1910 boiler pix

John Mills_3

Gravity hot water, found in an old double in St. Paul. Still purring along...

Steamhead

Those are \"Ideal Arco Round Boilers\"

probably installed in the mid 1920s- they look a bit newer than 1910. If I know the model numbers I can look them up. I wonder if they were using tank-in-basement systems that early, or if they were added later.

You're right, they last a long time.... but they're probably running about 40% efficiency with those oil burners, according to one of my Dead Men's Books.

You could probably cut their oil consumption in half by replacing them.

To Learn More About This Contractor, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"

John@Reliable

Around here we call then

snowman(when still covered with you know what) I guess you have tinmen there!

J.C.A.

John,

Up until about 14 (or so)years ago, I had a customer with the same set up with one exception . He had the boiler on the left valved off but still ready to ....WITH COAL!!
Still had the rotary Minneapolis/Honeywell chains and switches hooked to a thermostat in the kitchen . When the power went out , it was just a matter of stoking the old beast and opening the damper to the desired setting and he had heat while everyone else went without . Yankees is what they called them around here ,smart M/F's is a better description of some of the old timers I had for customers when starting.Oh yeah...A rather large gravity hot water tank piped off the side (about 50 or so gallon upright galvenized) could be used for a "tempering tank "when the oil was up , but provided hot water by throwing a couple valves in the event of a power failure . Not the highest recovery rate but he had hot water just the same . Chris.