Sears Hercules Hand Fired Coal?

ASea · Post by **ASea** » Fri. Dec. 20, 2019 3:46 pm

I have an interest in antique homes. Mostly Craftsman and Victorian Style. I was looking through some of the old Sears catalogs and was wondering if anyone on this forum still burns one? I see many were converted to gas or oil. They look like very solid units.

Post by **franco b** » Fri. Dec. 20, 2019 5:14 pm

I believe Seara bought the Wehrle factory to produce their own stoves.

ASea · Post by **ASea** » Fri. Dec. 20, 2019 8:04 pm

Reminds me of the Chappee Boilers.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Sears+Hercules+Bo ... ZBKgAl59wM:

ASea · Post by **ASea** » Fri. Dec. 20, 2019 10:12 pm

I'd love to have one of the square boilers and thermostat. Pretty slick! Especially for 1920!

.PDF | 10.9MB | Sears and Roebuck Hercules.pdf

Donb · Post by **Donb** » Sat. Dec. 21, 2019 9:05 am

Yup, sure does have some Chappee attributes.
The one shown is a steam boiler.....water sight glass and “try cocks” on the left side. (normally called tri-cocks and three of them) The Sears boiler has two returns in the flu, the Chappee has one.

Sure would be nice to have one. But how many boiler’s can you have in one house?

Don

Post by **StokerDon** » Sat. Dec. 21, 2019 5:20 pm

Now that is a really neat old catalog!

It even show how to hook it up for hot water or steam. Hot water is an old style gravity system, no moving parts! It looks a lot like this American Standard boiler.
https://chambersburg.craigslist.org/grd/d/brownfi ... 82547.html

-Don

freetown fred · Post by **freetown fred** » Sat. Dec. 21, 2019 5:36 pm

Nice find A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Sat. Dec. 21, 2019 6:39 pm

my parents house had a sears homart coal furnace when they bought it in 1968.
the house had central heating and plumbing installed sometime in the 50's, it had all sears sink and faucets, sears pump, had a sears water heater but dad switched propane out for electric. the heat exchanger on the sears coal furnace cracked and was replaced with an oil furnace in 1971. dad told me that oil was cheaper and the oil furnace was cheaper.
the pipes going to the well are sears homart black plastic pipes....they are at least 60 yrs old.

ASea · Post by **ASea** » Sun. Dec. 22, 2019 10:53 pm

StokerDon wrote: ↑
Sat. Dec. 21, 2019 5:20 pm
Now that is a really neat old catalog!

It even show how to hook it up for hot water or steam. Hot water is an old style gravity system, no moving parts! It looks a lot like this American Standard boiler.
https://chambersburg.craigslist.org/grd/d/brownfi ... 82547.html

-Don

Too bad my place wasn't set up for that. They look really well made and thought out. I bet they were pretty efficient. Not to mention made DHW. Certainly ties you to the house with tending but a revolutionary thing at the time.

I always wanted a Sears and Roebuck Vallonia Craftsman Style Home. Be great to recreate the heating system.

ASea · Post by **ASea** » Sun. Dec. 22, 2019 10:57 pm

That American Standard is an absolute BEAST! Built to last is an understatement. The only reason people got rid of the old boilers is that they were inefficient when converted to gas and oil. Sad! Not to mention they are covered in asbestos! LOL! I saw in the catolog you could buy a bag of asbestos cement for under $2.

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Mon. Dec. 23, 2019 10:01 pm

Thanks A, I enjoyed looking at that!

ASea · Post by **ASea** » Mon. Dec. 23, 2019 10:09 pm

CoalHeat wrote: ↑
Mon. Dec. 23, 2019 10:01 pm
Thanks A, I enjoyed looking at that!

It's amazing! They were way less dependant on electricity and oil back then. The only disadvantage to Hercules is that you are tied to home having to tend what I guess would be around every twelve hours. Seems more advanced and heavier duty than most of whats out there now.

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Mon. Dec. 23, 2019 10:23 pm

I'm tied to my home tending my Harman stove every 12 hours!
Hand-fired boilers and furnaces were standard systems for homes back then, if the homeowner was away a neighbor or friend could step in and shake and reload. I imagine people would read about stoker boilers and dream about owning one.