Jim D.'S Stoker Boiler Install Thread

Scottscoaled · Post by **Scottscoaled** » Sun. Oct. 13, 2013 12:04 am

franco b wrote:
Rob R. wrote: I hate to drain the boiler again to swap a boiler drain, so the cap might become permanent.
Do it on the fly. With no pressure it just glugs a bit even if you are not fast. Obviously not with scalding water.

Whoooooaaaah here! Just getting on this thread. Kinda like it. I don't like pressure at all when I'm glugging. Yes, if you glug too fast, you will get some on your fly and it takes hot water to get it out.

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Sun. Oct. 13, 2013 12:33 am

No hot water for me - I just have my wife su ........

......well ... maybe I'd better save that one for Flame Suit.

Scottscoaled · Post by **Scottscoaled** » Sun. Oct. 13, 2013 1:06 pm

Whoaaah Smitty! Glugging beer. Get your mind out of the gutter.

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Tue. Oct. 15, 2013 12:49 pm

Fed Ex just dropped off my connector pipe. For whatever reason, I had a tough time finding any decent galvanized pipe online after many searches - all looked like thin, cheap crap. I took a chance in ordering some Ventis 22 ga. black pipe. GOOD choice!! Just unboxed it all - it's 10x thicker than that POS Home Depot pipe I had first used in the basement on the Mark I that blew out in just 3 months of the damp summer. It's made by Olympia Chimney Supply right there in good ol' PA, and is painted already - INSIDE AND OUT!! Supposedly FUME FREE too! Sounds like this stuff is too good to be true! Guess as long as I keep it clean, and take it upstairs whenever the boiler gets shut down, it should last a good long time. We'll see ...

So now my one hangup is one stupid assed fitting that I shouldn't have bought to begin with. It's a 1-1/2" brass female threaded 90° L with a 1-1/2" sweat fitting on one side. Should've just run a straight female -to-sweat, then put a regular 90° sweat connector on there .... but no ... had to re-engineer the wheel. Paid too much for it for starters ... and it's friggin backordered .. because nobody uses it! DAMMIT!!! Sometimes I wonder what the F is wrong with my head ...

Could've started the install today .....

Anyway - here's the pipe and the 3 elbows needed for the install. Great that I don't even have to paint the inside.

Here's a link to the pipe I got. http://www.olympiachimney.com/products/cat/VB/ ... I bought it from: http://www.hartshearth.com/default.htm ... had great experience with them in the past. Family owned American, Christian company - cheap prices, quality products, FAST shipping!! Proud to support them!

Here's that Home Depot black steel pipe after just 3 months, cold & uncleaned, in the wet basement:

Post by **Rob R.** » Tue. Oct. 15, 2013 1:32 pm

Call & cancel the oddball fitting, get what you need at a local hardware store.

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Tue. Oct. 15, 2013 1:40 pm

Yeah should probably do that .... but I wonder if they'll whack me shipping charges after the fact?? That would put the total under their $300 threshold ....

Crap ... I went and cancelled without using my damn brain - I forgot that NOBODY stocks copper or brass fittings around here bigger than 3/4"!!

Calling them back now ....

EDIT #2 ... called back and it's back on. Great customer service there! They didn't miss a beat! Around here locally I'd have got eye-rolls, groans, and a WTF under the breath!

Post by **Rob R.** » Tue. Oct. 15, 2013 2:12 pm

You don't have a True Value or Ace Hardware around? Plumbing supply house?

If not, perhaps the kind folks at Pexsupply can substitute some other fittings that are in stock.

EarthWindandFire · Post by **EarthWindandFire** » Tue. Oct. 15, 2013 3:49 pm

I didn't know about Jim, very sorry to hear about this. I still have pm's from him that were very appreciated.

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Tue. Oct. 15, 2013 9:17 pm

Yeah he was called home right around Christmas time. My heart goes out to his family - must've been real tough. It was as much a shock to them as it was to all of us. Completely unexpected.

Rob R. wrote:You don't have a True Value or Ace Hardware around? Plumbing supply house?

If not, perhaps the kind folks at Pexsupply can substitute some other fittings that are in stock.

Used to have an Aubuchon's right down the road here, but they folded. The local plumbing supply places give you funny looks when you ask for oddball things ... then wonder why you didn't hire THEM to install it, so no thanks there. A place that would have it in stock, maybe, is in Worcester ... and I will FREEZE TO DEATH before I venture into that progressive cesspit.

It'll be here in a couple days. Got plenty to do until then. Still have to paint the boiler .. which I was supposed to do today .. but ended up on the net until 15:00 ... and then I had a compactor and mower dropped off here ... and the truck dropping them off overheated in my driveway, 260° + !

Never a dull moment around here ...

Hambden Bob · Post by **Hambden Bob** » Tue. Oct. 15, 2013 11:02 pm

Just another "Lovely And Productive Day" in Smittyville........How's the Frog ?

Post by **Lightning** » Wed. Oct. 16, 2013 9:06 am

NIce Cat Smitty lol

and good call on the pipe. That's where I got mine too! Its good stuff

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Wed. Oct. 16, 2013 8:14 pm

Off to a TERRIBLE start, as I suspected I would be. I HATE plumbing!! The damn fittings are all measured using some method I cannot seem to grasp. Yeah, it's pipe size, not thread size ... so how in the hell are you supposed to measure a square head pipe PLUG then? What I thought was 1/2" turns out is 1/4" NPT ... ... but at least I found that out before pressing the PLACE ORDER button!

Actually I have learned to identify smaller pipe threads by sight, because I work with them all the time. Over 1/2" NPT and I get lost.

.JPEG | 115.2KB | PIPETHREAD1.jpeg

.JPEG | 127.2KB | PIPETHREAD2.jpeg

I managed to find most of the fittings I needed at Lowe's believe it or not. They seemed to have the larger fittings. Forget about the Home Depot.

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Thu. Oct. 17, 2013 7:14 am

Hambden Bob wrote:Just another "Lovely And Productive Day" in Smittyville........How's the Frog ?

He's back from the dead! Still kickin down there after 2-3 years. Still don't know what he's been eating .. although I did find a couple baby garter snakes in the middle of the floor last week.

That's that great chart. I found all that out the hard way before my order ...

Both H/D & Lowe's are a 30 minute drive from here one way, so I don't even bother. That's a long way to go when I'm all pissed off because they didn't have what I needed! That 30 minutes becomes 45 in an instant - just takes one jackass ...

whistlenut · Post by **whistlenut** » Thu. Oct. 17, 2013 7:53 am

Gotta get you some way to relax.........this plumbing thingy is causing you stress. Is there a plumbing supply house closer than the big box stores?
Hint: Do not get into the adult beverages while trying to cut off you limbs; burn yourself in a self-mutilation; poke out your eyes bending or twisting tooooooo fast.......
Do I need to make that road trip this week?????

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Thu. Oct. 17, 2013 8:17 am

It's all good - I just ordered everything online. Problem solved.

If I had only NOT ordered that one oddball fitting .....

Jim D.'S Stoker Boiler Install Thread

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