100 year old boiler help !!

hoffmanhomekevin

Let me start with some background , we have an old house ,the heating system had frozen and busted 2 radiators some piping and the boiler which had a burned out firebox. Since the system was unknown , I opted to make a 1/2" copper loop to replace the 2 radiators ,Found a used boiler at the same btu ,its a columbia em 100 with a domestic h/w coil. The valves on almost everything where siezed , including the radiators, my father taught me well and with some lube and elbow grease they all work , most where well labeled , It has an everhot coil that needs only 1 pipe to hookup.   it is pumped by a grundfos 3 spd. circ. and a taco on the everhot loop [ taco was a replacement, came off furnace]   It appears to be a converted gravity system that is pumped backwards,heat enters lower pipe up through radiators to top loop.   Now when the boiler was fired and air bled it ran and ran until 2 valves that where wiretied when i found them, where closed too thier original position  about half open ,. these valves where the supplyside at boiler and the valve marked rad supply offf the loop, there is a 1/2" line to a vavle marked bypass that is open ,appears to let some water go around .that is close to the rad. supply vavle , Will wonders never cease !!! It seems to work ok  now, I suspect the last work on this system was 50 yrs ago, judging by the furnace and labeled tags .

I am going to use it this season to get a baseline, What I need is , Is closing these vavles  a proper way to regulate it ?!, any suggestions on improving this system ?? , which domestic coil is better the everhot or the furnace or both??.  as the pics show space is limited , controls are behind a panel in kitchen and there is no basement. the furnace is outside. my funds are limited but I know from expierence  a good upgrade will pay for itself  tenfold.  I am trying to have a professional come out as I write #3 is pulling a no show or call , { he could not tell me which way the flochecks where pointing]  One was afraid the pipes would break  [they  already where !!!] One great salesman told me that this system could never heat the house and a heatpump is what I needed  [my last home had 3 modern systems in 25 yrs ]  So if  you wonder why people will grab the first person , this is it . thanks ,  kevin

icesailor

Where are you:

Where are you located? You need someone that knows what they are looking at. Not someone that wants to sell you something and they don't know what they are looking at.

IMO

billtwocase

must be somewhere warm

Is that boiler installed outside?

hoffmanhomekevin

why did they do it !

the house is located in cambridge md on the eastern shore, for some reason a lot of these old victorians have the boiler " outside " this one is getting a new enclosure , some have small sheds , although I didnt apply,to  the historic commision they kinda frowned and got squeamish when I suggested an enclosed porch to house this, My thought was the original boiler was in the kitchen and it was easier to put it outside. the defunct unit appeared to have quite a bit of age on it. my long term plans are to go down , however the water table is kinda high.

hoffmanhomekevin

why did they do it !

the house is located in cambridge md on the eastern shore, for some reason a lot of these old victorians have the boiler " outside " this one is getting a new enclosure , some have small sheds , although I didnt apply,to  the historic commision they kinda frowned and got squeamish when I suggested an enclosed porch to house this, My thought was the original boiler was in the kitchen and it was easier to put it outside. the defunct unit appeared to have quite a bit of age on it. my long term plans are to go down , however the water table is kinda high.

kcopp

is Natural gas...

available? LP must be. A wall hung gas boiler would be the best best.... outside? Thats nuts....

hoffmanhomekevin

gass it

Yes natrual gas is avalable from the steet , I will be brining it to the house soon. the local oil company showed me a comparison of fuels and price equvalint per btu and natrual gas is almost  the same as firewood  .  thanks for the input,  kevin