Weil-to-Weil Webster (Gordo & Steamhead)

Ken_40 · November 2006

gages for the "real world" and to meet code; as well as the 404 high-limit, coupled with a vaporstat to "real-world" operate with.

Outstanding work!

Steamhead (in transit) · October 2006

This \"76\" is now just a spirit

7-76, to be exact. 20 years old and almost completely rotted out. We suspected a leak somewhere.

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Steamhead (in transit) · October 2006

What a mess

and the oil company had been "servicing" this thing each fall. Pic 003 is the base of the chimney. That's a Wayne 3450-RPM flame-retention burner in pic 004; look how far out of adjustment the head is.

The owner is getting the chimney lined.

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Steamhead (in transit) · October 2006

The new 4-80

in all its glory. This one uses the Beckett CF500 burner. The drop header comes off the rear tapping; the front tapping has a baffle that acts as an air separator on a hot-water system so it wouldn't work too well on steam.

We added a 0-5 PSI gauge next to the Vaporstat. The 30 PSI gauge next to the pressuretrol is there to satisfy Code.

The tankless coil feeds a hot-water loop to a unit heater in a small greenhouse. We added an air scoop to it.

We moved all the relays from the side of the old boiler to a new backing board mounted on the wall. This house has three heat pumps in addition to the Webster. The larger gray box in the middle of the board is a change-over relay that switches from heat pumps to Vapor under control of an outdoor thermostat.

Check out the trap on the radiator in pic 008!

BTW, we found the leaky pipe in a crawlspace. That gets replaced next and we'll add some Gorton #2 vents also.

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David Sutton_6 · October 2006

Big pipes

Man you gotta love big pipes, Nice job guys real nice job!!!

Oh frank i talk to Ken ..real nice guy! sent me lots of info.

David

Christian Egli_2 · October 2006

Another notch to carve on the handle of your pipe wrench

You love them all and you conquer their fire like a real Don Giovanni. What's the count? 1003?

Thanks for the picture show.

Constantin · October 2006

... yet another beautiful job....

... and no bull-headed Ts this time! That drop header is just so impressive and I imagine that the oil company will never hear from this customer for a service call again. What a bunch of knuckle-heads to let a boiler degenerate like that.

Thanks for sharing and illustrating yet again, how it should be done.

gerry gill · October 2006

very nice install guys

and tell me more about that radiator trap..inquiring minds want to know..

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Ray Landry · October 2006

Nice work as always Frank. With all the steamers you do you must know all of your nipple cuts by heart to make that drop header! Question for you, why the non beaded couplings on the header?

Dan Foley · October 2006

Nice

Nice looking job, Frank and Gordo. What type of vapor system was that? The new system is neat and clean.

I'll post some photos of a one-pipe change-out we did this week in DC. You'll recognize the job - you installed the vents there a few years ago. -DF

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Jamie_6 · October 2006

Great looking job Frank! You are the Steam Man.

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Dave_4 · October 2006

Webster

Great work!

I've used the rear tapping on the 80 several times, but never for "that" reason. I honestly never gave it much thought.............but you obviously have

. I especially like that trap, any chance of getting a close-up on that baby?

I'm sure the customer isn't even aware what you've done for them. Again, great work.

Robert O'Connor/NJ

Christian Egli_2 · October 2006

O-E System

I've been looking around for that radiator trap. Is it possibly from an O-E system, it resembles their main air eliminator, the ones that use an expansion rod with an adjustable knob on top?

Thanks Dan H for your great books and catalogues.

Steamhead (in transit) · October 2006

Radiator Trap

We believe the radiator trap pictured above is the Webster #422 with a carbon post as the element as pictured on page 293 of "Steam Heating" published by the Warren Webster Co., 1922. It was obsolete even back then and the description of the trap shows the change-over to a "modern" Webster Sylphon trap without disturbing the pipe connections. We are planning to "disturb" the pipe connections.

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Steamhead (in transit) · October 2006

That radiator trap

is an original Webster that used an expanding carbon post to close the trap when the steam arrived. There are three of them still in the house. Not sure if they're still working. Gordon and I have Webster design manuals from the early 1920s that list Sylphon upgrade kits for these traps.

Sometime prior to 1917, the Warren Webster company bought out the Fulton company that made the Sylphon expanding bellows, and began using Sylphons in their traps instead of carbon posts. So this system was probably installed in the very early 1900s, making it the oldest Webster I've seen. Most of the radiators were changed to convectors during a renovation in the early 1950s, but three of them still remain and they still have carbon-post traps.

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Steamhead (in transit) · October 2006

They

were all we could get our hands on at the time! And they don't leak.....

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Steamhead (in transit) · October 2006

Dan, was that

an older Bryant or American-Standard boiler in a rowhouse?

This system is a Webster.

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Dan Foley · October 2006

Bryant

That's the one- it was a Bryant. -DF

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Jim Farrell · October 2006

W/M 480 Boiler...

Great Job...Nice Install...Best thing on the whole boiler is the Hydrolevel VXT Feeder with the Watermeter...

Love that....

Great Job

Jim Farrell · October 2006

Question...

In the picture of the old 776 boiler on the left hand side piping there is a large box type item almost on up by the basement ceiling...What is it and why is it removed...??

Does not Dan H. say if it there leave it bacause it might hurt in the long run...

Just courious....

Jim

Christian Egli_2 · October 2006

Oh, hey...

O-E system... indeed I meant the webster carb-O-n E-lement system... O E for short... oooh...

Cool find. I'll be looking in my Webster book on Monday first thing. Thanks for figuring it all out and for sharing.

Best regards to both of you

Steamhead (in transit) · October 2006

That was a Return Trap

which appeared to be stuck. We had about four feet of "B" dimension between the low point of the dry return (where the Gorton vent is) and the waterline, and are using a Vaporstat to keep the pressure well within the range of the "B" dimension. So the Return Trap wasn't needed.

Don't worry, we will have it rebuilt and keep it on hand in case we need a replacement.

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Steamhead (in transit) · October 2006

It's a Webster return trap

and it's purpose was to made sure water got back into the boiler even if the pressure got too high, which could happen more often than not with a coal fired boiler. In these days of vaporstats, I believe they have become vestigial.

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Steamhead (in transit) · November 2006

Part 2 is finished

we replaced the two steam main drips and added main vents.

The steam mains in this system are looped together at their ends. I've only seen this configuration on two other systems- one is another Webster, and the other an early Kriebel. In this case the loop is in a crawl space. There are two drips, which were teed together above the waterline. We found five obvious leaks in those drip lines.

You can see a bit of the new copper drip lines in this view, along with four new Gorton #2 vents. We teed the vents into two radiator runouts.

The flange union was leaking too, so we cleaned it up and replaced the bolts and gasket.

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Steamhead (in transit) · November 2006

The drip lines

now drop below the waterline before teeing together, as they should have done all along.

When we started the system, we noted the faster steam distribution- just as we expected.

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Weil-to-Weil Webster (Gordo & Steamhead)

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