2 Old Kewanees

Abracadabra

They replaced these a quite while back I guess with other boilers that died an early death and then put in some really badly piped Dunkirk D249-1300s few years back probably never skimmed. They are looking at repiping the Dunkirks since they are getting a ton of wet steam and LWCO has been going crazy flooding the boiler since they were installed. I'd love to get my hands on that old Kewanee cast iron. The one I got pictures of is the nicer of the two. The other one got switched to gas/oil and they removed the doors to install some crappy collar for the burner. Love the "Portable" imprint on the flue door.

JUGHNE

Sweet! The door itself is hardly "portable".

MikeSpeed6030

You probably know that Kewanee has been defunct for several decades. I believe there is a site on the web that sells parts, mainly for industrial units. There is a small cult following of Kewanee boilers, and their old doors have collectible value. There is a website that describes movies that featured Kewanee boilers - including the Blues Brothers. In addition to industrial installations, many schools and large churches used them.

I live near Kewanee, Illinois. The local high school team's nickname is the "Boilermakers." I have a residential Kewanee Type-R (round) boiler, installed in the early 1950s. It's still going strong. Steel fire-tube, two pass, gas fired. It's rated for gas or hand-firing (coal) and either hot water or steam. Mine has always been set up for gas firing and hot water. I will never replace it unless it splits a leak - and I will certainly keep the door!

Interestingly, Kewanee provided boilers for some merchant ships during WW2. Their logo had that slightly crooked "E". I had a pressure/temperature gauge from my boiler, with the Kewanee brand name. I donated it to the local museum in Kewanee, Illinois.

JUGHNE

I have at least 5 Kewanee boilers that I could use more info on. Mainly burner set up and controls. Any source for that type of material?

SWEI

When Kewanee closed up shop, Burton Mechanical purchased their assets, including all the original drawings and parts inventory.

Tinman

I came THIS close to buying a mint condition Kewanee boiler gauge on ebay last night to add to my collection.

Linnea1965

I have a KEWANEE type R furnace. I would love to find a home for it. Located in Sandstone MN. Salvage condition - the door is intact. 651-301-9987

Linnea1965

See photo

EBEBRATT-Ed

The door may be cast iron but as far as I know Kewanee only made steel boilers, not furnaces or cast iron boilers

@JUGHNE
for burner set up stuff your probably better off trying the burner mfg (I am assuming it's not Kewanees own burner). They made great boilers some of their scotch marine boilers were difficult to fire due to high pressure drop on the fire side. Kewanee used really big blower motors to fire those boilers

ChicagoCooperator

Our Kewanee is still running strong and we have no plans to replace.

Dave in QCA

In the late 1970s I lived in a 4-flat apartment building that had a Kewanee "Square Heat" boiler in the basement. It was set up on gas and appeared to be originally that way. It appeared that there was linkage on the original gas valve that opened an air intake louver. There was a replacement valve and no linkage when I was there. The burner was large and rectangular, the size that a coal grate would have been. It was atmospheric operation, not a power burner.

In my working years, I oversaw a hospital complex with a pair of 1967 Kewanee Scotch Marine boilers, 338 HP. Ray burners. Those puppies would scream when on high fire. I had them retubed in the 1990s, not sure if they're still in service or not.

Phil53

When I worked for the City of Aurora, in the early 1990's, the City purchased or was given the old the 1930's era US Post Office when they moved into a new building. I was responsible for maintenance of that empty building until we could find a use for it. It had a one-pipe steam system with steam supplied by a Kewanee boiler. We had to fill it daily to keep heat in the building during the colder months as it didn't have an automatic feed system. I wrote Kewanee at the time to find out a little more about this boiler and they wrote back that "It was delivered in late December 1965 maybe as a Christmas Present" I still remember the letter and was somewhat surprised by the response and appreciated the fact that they had a record of it. They probably went out of business shortly after that. The building in now occupied by SciTech a children's science museum and as far as I know that Kewanee is still there. I should probably stop by some day and confirm that. BTW I worked with a local plumber to find the source of the water consumption in that very large building, we fixed a few leaks but never completely solved the problem before the new owners took over.

SeanBeans

I met my first Kewanee today. It was awesome!!

Not running though, 20k+ sq. ft of mortgage offices. Originally a dairy house.

They have a beautiful spiral system there now.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@SeanBeans

Now there's a real gas burner for you! Those Kewanee type "C" were very popular there used to be a lot of those around. Kewanee's were very rugged boilers.

Who say's steel boilers are no good on steam!!!!!