Kriebel Vapor System Upgrade (Gordo & Steamhead)

Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

got a Hoffman #4A. Yes, we do use these little vents sometimes ;-)

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Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

Double-Header Boiler Installation

I don't have any "before" pics of this one, but you can see how tall the old Ideal Water-Tube boiler was. We piped the 3-inch riser from the 3-inch drop header on the Weil-McLain SGO-9 into the original 5-inch header. By the time the steam gets to the mains it's behaving pretty much the same as it did with the old boiler.

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Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

Left side view of boiler

showing header interconnection, king valve and VXT feeder.

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Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

Front view of boiler

The gauge on the left reads 0-20 ounces. The one on the right is 0-30 pounds, to meet Code. Burner is Beckett AFG with M-tube, downfired to 1.75 GPH. The boiler could stand to be flushed and skimmed again.

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Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

Kriebel vent trap

with Gorton #2 added. The original Kriebel vent and gauge are now in the All Steamed Up, Inc. Heating Museum. Kriebel hardware was made by the Vapor Vacuum Heating Company, Philadelphia.

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Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

One of the Gorton #2 vents

drilled and tapped into the long mains.....

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Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

Radiators

Two small ones at the front entrance, the second pic is in the dining room. Note the later-version Kriebel baffler return ells. Gordon rebuilt all the Kriebel shutoff valves, now they're good for another 80 years.

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Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

New breakfast nook radiator

We got this wall rad at Second Chance, a local architectural salvage company. Winkler Welding fabricated the brackets- same company we used on the Calvert Court project. A Danfoss TRV and Barnes & Jones straight-line trap completed the installation. The outlet tapping on this rad is left-hand thread, so we couldn't use a standard angle trap there.

Gordo has some pics of the process of rebuilding the Kriebel valves- your turn, partner.

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Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

Kriebel Radiator Valve Rebuilding

14 Kriebel radiator valves had to be rebuilt. The other 6 were: 2 Trane #44s, a new Hoffman, 2 new Danfoss trvs, an a Legend, all 3/4"

The bonnet tops were removed with a 1 7/8" crows foot wrench that had been ground to a 1 15/16" opening. A 1/2" breaking bar was attached to the crows foot and away we go. A few really stubborn cases had to be removed with an off-set pipe wrench which unavoidably boogered up the tops a bit.

The valve pictured here is made up of the most dinged up parts.

The Bakelite handle on this sample is completely missing. Most of the other valves had various degrees of damage.

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Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

Kriebel Radiator Valve Rebuilding

Only 2 of the Kriebels had the original orifice fittings intact. They were found on the valves in the front hall pictured above. They were reused as found. Unfortunately, We did not get pictures of them.

The others had all failed and disintegrated. On five of the valves, when the remains of the orifices were removed, they sheared off flush in the stem and had to be drilled out with a #3 drill and re-tapped with a 1/4"-28 NF tap. Using an easy-out was not successful in any case. A drill press and a drill press vice proved invaluable in the above operation.

All of the washers needed to be replaced, not surprisingly. Some of the originals had completely disappeared.

The old washers were replaced with red steam rated washers.

What are these washers made of anyway? They are hard as the dickens. In some cases, I had to grind the edges down to fit the washer into the stem cup.

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Constantin · December 2005

Beautifu work...

... it's very interesting to see how you accomodated the original header yet managed to get in a drop-header as well. The venting retrofits and the work on all the radiator valves should have this system purring just as any kitten placed near it. I really like the attention to insulating the mains, etc...

Congratulations, another steam system saved, another happy homeowner, and hopefully, lots & lots of follow-on referrals.

Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

Kriebel Radiator Valve Orifices

What do we replace the orifice fittings with? Steamhead had the brilliant idea of using 1/2" copper caps as replacements!

I cut the caps roughly in half by putting them part way on a 1/2" copper pipe, slightly mashing the end and using tubing cutter.

Stacking several 1/4" washers inside the caps to act a centering jig, the cap ends were drilled out this a 1/4" drill using a drill press.

A triangular piece was cut out using snipes to act the orifice.

They were installed on to the new washers with 1/4"-28 X 1/2" stainless steel hex head bolts.

The layers of paint and mineral deposits (due to 80+ years of leaks) were tediously removed.

The asb....ous stem packing was removed and re-packed with teflon rope.

It is recommended that the stop post threads be doped with RTV silicone.

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Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

Kriebel Radiator Valve Orifices

What do we replace the orifice fittings with? Steamhead had the brilliant idea of using 1/2" copper caps as replacements.

I cut the caps roughly in half by putting them part way on a 1/2" copper pipe, slightly mashing the end and using a tubing cutter. Stacking several 1/4" washers inside the caps to act as a centering jig, the cap ends were drilled out with a 1/4" drill using a drill press.

A triangular piece was cut out of the caps with snips to act as an orifice.

They were installed on top the the new washers using a 1/4"-28 x 1/2" stainless steel hex head bolts.

The layers of paint and mineral deposits - due to 80+ years of leaks - were tediously removed. Dental picks and steel wool were used. The asb...s stem packing was removed and re-packed with teflon rope.

It is recommended that the stop post threads that go into the valves body top be treated with a bit of RTV silicone to seal them.

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gerry gill · December 2005

thats some really super work guys!!!

your attention to details sets the standard that the rest of us have to try to strive for..i really like the header piping arrangement..great job saving those valves..no-one else would have even attempted that...superbly well done guys!!.

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S Ebels · December 2005

You guys.........

Both of you are true mechanics, not just parts changers. You understand why and how these old systems work and your re-creation/rebuilding of them is truly a work of art.

Does my soul good to see that it's not a "lost art".

John S. · December 2005

Beautiful work guys...

really a first class job.

Excuse me for my ignorance, Steamhead, but what are some of the reasons to isolate the system with the king valve? Is it required by code. Does it aid in the skimming process?

Looks like another customer with a higher understanding. Just looks fantastic!!

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Mike T., Swampeast MO · December 2005

What a wonderful job of preservation & restoration!!!

Am utterly certain I saw that exact Kriebel valve on a little rad that was for sale cheap a while back. If it's still around will buy the rad and send the valve to you Steamhead.

Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

Believe it or not

I've seen these valves used on what were otherwise Trane Vapor systems. There must have been a long-gone Baltimore contractor who preferred them......

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Steamhead (in transit) · December 2005

On a job like this

the king valve was used to isolate the boiler when it was being cleaned, by either blowing down or more recently with TSP or MEX or similar. It's useful for keeping the chemical in the boiler and out of the system.

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Kriebel Vapor System Upgrade (Gordo & Steamhead)

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