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Crane 20 Boiler

bobbob
bobbob Member Posts: 70
in THE MAIN WALL
My home has a Crane 20 boiler. I would like to determine how old it might be. It was coal fired and has a NG conversion. I also would like to find out approximately when that was done. Anybody know anything about this boiler? I can't find anything on the internet.

Comments

  • STEVEusaPA
    STEVEusaPA Member Posts: 6,505
    I’d guess 30's, conversion burner in the 50's.

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,495
    edited February 2022
    I would guess 1930s ish for the boiler as well.

    Crane is long gone. If your going to replace it any information from or about the old boiler is not any help. You have to start from scratch and find the right size.

    Since you have steam the correct way (and only way) to size a replacement is by measuring all the radiation in the house and coming up with the EDR load of the radiators. It is very easy to do

    If you want the ratings look in the museum on this site for "Beacon boile book prior to 1959" 4th book has the ratings for your boiler. Don't use those ratings to size a new boiler
    Robert_25
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,955
    I think that conversion burner is a little newer than the 50's but it also clearly has had the gas valve and motor replaced.
  • Jeff__
    Jeff__ Member Posts: 7
    If only things still lasted that long! I just pulled out my old crane boiler. My Crane was not as old as yours but always wondered about it's age. Tag says 109A-6 SS-SW.


  • bobbob
    bobbob Member Posts: 70
    Thanks for your responses. We bought this house in 2000. The ol' girl has worked very well. One time I could not get the pilot to light. As Providence would have it, out of the blue my wife was told by one of her cleaning clients that their furnace had a problem and the technician ran a small wire through the gas orifice which had some kind of slag clogging it. I carefully tried that and it has been fine since (12 or 14 years ago?).
    Just had the Low water control unclogged so it would let me drain off the gook. Other than that it has worked great for these 20 and 1/2 seasons. I thought it was high time to give things some attention--new sight glass and cleaned valves, cleaned pigtails (which were hardly dirty), new variable "swing" thermostat. Finishing insulation and adding Main Vents soon.
    delcrossv
  • jimna01
    jimna01 Member Posts: 40
    I replaced a circa 1960 oil fired Crane SunnyDay 15 boiler in 2008. My oil consumption dropped by nearly 40 percent. Good riddance.
    HVACNUT
  • twbrkfd1
    twbrkfd1 Member Posts: 4

    Just looked at a house that is for sale in the historic district I live in. It has a Crane 20. Probably has not been fired in 10 years. I just overhauled a 100 year old Snowman and it purrs like a kitten. You probably need to clean out and/or replace the lower return pipes going into the bottom of the boiler. No doubt lots of sludge! To the Snowman I added a Honeywell Pressuretrol w/brass pigtail, 0 - PSI gauge, new pilot, Honeywell 175k BTU valve,new sight glass, new pressure relief valve, new Mcdonnell LWCO, and and alarm connected to the LWCO NO contacts. When/if water is low alarm sounds!

    delcrossv
  • delcrossv
    delcrossv Member Posts: 1,352
    20240914_170840.jpg
    20241015_203805.jpg

    69 years young.

    Trying to squeeze the best out of a Weil-McLain JB-5 running a 1912 1 pipe system.
    MikeAmannRevenant
  • twbrkfd1
    twbrkfd1 Member Posts: 4

    @delcrossv Good to see someone is reading this thread! Could you please post some more pics of that Crane boiler? The one I saw yesterday looks just like the oil fired unit in the beginning on this thread, but is gas fired.

    delcrossv
  • delcrossv
    delcrossv Member Posts: 1,352

    Sure.

    20241015_203714.jpg
    20240914_171329.jpg
    20240914_170849.jpg

    Trying to squeeze the best out of a Weil-McLain JB-5 running a 1912 1 pipe system.
  • delcrossv
    delcrossv Member Posts: 1,352
    20240914_171104.jpg

    Got a new tank and Airtrol this year.

    Trying to squeeze the best out of a Weil-McLain JB-5 running a 1912 1 pipe system.
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,387

    @delcrossv , did we ever figure out who made the burner on that boiler?

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
  • delcrossv
    delcrossv Member Posts: 1,352
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1819546#Comment_1819546

    No. Just cleaned the orifices and she fired right up. Still the mystery burner.

    There's still one company I found that makes small atmospheric inshot burners, but with a fancier burner array.

    I did find out that this was originally oil, so it was a conversion.

    Trying to squeeze the best out of a Weil-McLain JB-5 running a 1912 1 pipe system.
  • delcrossv
    delcrossv Member Posts: 1,352
    edited November 12

    Adams Speedflame is what's still available, but aside from the valve, there's nothing to go wrong with these.

    1731377232462741559841499364839.jpg

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

    Does this help?

    20241115_210325.jpg
    20241115_210041.jpg

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,955

    that gas piping sure looks original with the capped pilot tap from the original non-total shutoff system. my parents and grandma had the same luxaire furnace, my parent's house was built with an oil burner, my grandma's house was built with a gas burner. because of the adapter mount i don't think it came with that burner but i think it was ordered without a burner and was installed with that burner.

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