When gravity was king

[jonm]

Yea asbestos at both loacals. The boilers are coated withit, the old coal stoker has the 3/8 panels nailed to ceiling in the whole furnace room. The landlord is having problems renting the store where it is located because of excessive gas bills. ya think.

[ozone drone]

These units doubled as stills.....made 2 gallons of 80 proof white lightning per day

[ozone drone]

Originally posted by swampfox
So....somebody explain to me how these things work, where does gravity come into play?

The furnaces have no forced air fan...relies on hot air rising and cold air falling into the return. Once it gets going ...natural draft air circulation.

[otto]

Originally posted by ozone drone

Originally posted by swampfox
So....somebody explain to me how these things work, where does gravity come into play?

The furnaces have no forced air fan...relies on hot air rising and cold air falling into the return. Once it gets going ...natural draft air circulation.

Yep. That's why the ducts for the furnaces and the piping for the return are so huge.

[otto]

Look at the base of the twin boilers. They were onec coal powered! Right now with a gas conversion burner in there I would guess that 50% or more of the heat is going right up the chimney.

[twosticks]

Had a gravity wood furnace, changed it out w/ oil
forced air. Shoulda seen what happened when the
blower came on.

[markwolf]

The older homes here also have ventilation ducts.There is a register in each room & you start a small fire in the main chimney to produce draft in the home viola stoneage air conditioning!lol

[jonm]

The two boilers are from an area of downtown Lockport, NY. I have been told that the city once had a steam generating plant (maybe pre 1900?), with underground piping which supplied steam for heat to homes and business in the downtown area. Puts another spin on "central heating"

[Green Mountain]

When I was a kid we lived in a house in Albany New York. Its address was 333 3rd Street. Seriously.

Anyway this was a 2 family house. In the basement was 2 of these gravity boilers. It was my chore to tend the coal fire in our boiler. The man upstairs gave me $5 a week to tend his boiler. There were also separate coal bins in the basement.

If the man upstairs started to get cold he would bang on the radiator to remind me that it was time to stoke up the fire. (Early DDC system)

So, if you count that time, I have been in the heating business way over 40 years.

[ozone drone]

Originally posted by benncool
When I was a kid we lived in a house in Albany New York. Its address was 333 3rd Street. Seriously.

Anyway this was a 2 family house. In the basement was 2 of these gravity boilers. It was my chore to tend the coal fire in our boiler. The man upstairs gave me $5 a week to tend his boiler. There were also separate coal bins in the basement.

If the man upstairs started to get cold he would bang on the radiator to remind me that it was time to stoke up the fire. (Early DDC system)

So, if you count that time, I have been in the heating business way over 40 years.

5 bucks was big bucks in the olden days too

[control_noob]

Originally posted by benncool

If the man upstairs started to get cold he would bang on the radiator to remind me that it was time to stoke up the fire. (Early DDC system)

LMFAO!

[ct2]

If The average homeowner has trouble with the daily operation of a gas furnace, how could you ever get them to use a system like that without blowing themselves up or expect them to maintain a boiler properly?