A Day in the Life of the Heating Guy. With pics!

JohnNY

This is one day. Today. It never stops in winter. Troubleshooting, proposals, evaluations, pricing, sourcing parts, answering calls from the guys, office asking how long until I'm at the next one. It never stops. Residential stuff, commercial stuff, constantly changing gears...

WMno57

Street level view of where I think John was. Am I right?

EBEBRATT-Ed

@JohnNY

It just pisses me off the stupidity of some pipe fitters. The big shell & tube. I mean they just had to pipe out of the heat exchanger head in a straight line. No way to pull that thing without removing a lot of pipe unnesessarly Like they forgot 90 degree elbows are made they could have off set the pipe and made things easy.

I used a place in CT (JDF Coil & Tube Hampden, CT) that can rebuild those HXs. You bring them in the old tube bundle and they will make you a new one, they just use the old head and even provide the gaskets. They did some big ones for me a few years ago worked out well. They are an ASME shop but I am sure you already have someone in NY.

Those old scotch boilers "Powermaster" they were made by Orr & Sembower I believe. I would have thought those would have been long gone years ago. Hated those burners all special parts

PC7060

@EBEBRATT-Ed - just curious which unit in picture you are referring to?

retiredguy

Nice to see that I was not the only one that had to work on crappy boilers and systems. O&S Power masters, what crap.

JohnNY

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

@JohnNY

It just pisses me off the stupidity of some pipe fitters. The big shell & tube. I mean they just had to pipe out of the heat exchanger head in a straight line. No way to pull that thing without removing a lot of pipe unnesessarly Like they forgot 90 degree elbows are made they could have off set the pipe and made things easy.

I used a place in CT (JDF Coil & Tube Hampden, CT) that can rebuild those HXs. You bring them in the old tube bundle and they will make you a new one, they just use the old head and even provide the gaskets. They did some big ones for me a few years ago worked out well. They are an ASME shop but I am sure you already have someone in NY.

Those old scotch boilers "Powermaster" they were made by Orr & Sembower I believe. I would have thought those would have been long gone years ago. Hated those burners all special parts

A lot to unpack here! Haha. Yeah, those 5-foot-long heat exchangers are crammed in there. I'm always shocked at the lack of planning in laying out a mechanical room containing zillions of dollars of equipment.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@PC7060

Shell &Tubes 2d pic down

Powermaster boilers 8th picture down

SlamDunk

Looks like you are in your element and having fun!

Tom_133

My favorite thing I hear after long days like that (not not exactly like that) is "just think of the money you made"! I dont really care all that much about money.

tim smith

John, I see who ever piped that Burnham were not worried about thermal shock. Looks kind of like a day for us to except for the largest equipment. 
 Have fun, stay safe.
  Tim

151Centre

John, We continue to thank you every day that the temperature falls below 53 degrees. 2 years ago you helped us simplify our 92 year old steam system in New Rochelle. It is working like a dream. However, we still worry that idiots might come in and take the easy way and push the pressure up or add traps where there is no need. Continued vigilance to keep the crazies at bay.

Solid_Fuel_Man

Sorry about the screenshots of a video. I took the video for my kids to see where I was working today. 

I was called out to get this wood chip boiler working again. The old 1972  CB boiler is leaking and is slated to be replaced this summer. 

I also had a fun residential project that same day that was airlocked. 4 year old install. Air purger located in the poorest location possible. All circs pumping directly into the ex tank.... I'll get a pic when I go back to make it actually purge air.  

-32F this morning, that makes it extra fun!

JohnNY

151Centre said:

John, We continue to thank you every day that the temperature falls below 53 degrees. 2 years ago you helped us simplify our 92 year old steam system in New Rochelle. It is working like a dream. However, we still worry that idiots might come in and take the easy way and push the pressure up or add traps where there is no need. Continued vigilance to keep the crazies at bay.

Thank you for taking the time to write this. I'm so glad I helped.

JohnNY

Solid_Fuel_Man said:

-32F this morning, that makes it extra fun!

This is when our work is most gratifying, isn't it?

Solid_Fuel_Man

@JohnNY yes. The most satisfying part of heating is seeing the fire going, regardless of fuel, and moving that heat throughout a building, regardless of size. 

Puts a smile on my face every time.