Old time oil burner

MaxMercy

It only needs to last a month, so no big deal, but I would have soldered the points to the bar. The actual contacts are made to work this way, but the copper will eventually arc where it's crimped around the bar.

You mentioned a new furnace on order, what kind are you putting in?

Yesterday

I need to rebuild or replace an oil burner motor ( Ohio Electric MFG Co) model 985X4260AS. Any old inventory out there? How about replacing the burner unit. I see Beckett has some issues with their products. What are the possibilities? This one needs a spin to start but will continue to run. It doesn't have an external start capacitor.

Yesterday

I'm told it's manufactured for Armstrong. Probably made overseas and shipped to the States.

HVACNUT

My wife would've told me where I can stick the motor and filed for divorce. 
What exactly are you doing with the propane at the fireplace? 

mattmia2

So it isn't a centrifugal switch but a potential relay? Supco makes lots of replacements both of the electromechanical and thermistor variety.

mattmia2

@Yesterday, can i see that red ratings plate on the burner?

ScottSecor

Great story and congrats on getting the heat back on. Certainly no easy feat.

I think everyone can see why no contractor would take this project on. Financially it would be hard to justify as the labor costs would be ridiculously high. Back when we worked on GE oil boilers that were typically made in the 1930's through the 1950's we had to 'manufacture' a few components to keep them going. As a matter of fact my father started his heating business in part by being able to supply 'improvised" parts for these 'antique' boilers.

Yesterday

I find it amusing, your thoughts, but you're entitled to your opinions. That's why this is a forum. This is my opinion.

I marvel at the way we used to build things, especially in this country. I'm not in business to fix old furnaces, but I fixed this one. Because it was repairable. Maybe not to your standards, but to mine. It would probably last longer than any one of us will live, given the right maintenance. That's something to think about too. In today's modern disposable world of thinking (several of you), if you get ten years out of an appliance, you are happy, just throw it away and spend thousands to replace it. That also is something to think about.

MikeAmann

Agree. It's not that I am in love with all things OLD - they were simply made better. The proof is that these items are still alive and kicking. Given the choice, I will nearly always overhaul and get another lifetime. I'm stoopid that way.

vtfarmer

This is about the coolest thread I've read here in a while. @MaxMercy has it right about soldering the contacts, I've also had issues with relays I've re-manufactured myself welding their contacts together. Not good - I know someone who blew up an air tank having that happen on a shop compressor!

In other disciplines, like small time farming (I grow hay, my neighbors on both sides raise about 100 head of Angus cattle and one combines a few 10s of acres of beans and corn with 40 year old equipment), this is pretty typical. I dragged this tractor out of a fence row several years ago and have been refurbished most of it, finally got a coat of paint this fall:



This machine is 45 years old and is the nicest in my operation, and I am in the majority of "small time operators" taking a beat up old tractor or implement and making that work versus shelling out a small fortune for something that can leave you hanging with a crop to harvest due to some obscure computer error code or phantom emissions malfunction. So don't loose heart. Really I like any old machine which can still serve a purpose and be easily repaired, which is why this thread was so enjoyable.

I too went through a phase with only a wood stove for heat when I lived in northern NY (brrrr - I was single then and that's the only way that would have worked!) so I applaud your ability to keep the house warm with fireplace inserts and females present. I completely get the LP torch scene - I had some wood one season which was just too wet still to burn nicely and one night I had some company coming over needed the house warm (if ya know what I mean) so I had an oil burner piped to a 5 gallon gas can full of diesel fuel setting on an upside down 5 gallon bucket pointed into the firebox of the wood stove to get the wood dried out and get some heat into the house quickly. I got more serious about drying and keeping good firewood on hand after that.

Here's a Branford oil burner that I found in the hay loft of one of the barns on the farm I used to own in VT ready to make maple syrup in an evaporator setup I made out of an old set-kettle firebox:



I left all but the evaporator pan there when I moved south. Part of me hopes the new owners made some use of it. I spent probably an hour meticulously cleaning the sludge out of the oil pump on that burner when I found it and getting it to spin again. With a new nozzle (the nozzle it in when I found it was a Harsch from probably the 1940s), some cleaning, wiring, and machine oil it sprung to life and blew a sooty no matter how much air you gave it flame under my evaporator pan for a number of seasons.

vtfarmer

PS - I guess what I mean to say is, when you swap that furnace out in the spring please consider stashing that reliable, faithful old machine in the back of your garage or a hay loft or something where it will have the opportunity to enchant, educate, and serve some curious person some number of years in the future.

EdTheHeaterMan

vtfarmer said:

This is about the coolest thread I've read here in a while. @MaxMercy has it right about soldering the contacts, ...

...I completely get the LP torch scene - I had some wood one season which was just too wet still to burn nicely and one night I had some company coming over needed the house warm (if ya know what I mean)

... Here's a Branford oil burner that I found in the hay loft of one of the barns on the farm I used to own in VT ready to make maple syrup in an evaporator setup I made out of an old set-kettle firebox:

(See photo above)

... some cleaning, wiring, and machine oil it sprung to life and blew a sooty no matter how much air you gave it flame under my evaporator pan for a number of seasons.

I loved this comment!
I wanted to LIKE.... AWSOME... LOL.... and ...INSIGHTFUL this post but they only let you pick one!

As far as the sooty operation. You can go two ways. You went with the air adjustment... You could also purchase a smaller GPH nozzle to match the available air.

I love this stuff!

I drive a 1923 Ford Model T in the St Patricks Day Parade. I like old $hi# and making it look good and run good.


PS. Love the tractor.

mattmia2

MikeAmann said:

Agree. It's not that I am in love with all things OLD - they were simply made better. The proof is that these items are still alive and kicking. Given the choice, I will nearly always overhaul and get another lifetime. I'm stoopid that way.

the old things that lasted stayed around, the old things that didn't last got replaced long ago.