Jim D.'S Stoker Boiler Install Thread

Figure I might as well start this now, as I'm in the beginning stages of installing the boiler Jimmy gave me last year. I'll be forever grateful to him for his generosity. RIP ol' buddy! I'll try my best to honor him with a good install ... but ...

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!

To start off, I figured I'd repair the leaky tankless coil on the oil boiler before I begin. No sense introducing a constant fresh water supply to such a young boiler - I need this thing to LAST! Well, as luck would have it, my decision to buy this electronic wonder aquastat just bit me firmly in the ass! The stupid cheap ass temperature sensor remained stuck deep within the temp well, while I held bare wires in the other hand!!! You've got to be friggin' smokin' me!!! If this is a sign of things to come, then I'm just going to start drinking NOW.

To top it all off I just wasted half the day driving around for supplies. NOBODY has ANY part of them. Not one damn thing!! No 1.5" copper .... no temp sensor ... nothing! This is the #1 reason I buy everything online.

Cold showers tonight! No way to kick this damn thing on. Keeps flashing ERR 1, presumably due to the busted sensor.

Anyone have any tricks on how to fool this sensor until the damn thing comes in?? Wife's gonna be full of joy after working 14 hours and coming home to a cold shower. Might even be more pissed than I am right now!

DAAAAAAAMMMITTT!!!!!!!

Is this the sensor that turns the oil burner on and off? If so you can just twist the wires together. Can't you just replace it with a simple Honeywell? Or at the relay short out the T terminals.

There's 3 wires on this one. It's an electronic wonder. No idea what does what, or what will catch fire if I twist them all together. I'm certain my next move will be to fry the thing altogether.

What's another aquastat to the installation bill? I'll have this card maxed yet ....

Note to self - DO NOT BUY ELECTRONIC AQUASTATS!!!

Smit's....Coming atcha with a PM and my Phone #...We gotta Honor your Wife and Jim D. !

A memorial to Jim...
I like it...
Plus the heat and hot water will make you remember...
There are still some good in the world and MA...

Absolutely Cape! What a great guy he was. Miss him big time.

Thanks Bob - I just shot you a PM. The situation seems to be under control ... at least for the moment.

Gotta love indirect water heaters! 8 hours after the boiler last fired, the wife and I were still able to take a HOT shower! Couldn't believe it. Even fired up the dishwasher too, and this morning they're all clean! Imagine that.

So I got 13 hours of sleep and I'm feeling much better. Brain is working again ... instead of melting down. I made a large purchase at Pexsupply.com (thanks to Rob R. for that info!) last night - got everything I needed for the boiler install, (even the pipe!) AND I got the electronic wiz-bang sensor too - all with free shipping! All is well .... for now .... Going to install the old aquastat for the time being, until the order arrives - then I'll use that one for the stoker control (I hope).

For the connector pipe, instead of stainless ($$$) I think I'm just going to use galvy on this one. I'll have to install the baro on the side. I think I still have a side install kit buried in the pile of crap here ...

Look for 24 gauge galvanized, it works fantastic for coal stokers. Baro may not be needed if the oil boiler has one and will also be hooked to the chimney.

Thanks Rob - I'll start looking for that stuff.

I have to move the current oil boiler baro - it's right where the pipe needs to go in from the stoker.

The pipe will come down in front here, and enter where the baro now is:

<removed links, links in PM's can only be downloaded by the recipient or the sender>

That setup will probably dump a lot of fly ash into the oil boiler. Either plan on disconnecting the oil boiler flue pipe entirely, or engineer a different solution.

Something I didn't think of - good point! I'll probably stuff the thing full of newspaper - I've got a switch I just rigged up towards the end of last heating season that kills the burner, but allows all the zone valves & circ., and the indirect to function. Did that so I could run off just the coils in the Harman.

Or, I might just flip the T to the side and install the baro there! Problem solved! Thanks again Rob!

Fought with the oil boiler again today. Left it apart all night - way too pissed off to continue last night. Took the tankless coil outside this morning and wire wheeled all the corrosion off the plate, and off all 8 bolts - they were a mess. Exactly like working on a 10 year old car that's seen 11 winters here.

I reused the old, hardened rubber gasket ... but I slapped on Permatex Right Stuff on BOTH sides. No more leaks .... well, at least none there anymore. Hope I don't ever have to remove this thing again .. or I'll need a 20 ton puller - that Right Stuff is unbelievably strong! No more leaks there .... but the leak just moved from the tankless plate to the damn boiler drain. If I could win for losing ..... well .... I'd be a *censored* winner!!

I managed to ram a drill inside the well, and extract the broken temp sensor. There was enough heat conducting compound left inside to spread all over the old aquastat's sensing bulb too.

SO ... Got the tankless all bolted back up and sealed, mickey moused the boiler drain until the new one comes in (see pics), and half-ass wired the old analog aquastat back in. I've got wires a millimeter from arcing out on the body ... and the cover doesn't fit right - had to install it upside down! Check out the pic of the switch ... now everything's backwards. Another fine repair! At least I've got hot water until I get this thing done right sometime next week.

Just FYI on the tankless (because I know someone is gonna ask) - it's only there because ... otherwise I'd have a 5" x 18" hole in my boiler that would be kind of tough to seal up. And the aquastat well is built into it too.

While out there I wire wheeled the hopper for the new-to-me stoker boiler, primed and painted. Thanks to Whistlenut for the tip on painting that thing! Would've disintegrated in no time being bare steel. Thing was all rusted just from sitting in my kitchen for a year. Boiler down stairs is already rusting away at warp speed. Got to repaint that thing too before I start plumbing ...

Smit's,you are the "Master Of Disaster Pictures"...I've got to take some time and start learning how to do the "Postin' Pic's" thing ! This place luvs pics !

Thanks Bob .. I think ...

Just click 'upload attachment' when you post, click the BROWSE button, then find the file your computer has the pictures in , click on the pic, then click OPEN below. Then click ADD THE FILE. Nice n easy.

Now I remember why I removed this old aquastat to begin with. I have the HI set at 155° and the LO set at 140° with a 15° diff ... and the boiler is at 190°+ and kicks on at 170° ... Maybe I won't be using this one for the stoker ... unless I can master it's quirkyness. Maybe I'll set it at 120° ....

I've just read about the install process, and now you know personally the benefit of 'Adult Beverages in a Murphy's Law World'.

I do like the electronic aquastats and as you get used to them, they will be fine.

Rob is a great guy and has a terrific sense of humor as well. He has seen every disaster you are living with and enjoys sharing solutions and advise.
A very fine member of the forum to be sure.

I'm gonna give you a call this am to see how things are going, and perhaps a road trip will be in order. Do I need a special 'Passport' to get into Mass?
I have mastered the 'One Fingered Salute'; 'the constant 'horn blowing'; even the art of dodging the assorted mass-holes who seen to have a death wish on the local roads as well as the turnpikes. Still not able to deal with all the slot car, low slung go fast cars in the Wooooooster area.

Primer and paint.....but not on a cold day with the boiler running. Ventilation is key!!!!

.....soon, you will appreciate the 'stoker world comfort' and forget the 'rocky road' getting there.

I started a coal boiler install today on a boiler just like Smitty's. It had the same boiler drain, and it also wouldn't stop dripping after I refilled the boiler. I had a brass cap that threaded on, so we are good for now. I hate to drain the boiler again to swap a boiler drain, so the cap might become permanent.

Do not use an aquastat with that is acting funny on the coal boiler. If you want to keep things simple, control the temperature of the coal boiler with a L4006A or L6006A aquastat and let the circulator run all the time.

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.