Old Weil Mclain swap out

Unknown

You could tell something wasn't burning right by the smell . Nasty . This was an old Weil pancake , which I think had an old Timkin burner in it . The other pic shows some kind of Timkin control still connected , not sure what it does . I still have that thing in my truck if anyone collects this stuff . Another pic shows the Timkin manual . The last pic is the oil tank . Never saw one on legs that high . Made me kinda leery to squeeze though to shut off the oil .

Unknown

A Weil for a Weil

This was a 3 section , probably 1/3 of the size and weight of the old beast . Couldn't pull the old expansion tank down , it was wedged in there real good .

Todd_9

Nice Job

Once again Ron, well done. I sent this link to Don I hope he puts up some photos soon.
Is that an F3? We've done a few weils with that burner and it is pretty darn quiet. Whose idea is that oil line setup? It obviously isn't the quickest way of installing an oil filter but the service dept. must be happy with it. We're using Garbers and mounting them on the side of the jacket with a flex line, you'll see if we get some pictures up here. I remember hearing an explanation of that timken device, also the high oil tank has something to do with it. I'm sure Firedragon will enlighten us if he sees this post.

J.C.A._3

Welcome to the club Ron.

That was a Timken "firewall" burner. My guess would be that you found the cement cap and a pile of 3"X1 1/2 grates either buried in it or still in their original position on the "ring of fire".

Under the cap would usually be found a cup and rotor.The rotor spun at quite high speed, and there were a couple of tubes that would pick up the oil and throw it at the wall. Underneath the spray tubes and plate, there would be some air fins, much like a fan but supplying air from the bottom, and 1 giant electrode.(Tapered and about an inch and a quarter at the base. It had one conductor and would spark to one of the grates to light the fire off.
Believe it or not, I worked on them up until the late 80's. We had a customer that just wouldn't part with his. ("Them newfangled things sound like a jet warming up in the basement!!")

The biggest problem with them, other than parts, was fuel.They ran great on kerosene or clear diesel, but the #2 fuel we got was the end of em'.

Quiet as all get out, and they burned well too! The tank had to be higher than the burner, as they were gravity fed. There was a critical part called an anti-syphon valve just after the filter on the tank. When the parts to repair them dried up, they were done. I bet my old company still has a few rebuild kits on the shelf for them.

Keep the pictures, they are "Old School", and that wasn't so bad. Chris

lchmb

yea but

Ok, what did you do with the cover to the aquastat?? It's not complete..:) just kidding, per the norm a nice neat layout. You have it to a science. Curious, how many hour's does it take you to do a swap like that? As to the Timkin, check with Alan (ott.com), I think he or someone was working on a museum of older equipment and think that would classify as old!

Steamhead

You're right, JCA

the strange device Ron removed contained a "constant level valve" which kept the oil at the proper level inside the burner so it wouldn't run dry or overflow. This device usually contained the power switch too, and maybe a solenoid valve that only opened when the burner was on.

The high-mounted tank provided for the proper gravity head so the constant-level valve would work.

Ron, save that thing for the Heating Museum!

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Constantin

Niced Job, Ron...

... an improvement as always. While this boiler didn't have all the hallmarks of some of your "shop-of-horrors" installs (at least in the picture) the new boiler and the near-boiler piping speaks for itself.

For once, you seem to have had ample room to operate in... It just goes to show that no-room or ample-room, your installs look great. I like the little details like the full-port valves... Cheers!

You asked about our house sometime back, and I unfortunately didn't get back to you. We're moving along with window and ceiling trim going in as we speak. In the boiler room, the push will soon be on to enable the zone-by-zone control system (Tekmar 369 consolidator) and repair the near-boiler piping (where we have a small leak and I'd like some improvements to be done). More in a new thread later.

EBEBRATT_5

Nice job, yeah those vertical rotarys were pretty good they used to pull down 10-11% co2 and were clean. Real good efficiency for the "old days"

Unknown

You're on the money

with the Weil - F3 combo . It was real quiet . I thought it had something to do with the location of the boiler , but I think it really is a quiet combo . Gotta try this under the stairs in a Levitt . The oil line setup is our shop man's idea . I asked him to change the nipple setup from 1/4 inch to 3/8 because the servicemen tell me theres leaks using the smaller black fittings . Where do you get the flexible oil lines ? I heard they can be pretty pricey . But I'd rather work with the flexibles than this old crappy copper .

Thanks alot Todd . How's things going in your neck of the woods ?

Unknown

Chris , do you ever see

anymore Timkins in operation nowadays ? The way you describe it , it sounds like the next generation could easily be adapted for modulation , if the right fuel was burned . Thanks for the information . I've only seen this type of burner in a serviceman's manual he hung on to for nostalgia .

Unknown

It's in my truck

till Monday - I'm on a ski vacation till then . I'll email Dan and see if he wants it for the Museum .

Unknown

There was some room down there

But as always , getting there was the **** . Why someone would build a home with a full sized basement , and make moving things to it real tough is beyond me . If we didn't have the new guy Augie as a 3rd man , we woulda had to split the Weil .

Good to hear that things are moving along with your own project . Sounds like the finish part is almost complete . Are you gonna show off the new addition here ?

Unknown

Ah , that's my secret

It's my own mental checklist - I set the high limit to 180 , and the low as high as it goes , to make sure the burner shuts down at the high setting without letting the zones drag the temp down . Then we purge the boiler while it's hot , let it come back to 180 and let the zones fly . On a small system it'll take less than 15 minutes , while verifying the limits do work . The cover goes back on right before we leave .

We started this one around 9 and burned rubber about 3:30 . We didn't stop for lunch and had a newbie as a 3rd man . Oh yeah , we also left the old clunker in the basement . We'll come back some other day with the power handtruck to yank that sooty mess .

Thanks Lchmb , and I'll ask Alan if he wants it .

Unknown

I wonder why

these type of burners became obsolete ? I've been in quite a few home where the original owner had a Timkin and loved the quiet burner . Some of these new boiler-burner combos sound like the launching of Sputnik . Thanks EBEBRATT

Dave Bush

Here

> these type of burners became obsolete ? I've been

> in quite a few home where the original owner had

> a Timkin and loved the quiet burner . Some of

> these new boiler-burner combos sound like the

> launching of Sputnik . Thanks EBEBRATT

Dave Bush

Here is a Timkin steamer that got converted to an AF way back.

We got the job to replace this old girl coming up soon. It's attached to a vapor vacuum system in a 3 story Vic.

I was hoping that it had a Timkin burner on it, but someone stuck an AF on it about 15 years ago, near as we can tell.

It roars when it runs, now, and the stack temp is 875, with an 8 CO2. I wonder what this ran with the Timken burner on it????

Dave Bush

Oh, and I didn't forget to say...

Great C/O job. You and your men do nice work!

Todd_9

Most importantley

Where you going skiing? The flex lines come from the wholesaler that we get our boilers from, Ridgewood Corp. I don't think they are out on the island though. You could probably get them at Sids. With the flex lines it makes it real easy to service and swing tyhe door open. It actually doesn't need that much service with the Riello.

Have fun this weekend.

Boiler Guy

AHHh the Timken

Many fond memories sitting in front of a wall flame burner on a cold night -- after the stack relay failed and flooded the burner!! Timkens were great units if you had at least a 30" diameter hearth. VERY Quiet, simple to service, very clean burning, usually quite trouble free with good clean oil as mentioned earlier. They did not work too well with outside tanks due to higher oil viscosity. I din't know about who sold them in your area, but in Canada they were sold by Eatons under the Viking banner for a number of years. Somewhere I have a copy of an old bill from one of my customers showing a Under $400 installed cost. Sory I can't remember the year. Great install. Oh yeah keep the parts -- it's history!! Did you say you had a copy of the original book? I would sure appreciate a copy for my archives if possible.

jim sokolovic

Ron, I just finally got around...

to breaking up my wife's mom's same old boiler that I replaced last year. The first good size chunk that broke off after a few sledge hammer hits got me straight in the big toe - I had sneakers on, and I hopped around and was at a loss to find the right cuss words to describe the suprise and discomfort! I also made quite a mess - some of the outer wall iron takes many hits to break up, the inner wall was like an egg shell compared to the outside. Noel helped me get the new boiler downstairs, but told me the old Weil would have to broken up, being so heavy and large. Hopefully, you can get that one out in one piece, as planned - I guess you well know to wear protection if you don't!

Al Gregory

I took hundreds of Timpkens and Hayward rotarys out of old coal boilers years ago and installed CRD 100 Carlins back in the day. We had to break out the bottom and build fireboxes into the boiler. Still lots of oil tanks like that around here, Usually with a McGillis fill check valve on the fill pipe and no vent alarm.