Heating Help

Trying To Post Pictures

@ May 25, 2012 1:31 AM in Making Radiator Pedestals

And having no luck so far.

Making Radiator Pedestals

@ May 20, 2012 11:05 PM in Making Radiator Pedestals

It is still possible, at the time of this writing, to obtain 2" radiator pedestals and even 3" radiator pedestals.  They are usually used to raise up the smaller, newer cast iron radiators that sit lower to fit the valves and piping of the older, higher radiators.

As far as we can tell, any size lower than two inches is not made any more.  Usually, wooden blocks are used if one needs to raise a radiator more than the thickness of a few quarters.

We recently obtained a set of old cast iron pedestals that had been used to jack-up a radiator end 5/8".

Accordingly,  we sent these pedestals over to All Steamed Up, Inc.'s Foundry Division for fabrication.

The pictures are the process of making the mold out of "green sand".

So far, I'm having problems posting the pictures.  I've tried several times to post them!

A Poignant Question

@ April 28, 2012 8:34 PM in Where to Go to Get Rare Fittings in Baltimore

"What will we do when these places are gone?"

As long as there is a demand, a market if you will, for these sorts of places, I guess they'll be there too.  Sort of.

When we fade away, they will too.

Here is another picture.  Pause and remember.

Where to Go to Get Rare Fittings in Baltimore

@ April 28, 2012 6:49 PM in Where to Go to Get Rare Fittings in Baltimore

Where does one to go to find a 2" counter-sunk plug with a left-hand thread?

Or a 4-1/2" cast iron ell?

Or a 8" by 1" by 6" tee?

Where indeed.

Let's back up a minute.  Baltimore, MD is a, correction, was a shipbuilding, iron producing blue-collar town.  One of it's main streets, called Charles Street, runs due North/South.  It bi-sects the town into East and West on the map (Baltimore St. is the demarcation between North and South).  Let's get on Charles Street and head South until you are stopped by the railroad tracks, just before some water.  There, in a nondescript warehouse is an establishment named "Pratt Thompson." 

This is the end of the line in many senses of that phrase.

This is where fittings go to die.  This is the fitting museum.

This is the Last Bastion of the American Fitting. 

It is a place where it is always Nov. 21, 1963.

The bins you see pictured are old McCormick Spice Tea boxes.  They still have traces of the tin lining in them.

The best comment I've seen

@ April 25, 2012 9:45 PM in servicemagic

was that the only "magic" was how quickly your money disappeared into their account.

Now you see it.

                                    Poof!

                                                    Now you don't.

GRIN! That's a good one!

@ April 25, 2012 9:41 PM in Unusual Radiator Repair By All Steamed Up, Inc.

 but why "broccoli"?

The Proud Owner Of These Radiators

@ April 25, 2012 9:37 PM in Unusual Radiator Repair By All Steamed Up, Inc.

Plans to have them sand blasted and repainted professionally. 

Whenever we drop off iron scrap to be recycled, we almost always see a meth-head in an old junker of a pick-up dropping off a load of vapor steam radiators to be sent to the Middle Kingdom to be turned into junk to be sold back to us.

Thanks, Alan!

@ April 25, 2012 9:28 PM in Unusual Radiator Repair By All Steamed Up, Inc.

I would say that the usual radiator repair with push nipples is the norm.  My partner Steamhead taught me how to do it.  We have a whole collection of various sizes of push nipples.

I never really thought it would be of interest to document such a repair.

The next time we do one with push nipples, I now hope to take pictures and post it.

Thanks!

@ April 25, 2012 9:20 PM in Unusual Radiator Repair By All Steamed Up, Inc.

They were steam.  But I suppose they could be used for hot water.  They had a 1/8" top tapping (not shown) that was plugged.

The old gasketing material was mainly the substance that dare not speak it's name.

Internal Left Hand/Right Hand Nipples

@ April 25, 2012 9:16 PM in Unusual Radiator Repair By All Steamed Up, Inc.

for connecting radiator sections are an Infernal Problem! 

In spite of having custom wrenches made by local machine shops for getting those nipples apart (for rather high $$), we've not had good luck dealing with them and have put that project on the very back burner for now.

Those radiators pictured  above are the first we've ever seen with internal tie rods, and I thought they would be of interest.

I'd much rather deal with those radiators any day than the LH/RH nippled ones.

Thanks, ME

@ April 25, 2012 9:05 PM in Unusual Radiator Repair By All Steamed Up, Inc.

The search for those 2" flush plugs are worthy, I think, of their own separate thread!

Look for it soon.

Unusual Radiator Repair By All Steamed Up, Inc.

@ April 22, 2012 5:15 PM in Unusual Radiator Repair By All Steamed Up, Inc.

This radiator had internal tie rods and gasketed sections.

 We had to cut out the 2"  recessed plugs at both ends on the top and the end opposite the inlet at the bottom to get access to the internal tie rods.

New EDPM gaskets were installed between the sections and new tie rods and nuts installed.  The ends were re-plugged with counter-sunk 2" plugs (a bit hard to find).

It held water at 30 psi for 15 minutes. Eventually.

Admirals and Chiefs

@ April 2, 2012 6:43 PM in Drilling and tapping a main

The smart Admirals know that it is the Chiefs that really run the Navy!

It takes a real SOB ( esp. busting someone's chops about their welding).   I sleep better at night knowing they're out there.

I once told a retired Chief what pressures I run my boilers at.
He grumped at me and said, "That ain't  Real Steam. Tha's just a frackin' LEAK!"

"Well, Chief, my job's easy. I only have to heat the building, not make it move."

So here's to heating buildings with LEAKS!  (-and making sure buildings DON'T move).

And you are most welcome, Gerry.

That is a

@ April 1, 2012 5:54 PM in Drilling and tapping a main

really nice weld.  

Before Pictures

@ March 31, 2012 9:16 PM in Our First Solaia Commercial/Beckett CG-10 Install

Here are some "before pictures" of the boiler we replaced.
Many of the pins in the flue passages had been rusted down to nubs.

Actually

@ March 30, 2012 5:08 PM in Cool corner rad

The radiator in the backround, the one with the doors,  caught my eye.

Dibs! I call Dibs!

Good Piping! / !gnipiP baB

@ March 27, 2012 10:24 PM in Latest Smith G-8 Steamer

Hap_Hazzard, thank you for your kind words.  You spelled out the major issues with the old boiler's piping.  That piping was removed with alacrity!

Cris, PTFE tape is fine on threaded steam pipe.  In fact, it helps the joints to be able move just slightly to relieve expansion stress and you can take the joints apart even after years of use, unlike with many other types of pipe dope.

I would like to point out some details that were added to the new boiler's piping:

First, on the return line where the 1-1/2" copper male adapter threads into the tee, please note that tee is non-foreign cast iron for corrosion resistance.  Also, the non-foreign 1-1/2" steel nipple that completes the connection into the boiler is sch. 80 to provide long leak-free life.

Next, the header has been increased by one size more than called for in the instruction manual to promote drier steam ( i.e. 2-1/2" from 2").


Finally, the sight-glass is provided with a proper blow-down valve, as they all should.

That Wye Fitting

@ March 15, 2012 11:10 PM in Latest Smith G-8 Steamer

Belongs to the sink drainage pipe.  I know, it's very confusing!

Educating the Public?

@ February 19, 2012 7:40 PM in It still needs to be blown down every week

Hummm.  I think it's more like a case of enforcing the trademark.  If they don't do this "educating"  periodically, they'll lose it .  I'd say they already have.  Their lawyers have a big headache on their hands.  They'll have to take aspirin.

We Also Ordered

@ February 19, 2012 1:18 AM in It still needs to be blown down every week

the 120 volt version just to have it in stock.  As with the 24 volt version, the brass work all came sealed in a blue plastic bag.  It too had a random assortment of  mismatched fittings and nipples, so that tells me they got issues with packaging.  We'll be checking the probe tightness on our 120 volt version, too.  The probes all had "teflon" tape on them

Heavy Indeed!

@ February 15, 2012 1:03 AM in Steam Pressure Reducing Valve Replacement

As you can see, it was set up as a two pipe air vent system, but traps were added in the basement to the return line in the 50s.  The air vents are now gone.

When we first got there, some the Church's radiators had been leaking so long at the union nuts and packing nuts that they had rotted through a 2" floor and rusted out the 2" wrought iron supply pipe.  THAT was a heavy radiator.


And here are the shots of the PRV and main steam piping  taken with a FLIR

Thank you for your comments and info!

The Temperature of The Condensate

@ February 14, 2012 12:05 AM in Steam Pressure Reducing Valve Replacement

that goes down the drain at the Church.... varies. 

First, because there is a high pressure steam line (35 psi) that snakes it's way through the basement of the Church on it's way to the Balto. City Fire Dept. Headquarters,  there are at least three high pressure traps on that line that drip it, and the discharge of those traps go back to a drain under one the Church's kitchen sinks.

At least that condensate is not metered.  But it is VERY hot.  And, no, it is not mixed with cold water first.  Who pays for the water?

I would love to run that through a heat exchanger to to pre-heat domestic hot water for the Church, but getting approval to get paid is an issue.  They've got at least a dozen traps that'll need to be rebuilt first.

 And then there are the uninsulated pipes....lots and lots...that basement gets hot.

That meter water measuring the condensate is a cash cow for the steam utility.

Oh, boy, do I know what you mean about the power in those lines!  When I hook up and turn on that shut-off valve, it's like I've tapped a little 5mW electric circuit directly into Almighty G-d!