How's this beauty?

[BaldLoonie]

Customer wants estimate to replace. Not our everyday work!

House built in the late 1800s, I'm guessing boiler & radiation well later. What is that old Mueller Climatrol? 40s?

[ga-hvac-tech]

They just do not build them like they used to... That think must weigh more than the whole ducted heat and AC system you will put in.

[thermojohn]

I'm thinking that pipe insulation might be asbestos. Watch out.

[trouble time]

Nice!
Are they wanting a quote for forced air, or are they going to keep with hot water?

[GorillaTight]

I thought I had worked on some OLD boilers, but I'm not even sure what I'm looking at here!

[SolarMike]

Customer wants estimate to replace. Not our everyday work!

House built in the late 1800s, I'm guessing boiler & radiation well later. What is that old Mueller Climatrol? 40s?

Please tell me they are not getting rid of hot water for forced air:gah:

I hate it when they do that. Hot water is the best heat. If they want cooling, put in a spacepac or ductless splits. There are many ways to get the best of both worlds.

[SolarMike]

That boiler is old but not that old. Where i work we change out boilers that went from coal to oil and then to gas with conversion burners.

[bja105]

I wish you were closer. I'm looking for a few good used radiators for a customer.

[BaldLoonie]

He's not totally sure. Not a permanent residence. He built a new mansion next door but bought this as a guest/retreat house. It is really neat inside. He thought he wanted a bunch of mini heat pumps but I warned him that at some point below zero they shut down. Plus he has a lot of little rooms like bathrooms that would not have heat that way. New boiler with cooling minis in select rooms for cooling. Or I also suggested mini heat pumps and save the old relic which works great for bitter weather. Whole house forced air isn't an option apparently. I warned him that anything but the old radiators would be not near the comfort.

[lakewood]

Looks like hot water boiler. We moved in a old house that had steam boiler
two story house. Very hot in dead of winter, Fuel which was nat. gas
Very hard to control radiators. valves were stuck wide open. We yanked out boiler and Radiators and put in two 90% with duct work and central A/C`s
less expensive to heat house. One unit in attic and other in basement.

[mike dixon]

i have done a lot of those:.02:

[SolarMike]

I've ripped out steam boilers on occasion and pressurised the lines for leaks then put in a cast boiler. At least then you can bring the temp down to 150-160 if the reads are big enough, which they usually were.

On that house, i would throw in a Viessmann condensing boiler (or another good one). There will be good savings. The valves can be rebuilt too.

[SolarMike]

Looks like hot water boiler. We moved in a old house that had steam boiler
two story house. Very hot in dead of winter, Fuel which was nat. gas
Very hard to control radiators. valves were stuck wide open. We yanked out boiler and Radiators and put in two 90% with duct work and central A/C`s
less expensive to heat house. One unit in attic and other in basement.

Steam has to be a single zone system to work properly and about the only control method you can use is time delay with an outdoor sensor, Tekmar makes one.

[trouble time]

Please tell me they are not getting rid of hot water for forced air:gah:

I hate it when they do that. Hot water is the best heat. If they want cooling, put in a spacepac or ductless splits. There are many ways to get the best of both worlds.

:ditto:

[ptemko]

I ran into this old boiler a couple of weeks ago. Customer said it was the best boiler he ever had. I said it is the only boiler you have ever had. Use to be coal then oil now natural gas. None of the 3 doors have ever been sealed shut. Gravity feed no pumps or hydro to it. Call Boss to let him know what I had. Customer wanted it fixed. Boss said replacement or walk away he didnt want to be married to that boiler :)

[ptemko]

Casting on one of the doors said 1936. Not sure if that was the age or just the company name and casting.

[SolarMike]

Ive pulled out a lot of those old boilers and after putting in a new one, don't forget a couple of rads in the basement to take the place of all the heat it radiated out. They were bulletproof and inefficient as hell. I can see why they didn't want to get rid of it.

[SolarMike]

I ran into this old boiler a couple of weeks ago. Customer said it was the best boiler he ever had. I said it is the only boiler you have ever had. Use to be coal then oil now natural gas. None of the 3 doors have ever been sealed shut. Gravity feed no pumps or hydro to it. Call Boss to let him know what I had. Customer wanted it fixed. Boss said replacement or walk away he didnt want to be married to that boiler :)

That is a Guernsey boiler, company is looooong gone

[jetstream]

I ran into this old boiler a couple of weeks ago. Customer said it was the best boiler he ever had. I said it is the only boiler you have ever had. Use to be coal then oil now natural gas. None of the 3 doors have ever been sealed shut. Gravity feed no pumps or hydro to it. Call Boss to let him know what I had. Customer wanted it fixed. Boss said replacement or walk away he didnt want to be married to that boiler :)

I've worked on lots of those, that could even be my sticker on there. Trouble-free mostly, but for cleaning the pilot or millivolt issues.

There was what's known as the "Torso" murder case in Hamilton back in the 1950s I think it was. Guy called John Dick was killed and chopped up. They tried to burn his body in a boiler like that, but it didn't work out.

[ptemko]

I've worked on lots of those, that could even be my sticker on there. Trouble-free mostly, but for cleaning the pilot or millivolt issues.

There was what's known as the "Torso" murder case in Hamilton back in the 1950s I think it was. Guy called John Dick was killed and chopped up. They tried to burn his body in a boiler like that, but it didn't work out.

This one was over by MacMaster Hospital. 2 houses away from the Hospital on Sterling St

[jetstream]

This one was over by MacMaster Hospital. 2 houses away from the Hospital on Sterling St


The "Torso" boiler was on Rosslyn Ave S I believe.

[GorillaTight]

That boiler is old but not that old. Where i work we change out boilers that went from coal to oil and then to gas with conversion burners.

Oh, I've worked on plenty of coal conversions. Usually pretty quiet with a half ton of metal around the fire! Guess that particular model wasn't very popular in my area...

[acefurnacefixer1]

That house from the outside looks like graceland ......not an exact match but close.

[SolarMike]

There was probably 8-10 other manufacturers with boilers that looked exactly the same, often with 2 output and 2 return pipes. A lot more local cast iron makers back then. Anyone ever been to the Burnham plant to see the "world champion" body builder lifting cast sections from A to B. Old fashioned for sure but he was there 7-8 years ago.

[lakewood]

Steam has to be a single zone system to work properly and about the only control method you can use is time delay with an outdoor sensor, Tekmar makes one.

This house is 105 years plus and yes it had a STEAM boiler heating all levels of this house. And I am not sure if a reset control was thought of back then.
We found a reciept in the attic of the supply house that supplied all materials.
They exist today.

[SolarMike]

Speaking of old attics, I once went into the attic of a long dead engineer to clean out some old stuff and I found his experiment at making auto air vent. As this was turn of the century stuff it weighed in at about 20lbs of brass and weights for balancing a float. Weird contraption. Also there was pristine brochures for 1920 boilers showing the equipment in the middle of the living room with grandma knitting beside it (and no flue). Wish I kept them.