If \"It's Hard to Stop a Trane\".../Attn. Noel (Steamhead)

Steamhead

it must be impossible to stop three Tranes, one after the other!

These three brick cottages all have Trane Orifice Vapor systems with fin-tube convectors, dating back to the 1930s. They're located in the Stoneleigh neigborhood of Towson, just north of Baltimore. We just finished putting heat in the addition on the far one. The additions on the middle and near ones have electric baseboards- hopefully that will change soon. The near one still has its original cast-bronze Trane vacuum vents!

We're going to put Vaporstats and Gorton #2 vents on the middle and near ones, to get them running as well as the far one does.





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Steamhead

The addition isn't finshed yet

but the heat is up and running.

This is Slant/Fin Multi-Pak 80 baseboard with the H-6 (1-1/4" steel) element, installed in the family room. We installed 14 feet of enclosure, housing two 4-foot sections of fin-tube with a space between them so a chair can go there without blocking the heat. The orifice is in a 1/2" pipe union at the left end- there is a big pile of stuff there so we can't see it.

Hard part was breaking thru the foundation wall to get the pipes into the addition, which is built on a slab.

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Steamhead

Reuben Trane, I Hope You're Watching From Above

as we make sure one of your finest creations lasts thru the 21st century, and into the 22nd!

This view is the powder room, showing the piping going into the baseboard- all 2 feet of it. The union you can just barely see is on the return. The orifice is inside the enclosure in a vertically positioned union.

What a wonderfully simple system. No moving parts in the rooms, so there's nothing to break there. Everything that may need service is in the boiler room. And it heats up quickly and quietly on no more than 8 ounces of pressure.

These Dead Men were geniuses!

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Steamhead

Boiler Room

showing Gorton #2 vents. The left one is on the dry return, and the one on the right is on the steam main. The boiler is about a 30-40 year old gas-fired American-Standard, in good shape. You can also see the rear of the Vaporstat.

Obviously, we didn't do that near-boiler piping. What keeps it from banging is a 5-foot rise from the waterline to the steam main.

Hey Glenn- since Burnham bought the American-Standard boiler line about 35 years ago, might you still have piping and installation diagrams for these things in some old dusty filing cabinet?

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Unknown

Beautiful work!

What a nice project! Are you sure you don't want to repipe the boiler?? Only kidding, I don't think I would, either.

I've been away at the end of last week, and I'm starting to get caught up. I think it must have become cold in the meantime.

Are you really going to do the other two houses?

Noel

Steamhead

Certainly

the other two aren't as screwed up as the first one was when we got there, but they need Vaporstats and Gorton #2 vents. The middle one will also get an electric feed valve (currently manual) and pipe insulation, and maybe a stack damper.

We all need to be the hero once in a while, and we certainly got to be heroes on these orifice systems. I'm pretty sure there are more of these systems in that neighborhood- I really think I could handle working that area nonstop for a while.

The really great part was, we just hired a new guy and I got to teach him how this type of system works. He should be able to BE THE STEAM before too long.

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Unknown

I love it!

Never stop! Teach him anything he wants to know. It makes my heart sing to see young people take interest in this. You're the best, still!

Noel