes they don't always compare to Europeans, but shouldn't charity begin at home? Charlie, if you deal with Sids, ask them if they are making the trek this year. It is great to see from start to finish.

Luv'nsteam

Some pix for you, Charlie

Very old and very cool machines used to move, machine and test some castings.. Many look to be nearly as old as the foundry itself and all of the older ones, I think, were made in the USA. The pic with the lighted casting is one location where they pressure test the individual casting. They said, if memory serves me (haha) every casting is pressure tested, as well as, every assembled boiler.



There were amazing quantities of boiler castings everywhere, inside and outside! The large Kunkel Wagner machine is part of the foundry itself. This part of it is fully automated (residential boilers) where as, the commercial boiler castings are part auto/part manual.



The boiler with the wires and hoses attached, is a PureFire and is very thoroughly tested for shorts, leaks, peak efficiancy, etc. Very cool and the entire testing process is developed and administered by Peerless at their choice. Great company to go through such measures willingly. All companies should do this, but I digress. : )



Thank you,



Mike

CMadatMe

Special

I big thank you to our hostest with the mostest and all our friends at Peerless. I trip worth the taking. Can't thank you enough for the hospitality Dan. Top notch!!!



It was a pleasure meeting wallies and putting faces to the names.

Ron Jr._3

Thanks Dan !

For the great time and putting the whole trip together ! And the laughs ,beer and food for the trip back ! 

DanHolohan

We need to start planning

an evening at the Molly Wee. 

Ron Jr._3

The Molly Wee !

Had the best time at that Big Ugly get-together ! Sounds like a great idea .

Paul Fredricks_3

Yep

Keep us posted!

hvacguy

Great Trip

Although I would have liked to have seen the iron being poured, I feel fortunate to have experienced a silent foundry. Walking past a wall of un-punched time cards and being among new and old machines that were shut down gave me a perspective that I could not have appreciated any other way.

It's one thing to know that sales are off and a company's bottom line is affected. It's quite another to see acres of machines and no one operating them.

Hap_Hazzard

I'm about 30 miles from Boyertown

I've often thought it would be interesting to see the place and talk to some of the old-timers. I'd still like to know about when my boiler was made.



I'm probably going to replace it with another Peerless, if it doesn't outlast me, and if they're still making steam boilers by then.

Steamhead

The pic at the lower left

looks like the sections for a Smith Mills boiler- does Smith use this foundry too? 

R Mannino

They

cast some "red jacket" ones there too.

CMadatMe

Smith, RBI

Not only poured but jacketed and shipped too.

Luv'nsteam

smith Mills boiler

I do not know what brand of boiler it is. But, I did learn that the foundry is called Boyertown Foundry (Inc, I think). And that Peerless is part owner. They did say they made other items from cast iron, but would not admit to casting other brands of boilers. I did ask them straight out about it, too. Personally, i hope they make anything for anyone so long as they keep the foundry going. As long as it operates, American products will be made and American citizens will be employed and hopefully, Peerless will remain in business for much longer.





Maybe because I dream, maybe because i pay attention to new technology, but steam will never change, never cease to behave the way it does. What i do see changing (albeit, i have no idea how) is the way heat is created to make steam. Perhaps one day we will have mini nuclear reactors in our boilers or perhaps some kind of heat source like we mite see in an episode of Star Trek. I'm guessing, but why not? 300 Years ago no one even dreamed of steam heat, radios, tv or cars, just to name a few things and they have freezers that work on magnets. We are Americans and we can do ANYTHING we put our mind too!







Thank you,



Mike

DanHolohan

Yes.

Peerless sold the foundry to Mestek and they both use it. The majority of the iron goes to Peerless. Those are Mills boiler sections in the pic. Nice to see.