Jim D.'S Stoker Boiler Install Thread
-
- Member
- Posts: 540
- Joined: Wed. Feb. 13, 2008 8:29 pm
- Location: Sussex County N.J.
Smitty, Black pipe size is inside dia. Brass is the same as black size. Copper is outside dia. Most home boilers are 1 1/4, 11/2 2" I'am working in a 1940's house now that is steam and the header is 21/2, The new boiler is 2" and the returns are 11/4. A couple of weeks ago I was welding 3" black pipe together. Don't let it beat you up!
- Hambden Bob
- Member
- Posts: 8549
- Joined: Mon. Jan. 04, 2010 10:54 am
- Location: Hambden Twp. Geauga County,Ohio
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Harman 1998 Magnum Stoker
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Blower Model Coal Chubby 1982-Serial#0097
- Coal Size/Type: Rice-A-Roni ! / Nut
- Other Heating: Pro-Pain Forced Air
Jesus,Smit's...When the hell was the last time you can remember being bored ?
- wilder11354
- Member
- Posts: 1221
- Joined: Sat. Jan. 29, 2011 10:48 pm
- Location: Montrose, Pa.
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Harman SF260 Boiler
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93
- Coal Size/Type: nut or pea, anthracite
- Other Heating: crown oil boiler, backup.if needed
Not sure how far they are from you....but they will have anything you need in stock pretty much up to 2" copper, pipe, fittings. And brass fittings.
- Carbon12
- Member
- Posts: 2226
- Joined: Tue. Oct. 11, 2011 6:53 pm
- Location: Harrisburg, PA
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
- Coal Size/Type: Rice/Anthracite
- Other Heating: Heat Pump/Forced Hot Air Oil Furnace
Smitty, don't feel bad,....I have box of copper fitting, a box of PVC fittings and a box of black pipe fittings,...All the wrong size collected over the years from various projects. Every once in a while, something come in handy. I now physically take a fitting or piece of pipe TO the hardware store to make sure things fit before I buy. I bought my KA6 second hand and relied on online manuals for installation. One Keystoker manual said the take offs are 1 1/4 another said 1 1/2. 1 1/4 turned out to be correct,.....not leaking, anyway!
- SMITTY
- Member
- Posts: 12526
- Joined: Sun. Dec. 11, 2005 12:43 pm
- Location: West-Central Mass
- Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520 Highboy
- Coal Size/Type: Rice / Blaschak anthracite
- Other Heating: Oil fired Burnham boiler
Ahh I'll be alright .... today just was one of THOSE days. Went to the bank .. friggin closed. WTF .. banker's hours ... So started working on a chainsaw that's been as much of a project as this boiler install ... and broke the plastic nipple off the external primer bulb ... More money down the toilet. Whatever's left in my wallet will be going to property taxes! Yaay!
The thing with me is, I'm sure I could find the stuff locally if I absolutely had to .. but at what cost to my mental health? Drive 90 minutes one way to go 25 miles, burn up $30 is gas, risk getting pulled over and triple-taxed just for being on the road, get my blood boiling from mindless dolts that have no business behind the wheel ..... all to find out the place, A: Doesn't sell to people who aren't contractors, or, B: Has nothing in stock, requiring another $30 in gas to pick the crap up. NO THANKS!! FedEx will come here and pick up my screwup ... and UPS will drop off a new box of correct parts. I don't have to venture out on the road and get myself all pissed off - I can stay here, on my property, in PEACE, listening to squirrels chatter to each other, all while making money. Why the hell would I leave?
Actually the #1 reason is highlighted above in bold in your quote. Places only cater to tradesmen ... so do you think us working class poor are going to hire a plumber at $300/hr? If so, I'm going to paint the Blazer pink and sell it to you as a new Bentley. Makes about as much sense. The other part of it is dealing with miserable people on the road, at the store, at the register ... nobody understands wtf your trying to accomplish, and offer suggestions such as, THAT WON'T WORK ... or ... YOU CAN'T DO THAT ... or my favorite ... WHO IS INSTALLING THIS AGAIN?? May have been years since I've encountered this, but I never forget an unpleasant transaction.rberq wrote:Which is the #1 reason we can't find anything locally. First WalMart drove most of the local guys out of business, then Amazon finished the job. I know, I know -- I do the same thing. The well-stocked places around here are for the trade only, and usually won't sell to you unless you are licensed. I suppose that's so they don't get into hours of explaining to people like me what size pipe fittings I need. Only way I could do most plumbing, is if I could put the stuff together with duct tape. ...SMITTY wrote: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.
The thing with me is, I'm sure I could find the stuff locally if I absolutely had to .. but at what cost to my mental health? Drive 90 minutes one way to go 25 miles, burn up $30 is gas, risk getting pulled over and triple-taxed just for being on the road, get my blood boiling from mindless dolts that have no business behind the wheel ..... all to find out the place, A: Doesn't sell to people who aren't contractors, or, B: Has nothing in stock, requiring another $30 in gas to pick the crap up. NO THANKS!! FedEx will come here and pick up my screwup ... and UPS will drop off a new box of correct parts. I don't have to venture out on the road and get myself all pissed off - I can stay here, on my property, in PEACE, listening to squirrels chatter to each other, all while making money. Why the hell would I leave?
- Carbon12
- Member
- Posts: 2226
- Joined: Tue. Oct. 11, 2011 6:53 pm
- Location: Harrisburg, PA
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
- Coal Size/Type: Rice/Anthracite
- Other Heating: Heat Pump/Forced Hot Air Oil Furnace
I once had a problem with a local HVAC place giving me a hard time about selling parts to the general public. I waited until the next week and called them to try and set up an account, which they gladly did. Never had a problem getting supplies after that. Something you might try. Hint: When you go to get stuff, make sure your hands are already dirty, part of the required secret handshake, apparently! Lol!
- SMITTY
- Member
- Posts: 12526
- Joined: Sun. Dec. 11, 2005 12:43 pm
- Location: West-Central Mass
- Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520 Highboy
- Coal Size/Type: Rice / Blaschak anthracite
- Other Heating: Oil fired Burnham boiler
It's all good - the internet's a win for me. Don't have to go anywhere, and no sales tax ... at least this week anyway ...
4 pages and I've got NOTHING accomplished .... aside from blowing off some steam. Jim would be proud ... or at the very least, entertained.
Might actually start soldering things tomorrow. We'll see ....
4 pages and I've got NOTHING accomplished .... aside from blowing off some steam. Jim would be proud ... or at the very least, entertained.
Might actually start soldering things tomorrow. We'll see ....
- whistlenut
- Member
- Posts: 3548
- Joined: Sat. Mar. 17, 2007 6:29 pm
- Location: Central NH, Concord area
- Stoker Coal Boiler: AA130's,260's, AHS130&260's,EFM900,GJ & V-Wert
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Franks,Itasca 415,Jensen, NYer 130,Van Wert
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Alaska, EFM, Keystoker, Yellow Flame
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Alaska, Keystoker-2,Leisure Line
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Alaska, Gibraltar, Keystone,Vc Vigilant 2
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Ford, Jensen, NYer, Van Wert,
- Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwoods
- Coal Size/Type: Barley, Buck, Rice ,Nut, Stove
- Other Heating: Oil HWBB
Is that rig fired yet????? 26 here at 6 am......
- SMITTY
- Member
- Posts: 12526
- Joined: Sun. Dec. 11, 2005 12:43 pm
- Location: West-Central Mass
- Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520 Highboy
- Coal Size/Type: Rice / Blaschak anthracite
- Other Heating: Oil fired Burnham boiler
Looks like I'll need an idle control unit. Just plugged in the idle control thing, and it ran full tilt. Turned the knob ... still ran full tilt ... swapped plugs .. yep you guessed it.
Looks like it came off a Reading ...
<removed links, links in PM's can only be downloaded by the recipient or the sender>
Looks like it came off a Reading ...
<removed links, links in PM's can only be downloaded by the recipient or the sender>
Last edited by SMITTY on Sat. Apr. 01, 2017 6:06 am, edited 3 times in total.
Reason: <removed links, links in PM's can only be downloaded by the recipient or the sender>
Reason: <removed links, links in PM's can only be downloaded by the recipient or the sender>
- SMITTY
- Member
- Posts: 12526
- Joined: Sun. Dec. 11, 2005 12:43 pm
- Location: West-Central Mass
- Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520 Highboy
- Coal Size/Type: Rice / Blaschak anthracite
- Other Heating: Oil fired Burnham boiler
Of course not! That would be too easy!whistlenut wrote:Is that rig fired yet????? 26 here at 6 am......
Spent entire day yesterday doing plumbing ... and fixing damn leaks. Fought for at least an hour with the plug on the bottom of the Flo-Chek. Heated it red hot, pounded on it with a 4lb sledge, and put a 5' cheater bar on my wrench!! STILL wouldn't budge. Hammered on the hex with an air chisel - still nothing. Only after non-stop abuse for about a half hour straight with the air chisel did it FINALLY come off. *censored*!!
Then came the leaks .... Christ almighty ... anything that could leak, did. Of course, the minute I lit a wood fire and got those coils red hot, one blew out and hosed me down with scalding water .... and the piss stream went right on the wood pile! Just can't write this stuff - just another day in my life! Was so pissed I just went to bed, and left it boiling and spitting everywhere. I wrapped a rag around the big leaker and put a 5 gallon bucket underneath. Woke up 6 hours later to the thing still boiling, so I removed that heater hose & drained both coils, and let them steam off. Loaded the last of the wood in the basement then. Got the house up to 67° so that's an improvement, at least.
Now I *THINK* I've got all the leaks taken care of for the time being ... but looks like that damn idle feed control box isn't working right ... or I just don't understand how it's supposed to work. Plug it in, blower & stoker run full tilt. Turn it all the way down, no change. All the way up, no change. But then wtf controls idle???
This thing is kicking my ass ... and we're friggin cold!!
Pics are all out of order. Gotta get back down there if I want heat before New Years .... of '15!
Attachments
Last edited by SMITTY on Mon. Oct. 28, 2013 1:10 pm, edited 4 times in total.
- SMITTY
- Member
- Posts: 12526
- Joined: Sun. Dec. 11, 2005 12:43 pm
- Location: West-Central Mass
- Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520 Highboy
- Coal Size/Type: Rice / Blaschak anthracite
- Other Heating: Oil fired Burnham boiler
You'll have to show me a pic -no idea what that is ...
Forgot my pic of the abused Flo-Check -- that air chisel was melting thru the cast iron!
Forgot my pic of the abused Flo-Check -- that air chisel was melting thru the cast iron!
Attachments
- Rob R.
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 18004
- Joined: Fri. Dec. 28, 2007 4:26 pm
- Location: Chazy, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Jr
Intermatic C8835 is one example, do a web search for a picture. You can set it to run the stoker for 1 minute every 10 minutes, etc. That is all that Reading box does, it just happens to have a knob for adjustment and a relay to tie in a thermostat.