was this old boiler gas or oil fueled?

Rickam · October 10

I have a boiler museum in the basement. I'd like to smash or cut this one up and cart it away but I'm hesitant to make any sparks around it. if its full of oil, it could be dangerous . This thing is beyond heavy.

Steamhead · October 10

How about a pic of the other end?

mattmia2 · October 10

i'm not even sure that is a boiler. the box looks like the flue collector

HVACNUT · October 10

Looks like a horizontal steel tube.

hot_rod · October 10

there was a wood fired boiler made in California, Missouri that was shaped like that,

Rickam · October 12

i found the nameplate

american standard model 319

steel boiler.

max WP 30lb

net edr 850.

----

And very large threaded fitting top and centre front.

small flare fitting front lower left.

there are no fittings on the back. just a hole (no threads or anything about 1 inch diameter. maybe air intake?

mattmia2 · October 12

It was oil. that tube in the middle is where the burner went in and that flared tubing on the left is the oil line in the floor.

That round port you cut off is the inspection and observation door for the combustion chamber.

or maybe the burner tube went in to that box. it is hard to tell the scale. that line out of the floor very much looks like a copper oil line for an oil burner

delcrossv · October 12

What's at the upper edge of this picture?

Looks like a hole.

Rickam · October 12

the big hole (the core). some sheet metal venturi spirali/fusilli down in those bores.

the small hole in the back. the one in the lower left is capped off.

Home Depot pails and 2x4 studs for size reference.

my plan is to chop it up with a large hilti cutting disc. possibly smash the core with hammers. I'm worried about fire risk if there is still some oil in there somewhere. I didnt find an oil tank in the basement so not sure about this one.

Steamhead · October 12

@Rickam , can you re-check the rating plate? I can't find this boiler in any of the usual references. The only 319 I could find was an aboriginal round coal-fired cast-iron boiler…………..

EdTheHeaterMan · October 12

That blue barn shaped thing with the fire tubes inside it never had oil inside it. It had water inside it. Cut away!

SuperTech · October 12

Oil needs to be atomized to a fine mist to ignite. I was taught that an open flame won't burn #2 fuel oil. I'd be surprised if there was any danger in cutting up the boiler.

Rickam · October 12

thank you for all the advice and input. The boiler model is 319.

I'll be using a cutting wheel, hammers for the core, and a reciprocating saw. (not a cutting torch) so all I have to worry about now is asbestos.

EdTheHeaterMan · October 13

I dont see any asbestos there. All the insulation is gone by the looks of that pic. As far as where the fire box used to be, and any asbestos insulation near that chamber… that part is also gone. the side with the flue collector is the front or back and the side with plate bolted on it might have some gasket or furnace cement between that plate and the boiler. The top is the part where the rag is stuffed inside the supply pipe tapping.

The actual heating unit's bottom was a box that was the length and width of the blue steel boiler that held the water and about 18" tall. That part that is missing is what held the fire box, or combustion chamber. The oil burner or gas burner would be mounted in an opening designed for it. Since that part is missing, There is no asbestos to worry about.

The brown "Fire Box" at the bottom is where you might find the most asbestos insulation. But since you done seem to have that part, …

mattmia2 · October 13

Or it is buried below the floor

Steamhead · October 13

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1814042#Comment_1814042

I think you're right, Ed. Looks like A-S did make a residential dry-base steel boiler that was oil-fired, the AP
series. I wonder if the 319 in the pic is an internal code or part number for that tube section, which was then sat on a base and the burner and jacket mounted to form the final assembly?

@Rickam , if you don't see any insulating material, you should be OK cutting that thing up.

retiredguy · October 13

@EdTheHeaterMan is right with his description of what that boiler looked like before the burner base was removed. That boiler is a typical horizontal fire tube, dry base boiler that could have been fired with your choice of almost any liquid or gaseous fuels. ( You can see the welded "stay bolts" in the sides of the steel boiler).

was this old boiler gas or oil fueled?

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