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was this old boiler gas or oil fueled?

Rickam
Rickam Member Posts: 6

I have a boiler museum in the basement. I'd like to smash or cut this one up and cart it away but I'm hesitant to make any sparks around it. if its full of oil, it could be dangerous . This thing is beyond heavy.

Comments

  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,369

    How about a pic of the other end?

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
    delcrossvmattmia2
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,875

    i'm not even sure that is a boiler. the box looks like the flue collector

  • HVACNUT
    HVACNUT Member Posts: 6,315

    Looks like a horizontal steel tube.

  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 23,324

    there was a wood fired boiler made in California, Missouri that was shaped like that,

    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • Rickam
    Rickam Member Posts: 6

    i found the nameplate

    american standard model 319

    steel boiler.

    max WP 30lb

    net edr 850.

    ----

    And very large threaded fitting top and centre front.

    small flare fitting front lower left.

    there are no fittings on the back. just a hole (no threads or anything about 1 inch diameter. maybe air intake?

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,875
    edited October 12

    It was oil. that tube in the middle is where the burner went in and that flared tubing on the left is the oil line in the floor.

    That round port you cut off is the inspection and observation door for the combustion chamber.

    or maybe the burner tube went in to that box. it is hard to tell the scale. that line out of the floor very much looks like a copper oil line for an oil burner

  • delcrossv
    delcrossv Member Posts: 1,301
    edited October 12

    What's at the upper edge of this picture?

    Looks like a hole.

    Trying to squeeze the best out of a Weil-McLain JB-5 running a 1912 1 pipe system.
  • Rickam
    Rickam Member Posts: 6

    the big hole (the core). some sheet metal venturi spirali/fusilli down in those bores.

    the small hole in the back. the one in the lower left is capped off.

    Home Depot pails and 2x4 studs for size reference.

    my plan is to chop it up with a large hilti cutting disc. possibly smash the core with hammers. I'm worried about fire risk if there is still some oil in there somewhere. I didnt find an oil tank in the basement so not sure about this one.

  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,369

    @Rickam , can you re-check the rating plate? I can't find this boiler in any of the usual references. The only 319 I could find was an aboriginal round coal-fired cast-iron boiler…………..

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
    Lyle {pheloa} Carter
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,347

    That blue barn shaped thing with the fire tubes inside it never had oil inside it. It had water inside it. Cut away!

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • SuperTech
    SuperTech Member Posts: 2,420

    Oil needs to be atomized to a fine mist to ignite. I was taught that an open flame won't burn #2 fuel oil. I'd be surprised if there was any danger in cutting up the boiler.

  • Rickam
    Rickam Member Posts: 6

    thank you for all the advice and input. The boiler model is 319.

    I'll be using a cutting wheel, hammers for the core, and a reciprocating saw. (not a cutting torch) so all I have to worry about now is asbestos.

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,347

    I dont see any asbestos there. All the insulation is gone by the looks of that pic. As far as where the fire box used to be, and any asbestos insulation near that chamber… that part is also gone. the side with the flue collector is the front or back and the side with plate bolted on it might have some gasket or furnace cement between that plate and the boiler. The top is the part where the rag is stuffed inside the supply pipe tapping.

    The actual heating unit's bottom was a box that was the length and width of the blue steel boiler that held the water and about 18" tall. That part that is missing is what held the fire box, or combustion chamber. The oil burner or gas burner would be mounted in an opening designed for it. Since that part is missing, There is no asbestos to worry about.

    The brown "Fire Box" at the bottom is where you might find the most asbestos insulation. But since you done seem to have that part, …

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

    mattmia2
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,875

    Or it is buried below the floor

    EdTheHeaterMan
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,369

    I think you're right, Ed. Looks like A-S did make a residential dry-base steel boiler that was oil-fired, the AP
    series. I wonder if the 319 in the pic is an internal code or part number for that tube section, which was then sat on a base and the burner and jacket mounted to form the final assembly?

    @Rickam , if you don't see any insulating material, you should be OK cutting that thing up.

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
  • retiredguy
    retiredguy Member Posts: 976

    @EdTheHeaterMan is right with his description of what that boiler looked like before the burner base was removed. That boiler is a typical horizontal fire tube, dry base boiler that could have been fired with your choice of almost any liquid or gaseous fuels. ( You can see the welded "stay bolts" in the sides of the steel boiler).

    EdTheHeaterMan