General Electric Gas Boiler

Phil_34

Recently purchased my first home, which came with a GE gas boiler. I can date it roughly to somewhere in the 50's, but haven't been able to decipher a date based on the serial number. I've found it virtually impossible to gather any information on this model boiler anywhere on the internet. It appears to be grossly oversized, as the btu input is rated 192,000 with output at 153,600. My house is 1,388 sq ft, and a crude heat loss calculation tells me i need a 60,000 btu boiler. This beast seems to heat the house fine when it works.



The first problem i had was with the bi metal pilot proving device (not a thermocouple or thermopile), which during cold nights in my drafty upstate NY basement, stopped closing the circuit to open the gas valve to fire the main burners. With a slight adjustment (expanding the rod), it is firing again. I then rewired the 24v circuit (old wires very deteriorated) for the gas valve & high limit (there are no other safety controls). I then rewired the circulator (modern grundfos) so i can select constant or thermostat controlled operation.



My questions are:



1) Has anyone seen, heard of, or worked on one of these?



2) If I wanted to upgrade this bi metal standing pilot system to a more modern and safe system, what would i need to purchase (which gas valve, pilot assembly, thermocouple, etc)?



3) The current pilot has a screen below it, and clogged with dust. How do I remove and clean this?



This boiler has no other issues, and i'd like to keep it for now as I cannot spend the money for a new boiler right now.



Thanks in advance for any advice.



Phil

Tim McElwain

See below

My questions are:



1) Has anyone seen, heard of, or worked on one of these?

Yes I have worked on quite a few of these kind of systems in my 50 years of servicing gas systems



2) If I wanted to upgrade this bi metal standing pilot system to a more modern and safe system, what would i need to purchase (which gas valve, pilot assembly, thermocouple, etc)?

There are several options but that should be done by a professional.



3) The current pilot has a screen below it, and clogged with dust. How do I remove and clean this?

Give us a picture of the pilot if you can and then I will try and help you clean the screen when I know exactly what we are talking about.



This boiler has no other issues, and i'd like to keep it for now as I cannot spend the money for a new boiler right now.

Phil_34

pilot screen

Thanks for your time, Tim. I've posted the best picture I can get of the screen. I also posted a picture of the pilot burner, which is directly above the screen, and of the pilot burning. Does it look like a weak flame?

Tim McElwain

You can clean the screen

by just using a vacuum to suck all the dust out.



Here is the problem, you said you adjusted the rod to get it to work. The rod sets the timing on the pilot safety and it should only be adjusted by someone who is familiar with the pilot system. The pilot is actually a differential pilot and by adjusting the rod you can circumvent the safety. In that case if the pilot went out you could have the raw gas pouring into the boiler with no ignition source.



I would at this time start thinking about a new boiler which will certainly give you much more efficiency than your present set up. The cost of any kind of retrofit for this system would be somewhat costly and that money could be better spent on a new boiler.

Unknown

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Phil_34

When I adjusted the rod

I verified by shutting off the pilot that the safety did still cut off the main burner gas supply when the thermostat called for heat. With that said, I will heed your advice, and any further work will be performed by a professional. I'm just trying to limp this boiler through this winter, as I cannot afford a new boiler right now. I will be budgeting for one, hopefully before next winter. I will be starting a new thread to gather reccomendations for a make/model on a new boiler. Thanks guys!

Phil_34

also

This is natural gas