Old beast

GW

Installed a new wall hung boiler in the boiler room, maybe some old-timers would know what this old beast is. It was some sort of small factory way back in the day.

kcopp

Looks like a locomotive engine....

GW

Yes it was quite long, maybe 12 feet I’m guessing (didn’t pace the thing)

There was an old 1750rpm burner, It wasn’t giant. I was gonna pull it apart and see what the nozzle was, but somebody took the drawer out already.

I did not measure the diameter of the stack but it looks like it’s 14 inches or so

EBEBRATT-Ed

The rivets in the shell point to "before welding". They started welding around WWI but it took a while to catch on. I have removed some of those old boilers with riveted shells that were made in 1927 so it's probably around that vintage or earlier. That is either a "locomotive firebox boiler " or a HRT-horizontal return tube boiler.

That's the first one I have seen with that funny offset stack

retiredguy

I would like to see that boiler mounted on the wall and would like to know it's efficiency rating. As @EBERATT-Ed said, The rivets in the shell point to "before welding". They started welding around WWI but it took a while to catch on. I have removed some of those old boilers with riveted shells that were made in 1927 so it's probably around that vintage or earlier. That is either a "locomotive firebox boiler " or a HRT-horizontal return tube boiler.

That's the first one I have seen with that funny offset stack.
I too have worked on boilers this old but not that brand.

mikeg2015

What kind of efficiencies are Some of these able to reach on oil? Just curious. I figured it wasn’t that bad if fired correctly and draft properly tuned. Maybe 75%?

GW

This small Viessmann Boiler is taking care of an apartment. The manufacturing/small factory went away many years ago.

Note to self, working on a ladder or any area that can only fit one person at a time, takes twice as long.

The Steam Whisperer

Most of the old steam boilers we have in operation from that time period have stack temps in the mid 200s to 325 F with 9.2% + CO2 and very low excess air on natural gas The efficiency read out on the combustion analyzer is usually in the 85% range or higher. These old boilers had huge heat transfer surfaces and only need to run at very low inputs. I amazed at how many people say those old boilers are inefficient... we can almost never get those kinds of numbers with newer boilers. They do take some time to get up to temp on a cold start, but if set up with a good burner with a damper and a barometric, they will stay hot for a couple days.

ChrisJ

The Steam Whisperer said:

Most of the old steam boilers we have in operation from that time period have stack temps in the mid 200s to 325 F with 9.2% + CO2 and very low excess air on natural gas The efficiency read out on the combustion analyzer is usually in the 85% range or higher. These old boilers had huge heat transfer surfaces and only need to run at very low inputs. I amazed at how many people say those old boilers are inefficient... we can almost never get those kinds of numbers with newer boilers. They do take some time to get up to temp on a cold start, but if set up with a good burner with a camper and a barometric, they will stay hot for a couple days.

The same amount of people say the same thing about old refrigerators, meanwhile 1930s refrigerators made during the depression are in reality cheaper to run than almost any modern one.

I guess companies want to push product (I can't blame them for that) and most people just assume they're telling the truth?

I hear all the time that paint covers better, lasts longer etc and yet every time I paint a room in my house I swear it seems the same as it's always been?

Big Ed_4

Hozontal tube boilers was used on locomotives and ships for there efficacy . Scotch marine style boilers were used in homes if the owner was willing to pay for them . The house was built around them.. The word efficiency was not overly used after WW2 until the price of oil hit $1 a gallon in the mid 70's

jerryb46

I don't miss working on those ,remember at the start of working life this job we were doing would've cost to much to hire a company too cut the old" LOCO" motive boiler and haul away,so the "BOSS" said dig a hole off to the side and push it in.Well two days of digging and burying a "HUGE"pile of steel,bricks,cast iron 'and then cover it all up and i think 40 bags of sake-krete hand mixed in a wheel barrow it was gone.I still wonder if the basement was ever renovated over the years,house still there pass it about once a year,still wonder.

retiredguy

Years ago, the company could have the old cast iron boiler demolished and removed for the value of the scrap. We never removed an old cast iron boiler, we just called the phone number and it was gone.

GW

Now a days We just haul out of the basement in our scrapper will come by if he has time. If not, we haul the beast back to our shop. And load it right into his pick up the next morning. If he is on vacation or too busy, we will drive it right to the scrap yard.

brandonf

That thing taken out in one piece sandblasted and painted would be beautiful.

retiredguy

Looking at it closely it looks similar to a Fitzgibbons. (very old)

GW

I may go back at some point if there’s more clues I can search for please let me know

retiredguy

If you ever get back to this installation, take a soft wire brush and lightly clean those 2 round circles in the middle of each door. The circles are in the horizontal line between the upper and lower pin hinges and look to be about 6" in diameter. There should be letters or some designation that may shed some light on who the mfg is. Also, in the picture of the front of the boiler, what does that motor or actuator do or control, the one seen with the shaft and coupler, just to the right side? The more I think about this boiler the more I think I know who made it but my mind is slowly fading.

GW

will do