Big Brick House with Van Wert

 
Rufcar
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Posts: 78
Joined: Wed. Jan. 23, 2019 3:48 pm
Stoker Coal Boiler: Van wert
Coal Size/Type: rice

Post by Rufcar » Thu. Jan. 24, 2019 7:37 am

One last pic its the Buckwalter stove in my kitchen I no longer use but can. It is all original. Its there deluxe Canopy Fair model. It is the 2nd one that I have had in that blue but this one is there upgrade model. Just happen to polish it yesterday and no its never been replated!

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stove.jpg
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hotblast1357
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Posts: 5657
Joined: Mon. Mar. 10, 2014 10:06 pm
Location: Peasleeville NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1984 Eshland S260 coal gun
Coal Size/Type: Lehigh anthracite pea
Other Heating: air source heat pump, oil furnace

Post by hotblast1357 » Thu. Jan. 24, 2019 8:23 am

Wow let’s see a pic of the house.

 
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coaledsweat
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Location: Guilford, Connecticut
Stoker Coal Boiler: Axeman Anderson 260M
Coal Size/Type: Pea

Post by coaledsweat » Thu. Jan. 24, 2019 9:42 am

Talk about showboating! :yes:

 
Rufcar
Member
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed. Jan. 23, 2019 3:48 pm
Stoker Coal Boiler: Van wert
Coal Size/Type: rice

Post by Rufcar » Thu. Jan. 24, 2019 10:01 am

If I show you the house you ll definitely think Im showboating. You have to remember thats the business i was in for over 40 years!

 
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hotblast1357
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Posts: 5657
Joined: Mon. Mar. 10, 2014 10:06 pm
Location: Peasleeville NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1984 Eshland S260 coal gun
Coal Size/Type: Lehigh anthracite pea
Other Heating: air source heat pump, oil furnace

Post by hotblast1357 » Thu. Jan. 24, 2019 10:56 am

Let’s see it! Be proud of what you have!

 
Rufcar
Member
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed. Jan. 23, 2019 3:48 pm
Stoker Coal Boiler: Van wert
Coal Size/Type: rice

Post by Rufcar » Thu. Jan. 24, 2019 12:47 pm

Built by Jonas Swab 1901 1903 took 18 months to construct. Mr Swab owned Swab wagon co. It is in my back yard and still in business after 151 years . They now do fire and rescue trucks. 2nd pic ius there original blacksmith shop I bought 6 yrs ago and restored to its original look. I restore classic cars there in my retirement.

Attachments

Swab House.jpg

House

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Swab blacksmith shop.jpg

the blacksmith shop now my garage

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hotblast1357
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Posts: 5657
Joined: Mon. Mar. 10, 2014 10:06 pm
Location: Peasleeville NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1984 Eshland S260 coal gun
Coal Size/Type: Lehigh anthracite pea
Other Heating: air source heat pump, oil furnace

Post by hotblast1357 » Thu. Jan. 24, 2019 12:56 pm

Very beautiful place!


 
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Rob R.
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Location: Chazy, NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Jr

Post by Rob R. » Thu. Jan. 24, 2019 8:28 pm

Rufcar wrote:
Thu. Jan. 24, 2019 7:34 am
Additional Van Wert pics. The tank in the back is my well tank. the 4" black pipe is the downspout inlet I cut in and out with the seasons. There is a 6ft wide 35 ft deep well under the coal box. I found it by accident 40 yrs ago running floor drains. I installed a shallow well pump in it and use it to water my lawn. Taking out 1 to 2 bucket of ashes every day, its very hard to keep the area clean. I vacuum the basement about every 6 months. I tried fans and vacs nothing seems to work and after 40 years I just live with it. The ceilings are all insulated and dry walled so no dust get into the house.
I do on occasion get a bit of wet steam that makes no sense. I installed a 4ft closet radiator on my porch with an 1.5" line and no vent and it never heats up more than a few sections. I re did it 3 times using larger pipes and shorter runs but the results are always the same.
I am very glad you decided to join one of the best (THE best if you ask me) alternate heating forums on the internet. That is a serious Van Wert for sure, and a beautiful home. I always dreamed of owning a home like that.

 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Fri. Jan. 25, 2019 8:23 am

BEEEAUTIFUL House!! :yes: Welcome to the forum.

But I disagree slightly with Rob.....While the house is nice.....

I'd rather have that garage!!! :mrgreen: :lol:

 
Rufcar
Member
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed. Jan. 23, 2019 3:48 pm
Stoker Coal Boiler: Van wert
Coal Size/Type: rice

Post by Rufcar » Fri. Jan. 25, 2019 6:15 pm

Titliest1, I actually have 2 garages. The one I showed is the 1901 blacksmith shop I restored which is just behind the one below I built in 1980. 25 x 55 1.5 stories. BTW both garages run on propane hot air heaters. I did use a "Heatrola"in the garage for many years when It was my 1st wood shop but having many cars near a coal burner bother me plus all the added work. I did have a plan to did a trench 4ft deep and run a steam line out there but scratched that for propane. OK NO MORE building pics on here! Only boilers and radiators!

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Carriage house in snow.jpg
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lzaharis
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Posts: 2366
Joined: Sun. Mar. 25, 2007 8:41 pm
Location: Ithaca, New York
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-4-1 dual fuel boiler
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: former switzer CWW100-sold
Coal Size/Type: rice
Other Heating: kerosene for dual fuel Keystoker/unused

Post by lzaharis » Sat. Jan. 26, 2019 12:23 pm

Hello and welcome to the forum Ruffcar,

If your hoarding any used Mercedes diesel sedans with the 5 cyclinder diesel engines from the early 1980's I would love to see them.

If the small cabinet radiator has no automatic air vent the full volume of steam that is traveling in the header pipe
cannot reach the cabinet radiator and that explains why it is not heating well as the air in the cabinet radiator cannot be expelled.
Has the air vent at the very end of the header pipe in the basement been cleaned and repaired or replaced?

Have you ever talked to anyone about installing a drop header for the Van Wert to make dry steam for the entire home and the workshops? installing a drop header would let you push dry steam everywhere including the work shops and conserve water in the boiler as the new drop header would have a drain line back to the water level in the steam chest to allow only dry steam to be pushed through the piping to the radiators.


Are you using a manual water filling set up and a gauge glass to monitor your water level?
Can you show us some pictures of your pressuretrol, the pressure gauge, Hartford Loop and the other boiler controls? What pressure are you using in your pressuretrol?


Have you considered installing TRV's(temperature regulating valves) on each radiator in place of the steam vents to have better control for each room and as an added benefit much, much, less coal use.

 
Rufcar
Member
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed. Jan. 23, 2019 3:48 pm
Stoker Coal Boiler: Van wert
Coal Size/Type: rice

Post by Rufcar » Sat. Jan. 26, 2019 1:31 pm

1st Yes I have a drop header, pics attached. 2nd I have no vent at all on the cabinet radiator so I can get quicker steam. #3 all end vents have been replaced. #4 manually fill boiler about 2 times all winter as all water drains back and I use very little. #5 took out the DHW coil this past summer to clean it as the "Squick" boiler cleaner was settling on it. Now I am back to unlimited hot water. BTW In side of boiler was really nice. I am now using Crystal clear boiler conditioner and the water has been perfect since June when I did that work. We re did the Hartford loop 40 years ago when I removed the Losche conversion. Finally I use all adjustable air vents that by and large work fine. On the coldest days when everything is hot I re adjust rad vents so that are mostly all equal. The cabinet radiator I re plumbed 3 times , the last time using 1-1/4" pipe but it does take appox a 20 ft run with 3 bends to get that on great pitch too. The pipe always heats up under the porch as its an old cold cellar that is now semi heated. Its always about 50- 60 in there so with bare wood it allows that heat to rise and keep my porch always 10-15 deg warmer than the outside temps. I started with a small 24" long under window radiator and then replumbed a the 4ft cabinet radiator. When it does heat it throws off a ton of it. I am just at a loss why it wont heat. It is near the end of the run where 3 other tak offs exist and they all work fine. I do not have it coming off the very top of the line as I do not have the room to keep the pitch but I have it 45 deg upward towards the top. It is not my 1st rodeo I have installed many radiators for others. This is the only time I cant get it right. The pressure troll is set at 0.05 the system usual runs on 1-3 lbs tops
No Mercedes anything. I have been a Rolls Bentley guy over 25 years plus Muscle cars and jeeps mainly willys have restored 20 jeeps 18 were willys. In the last 5 years a 69 Camaro, 70 Chevelle, 65 Buick Riviera, 75 jeep 89 Jeep 49 Willys wagon 61 willys PU, 71 Fixed head cornice and just sold an 89 Silver Spur Rolls plus a few Porsches in the mix and a z06 vette plus others.

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boiler 1.jpg
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boiler 2.jpg
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lzaharis
Member
Posts: 2366
Joined: Sun. Mar. 25, 2007 8:41 pm
Location: Ithaca, New York
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-4-1 dual fuel boiler
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: former switzer CWW100-sold
Coal Size/Type: rice
Other Heating: kerosene for dual fuel Keystoker/unused

Post by lzaharis » Sat. Jan. 26, 2019 11:05 pm

About your cabinet radiator;

some folks have been using heavy refrigerant grade copper for dry steam to feed panel and standing radiators for steam rather than running standard steel pipe and there are several videos on you tube showing it coming off a basement header and passing through the floor to the standing radiator or panel radiator.

 
lzaharis
Member
Posts: 2366
Joined: Sun. Mar. 25, 2007 8:41 pm
Location: Ithaca, New York
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-4-1 dual fuel boiler
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: former switzer CWW100-sold
Coal Size/Type: rice
Other Heating: kerosene for dual fuel Keystoker/unused

Post by lzaharis » Sun. Jan. 27, 2019 10:50 am

Thanks for updating me about your Mercedes situation :^(( and the Van Wert boiler.

Can I ask you why your ball valve on the water feeder is half open rather than shut off completely?


I thought more about this cabinet radiator this morning and I am wondering if the shut off valve/knife gate may be broken on the inside of the valve for the porch radiator where the stem may be passing the knife gate or the cabinet radiator has a slug of built up rust in the base of the first section and perhaps it needs to be flushed out/had vinegar or weak muriatic acid pumped through it to clean any scale buildup

My dear father in law who has been gone for almost a decade now had a stem valve break in half(entire casting) in one of the three living room radiators when he was still living at the old house and being in the middle of heating season on a Saturday he was in a bit of a pickle. But his growing up with steam heat and knowing what to do with it and having his steam plumber just down the road helped him as he was able to come by the same day and fix it after he shut the boiler down.

Please check out those videos about using the soft refrigerant grade copper to feed dry steam to radiators as I think you will be very impressed and you may think that using propane in your shops and garages will be a thing of the past.

 
Rufcar
Member
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed. Jan. 23, 2019 3:48 pm
Stoker Coal Boiler: Van wert
Coal Size/Type: rice

Post by Rufcar » Sun. Jan. 27, 2019 1:59 pm

1st the ball valve is new this summer and that is the closed location due to where I set the handle for ease of blowing out sludge. The next notch is just too high up. I will ck that valve but it was brand new last yr when I installed the cabinet rad! Tkx


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