Redflash #2 boiler leaking steam - replace?

SilverMike

I am am new member referred by guzzinerd. The American Radiator boiler is leaking steam throughout the heat cycle this fall. My 1 and a half story bungalow house was build in 1915. The boiler was originally coal fired (grates in the crawl space) then oil and now natural gas. I have been running the existing gas burner for 23 year but now steam is leaking out of the casing near the site glass. Can this be patched or do I need a new boiler? (furnace was enclosed in fiberglass blanket when I arrived, opened for photos)






I have a two pipe steam system with 10 American Radiator Corto radiators totaling 456.5 sqft. requiring 109,560 BTU/hr. (Oil based paint on radiator did not hold up after 20 years)

I have a full height basement in the center of the house with a crawn space on 4 sides. For the BTU/hr. calculation to determine boiler size do you need to add anything for the feed and return pipe?


Also note our town of Silver City, NM is at 6,000 ft. of elevation so water boils at 201 degrees.

We do not have any steam guys near here here any suggestions?

Mad Dog_2

Not that I can recall..is that by Area 51?  That boiler and system is a living, breathing museum of heating history.  If youre handy, determined and have some time, you can very likely keep her chugging along.  

Turning 180 degrees? If you have plenty of money in the bank, and you don't have time to tinker, consider a modern boiler upgrade..  More shots of the leaking area please.   Mad Dog 🐕 

Mad Dog_2

You have to surgically remove a Nice section of that jacket without disturbing the Friable ACM you've got duct taped.  If you can expose the leak, and get  good light on it and pictures we can see if its a section leak, crack or a hole.  Section leaks are the hardest to repair, but let's start with that.  Mad Dog 🐕 

EBEBRATT-Ed

And that is a steam vapor system. Does it build any pressure on the gage? Vapor systems need to run really low pressure which will slow the leak a little bit.

Boiler sections can't be patched for long maybe some JB weld or epoxy, but it may not get you through winter.

Can you see where the steam is coming from? Could it be a leaking pipe nipple from your low water cut off.

SilverMike

Thanks for the replies. The pressure is low set for 1 and it still cycles to heat the house. I will remove part of the upper metal case to investigate further and take some more photos.

SilverMike

Water bubbles up through this contraption intermittently during cycle.


One and possibly two of the four bolts are rusted through.

It originally had a cross lever connected to it. What is this contraption for? Was it for the coal fired part?

I think that I can shear off the bolts and clean up the casting to replace the bolts. What sealer should be used? How far into the boiler does the contraption go and is it required? Can I make a replacement plate out of 1/4 plate stainless steel?
Thanks for any suggestion, I am a little nervous about the bolts and that it is boil over water not steam...

ChrisJ

If I needed to make a gasket for that I'd probably use silicone RTV. Any black, blue, red permetex would work fine just make sure all of the rust and rott is clean down to bare iron.

Also, more importantly, has anyone replaced the pressure relief on that recently? I had worked on a friends Ideal Redflash boiler a few years back and the first thing I did was put a new PRV on it.

The next thing I did was strip down his float type LWCO and get it functioning because he refused to buy a new one and the float was stuck. I also showed him how to do a blowdown and test the LWCO with the burner on to make sure it shut off.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Looks like the bolt heads just fit into slots in the casting. It looks like you can cut the bolts and get that off. It was something to do with coal probably ran a damper in the flue.

Clean it up as best you can with a grinder/wire brush and put a new plate on it. I would probably use 5/16 or 3/8 instead of 1/4" I wouldn't bother with stainless.

Those old bolts may be square head bolts to fit those slots so they do not turn. You may want to find some bolts before you mess with it.

If it is pitted and crusty your probably going to want some gasket material with a little squish to it and high temp RTV will help as @ChrisJ said.

SilverMike

High temp silicone gasket material - thanks.

I guess it is a Damper Regulator that was not connected, the mercury pressure switch made it obsolete. I found an image in 1920 American Radiator catalog with something close to my contraption. Page 93.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/National_boilers%2C_radiators%2C_and_specialties-_catalog_no._26_%28IA_NationalBoilersRadiatorsAndSpecialtiesCatalogNo.26%29.pdf

ChrisJ

This was the setup for weights / dampers that my friend had

SilverMike

Thanks everyone. I was able to take the damper regulator parts out of the boiler and milled 1/4" off the original plate that was very rusty and replace the valve pipe with a plug. I used a die grinder and a chisel to clean out the bolt slots. I just used regular bolts and red hi temp silicone.
Now it is up and running.

ChrisJ

Please change that pressure relief located at the back left corner.  

A 15 psi pressure only (not t&p) will work, though I'm not sure if that one is 3/4" npt, looks big in the picture.  The one I did unscrewed really easy.