Look at this!

Dave_8

You do not see many of these this age that are still working, let alone working well.Just thought you people would like to see it too. It took me by surprise when I walked into this basement, thought I was in a museum for a little while, then I started looking for the real boiler, then it started up and I realized that it was for real. The only thing that was wrong with it was the packing nut on one valve was loose and the woman saw a little water on the floor (she is 93 yrs old and says the boiler was there when she and her husband bought the house 70 years ago). They just don't make them like they used too.


mr wizard

DanHolohan

Nice

Almost as old as the typewriter!

Steamhead

That's

an Ideal Sectional boiler. It appears in the 1911 "Ideal Fitter" catalog from American Radiator Co. Looks like it's been well cared for. Still circulating by gravity, eh?

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Dave_8

Yup

its still in gravity with CI radiation, the house is about as nice and comfortable as you could want and given the lack of global warming in this area she has used less fuel oil than anyone I have talked to this winter. In a house that still has the original insulation (or lack of). Makes one wonder if we have gone too far. The ONLY change was fron coal to fuel oil.

Steve Ebels

Nope, we went to far and

Then came back. Old gravity systems that are set up right have two things going for them. Number one is constant circulation (where have we heard that term before) and Number two is that they tend to be self regulating tempwise. In other words they reset the system temp by themselves. (I doubt if that old girl sees temps above 150 unless it's -10*) We left that idea here in the US and went to intermittent forced circulation with many zones running at high system temps. Now we are coming back full circle to constant circ and reset but in newer ways.

Someone once said "what was old is now new again" or something like that. Maybe I thought it up myself, it's late and I don't know much anymore.

[Deleted User]

Cool picture....

Based on your email address and that blackened cleanout cover, I hope you did a CO test on that beaut before you left.

I've found that waking up dead is not a good way to start the day...

ME

neilc

when you said self regulating, do you mean that the syphon speeds up as rads shed their heat during the colder temps?
those dead guys really were cool!

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Almost exactly right

The "self-regulation" of the system is that as the water gets hotter, the circulation through the system speeds. Not a "syphon" action but simply the difference between the volume/density of hot and cold water. In the old days the system got hotter because you added coal and/or increased the draft--with a thermostat the temperature in the boiler will naturally rise as it cools outside and the large volume of water contained acts essentially as a buffer.

The REALLY cool thing about gravity circulation is the way that the piping is sized. The ultimate goal in sizing was to keep VELOCITY constant through each radiator--regardless of the volume of water required by the size of the radiator. When you consider that the velocity wants to try to raise naturally with elevation, a balanced multi-floor system really is quite an engineering feat.

Steve Ebels

Also self regulating in this respect

I have observed (with a bit of reverence) several old gravity systems that operate as follows. The call for heat fires the burner and the water starts circulating. (Remember these are HIGH mass systems). On milder days the stat satifies long before the operating limit is reached. A day like today will see one of these systems averaging about 135-145* water temp. As the outdoor temp drops, it takes longer for the stat to satisfy and therefore the butner runs longer also. Cold days on one of the systems I have seen will see the water temp reach 170-180*. What does that sound like? Outdoor reset to me. The dead men had it all down pat long before Tekmar or the Europeans ever dreamed about it. They just did it without electronics. Crude but effective, that's the American way.