My New Boiler!

t. tekushan

I heard these were the latest in high efficiency, so I couldn't resist!
Funny enough, I think they're not quite new, although the guy did admit they were field tested for awhile.


(Okay, okay. But I don't know what to tell the guy. He just bought these run down apartments to rehab. Every apartment has its own boiler. Not surprisingly, he doesn't want to spend a lot of $ and the '80's era boilers in the building are either leaking or otherwise dead. These things are working fine. Go figure. I'm thinking of telling him to replace the dead ones and leave these for now. They're the only ones working).

Weezbo

Proving the half life of iron will out live us all.*~/:)

Joe Brix

That's a small steamer right?

And it probably weighs over 600 lbs. No one's gonna want to take them out of the basement! What are you gonna replace the dead ones with?

jim sokolovic

Efficiency aside...

how safely are those retrofitted?

t. tekushan

retrofit

I'm guessing that it isn't hard to retrofit the American (in the link) but the Contento seems to have ONLY ONE FITTING on top for steam out and condensate return. I've heard of these very simple systems and because of its small size, it really seems to work just fine.

Question to the crowd: A friend heats his house with a wood stove but has a finished second floor/attic (its a bungalow) that he wanted to heat with a water heater and radiators. I found him some lovely radiators that are already set up for steam.

He said, "I'm worried about freezing up there."
I said that he could use an appropriate antifreeze but suggested using steam.
"But I want to be able to convert to wood or coal boiler in the future.

I think I have the solution right here. Actually, a couple of these boilers are free to me for the taking. He can heat with steam off the grid!

Sooo... How high should the fire grate (that we will have to have fabricated) be off the floor, and what accommodation (ie, how large should the holes be) to control the draught?

BTW, the EDR he needs to drive is virtually identical to the EDR in the existing set up.

Not your everyday question, I know, but it looks to be an interesting project.

Al Gregory

Probably enough asbestos there to kill 100 people

Steamhead

If you don't replace the Arcola and Contento units

you need to add low-water cutoffs to them. You don't want them to dry-fire. A M&M #67 on each will work fine.

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