MegaSteam Interruptus

Steamhead

Started this one last week, then a bad storm knocked the power out in this tiny village for several days.

Old boiler was a Weil-McLain SGO-6, connected to an existing 3" header with one 2" riser. The header fed 2 3" mains which are counterflow for almost all their length, and have 1-1/4" dry returns. Each dry return had a Hoffman #4A at the boiler end. Here's what the boiler looked like inside- see the sulfur? The owner was not happy. Yes, those are two dead birds we found under the flue collector:

Steamhead

The new boiler is a MegaSteam 513, which we got into the basement just before the storm hit:







We removed a flange union after finding this- it was about 25% blocked by the improper gasket:

Steamhead

New Gorton #2 main vents. The first shot shows how we reworked the piping at the end of the front main- the original 3x1-1/4" reducing elbow was pointed sideways. Not sure how much banging this caused, but we weren't going to put a vent there without fixing it.

For the rear main , we drilled and tapped the 2-inch pipe in the crawl space:





Watch this space for more.

JUGHNE

So this was storm related and not rolling black outs?

Was watching Gordo's Utube on this up to the black out.

Look forward to the rest of the story.

Also was seeing Utubes for commercial HVAC-R rooftop repairs (CA-west coast) of freezer compressor change out. They lost power in the middle of the process, daytime....no storms....just off.

He had to drag a portable generator up on the roof for vacuum pump operation.

Could be the wave of their future there or SOP?

EBEBRATT-Ed

Will it be a problem tying the two counterflow drips together above the water line?

I guess they are so close to the main header that there won't be any pressure differential inside the drip tees to cause an issue

JohnNY

Steamhead, did you take these pictures with your flip phone?

ChrisJ

JohnNY said:

Steamhead, did you take these pictures with your flip phone?

Work of this quality deserves a much better camera.

JUGHNE

Looks like my flip phone pictures.
Samsung Convoy from 2012.....same battery since new.

Mandatory upgrade to 4G on 12-31-22 on Verizon.

Very handy phone as it clips on bib suspenders out of harm's way.

Hate to go to some "brick".....I know it will be damaged.

Steamhead

JohnNY said:

Steamhead, did you take these pictures with your flip phone?

How'd you guess? But much of the problem is the photographer, who has never been that good.

JUGHNE said:

Looks like my flip phone pictures.
Samsung Convoy from 2012.....same battery since new.

Mandatory upgrade to 4G on 12-31-22 on Verizon.

Very handy phone as it clips on bib suspenders out of harm's way.

Hate to go to some "brick".....I know it will be damaged.

This!

Steamhead

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

Will it be a problem tying the two counterflow drips together above the water line?

I guess they are so close to the main header that there won't be any pressure differential inside the drip tees to cause an issue

We will tie all the drips below the waterline- wait till you see what we have in mind!

ChrisJ

Steamhead said:

JohnNY said:

Steamhead, did you take these pictures with your flip phone?

How'd you guess? But much of the problem is the photographer, who has never been that good.

JUGHNE said:

Looks like my flip phone pictures.
Samsung Convoy from 2012.....same battery since new.

Mandatory upgrade to 4G on 12-31-22 on Verizon.

Very handy phone as it clips on bib suspenders out of harm's way.

Hate to go to some "brick".....I know it will be damaged.

This!

Get your new phone with a half way decent camera and get a Otterbox Defender case that comes with a belt clip. You can lock the phone into the belt clip with the screen side facing in. You'll be fine and we'll be able to enjoy your pictures.

https://www.otterbox.com/en-us/defender-series

Steamhead

ChrisJ said:

Steamhead said:

JohnNY said:

Steamhead, did you take these pictures with your flip phone?

How'd you guess? But much of the problem is the photographer, who has never been that good.

JUGHNE said:

Looks like my flip phone pictures.
Samsung Convoy from 2012.....same battery since new.

Mandatory upgrade to 4G on 12-31-22 on Verizon.

Very handy phone as it clips on bib suspenders out of harm's way.

Hate to go to some "brick".....I know it will be damaged.

This!

Get your new phone with a half way decent camera and get a Otterbox Defender case that comes with a belt clip. You can lock the phone into the belt clip with the screen side facing in. You'll be fine and we'll be able to enjoy your pictures.

https://www.otterbox.com/en-us/defender-series

I'd find a way to kill a smartphone no matter what case it was in.

ChrisJ

Steamhead said:

Steamhead, did you take these pictures with your flip phone?

How'd you guess? But much of the problem is the photographer, who has never been that good.

Looks like my flip phone pictures. Samsung Convoy from 2012.....same battery since new. Mandatory upgrade to 4G on 12-31-22 on Verizon. Very handy phone as it clips on bib suspenders out of harm's way. Hate to go to some "brick".....I know it will be damaged.

This!

Get your new phone with a half way decent camera and get a Otterbox Defender case that comes with a belt clip. You can lock the phone into the belt clip with the screen side facing in. You'll be fine and we'll be able to enjoy your pictures. https://www.otterbox.com/en-us/defender-series

I'd find a way to kill a smartphone no matter what case it was in.

My boss hasn't so I'm sure you'll be fine.
They're HD and you can stream every Springsteen video and music.   In stereo.

mattmia2

Steamhead

Thanks for the kind words, all.

As an aside- the oil company this customer uses is based in the town where I grew up. One of their people wrote his name and the date on a replacement burner coupling. It's an unusual name, and along with the town the company is based in, I'm pretty sure I know who it is. No, I won't mention the company, the town or the person.

Steamhead

All done! Fired it up today, tuned the burner and the system heated quickly and evenly. Look at how @Gordo ran the counterflow drips:

Steamhead

And, for the record, here is the "other" job that we started while the power was out on the first one, all done. Columbia CEG-150 in a 3-story rowhouse, replacing an old W-M EG-45. We had done the main vents earlier, the owner noticed the difference immediately, and that may have been why we got the job:

ethicalpaul

We saw it already on youtube

Great work as always!

Steamhead

ethicalpaul said:

We saw it already on youtube

Great work as always!

Yeah, but these are the finished products.