The Small Gentleman Janitor
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7496
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
- Location: PA, Southern York County!
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
- Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
- Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood
I picked up another new toy today. I think this is the smallest Gentleman Janitor they made. Could be another GJ-51???
It was converted to oil. They just made an oil gun hole in the fire door, put some pipes inside to deflect the oil flame and that's it! They didn't even empty the coal, ash, clinkers or anything! It is all still in there. The exhaust passage on the back needs to be rebuilt like most of them. I got the pot down. It wasn't even bolted in, well the four bolts in the flange were there, but they had no nuts on them. Unfortunately, the pot won't come out the ash door as I had hoped! From what I can see of the pot, it looks like it's in very good shape. No cross tubes in this one, just open space. I had it on the truck when I stopped at Mark's Supply today. Joe said there would have been a stainless steel baffle up in there. There are a couple pieces of it left. From the looks of things, I would bet the boiler is still plenty good enough to use. None of the DHW plate studs are broken off, yet. It should be fairly easy to seal this one up for a quick pressure test. I don't know when I will get time to do that though. I have to get my BairMatic / Van Wert finished first!
-Don
It was converted to oil. They just made an oil gun hole in the fire door, put some pipes inside to deflect the oil flame and that's it! They didn't even empty the coal, ash, clinkers or anything! It is all still in there. The exhaust passage on the back needs to be rebuilt like most of them. I got the pot down. It wasn't even bolted in, well the four bolts in the flange were there, but they had no nuts on them. Unfortunately, the pot won't come out the ash door as I had hoped! From what I can see of the pot, it looks like it's in very good shape. No cross tubes in this one, just open space. I had it on the truck when I stopped at Mark's Supply today. Joe said there would have been a stainless steel baffle up in there. There are a couple pieces of it left. From the looks of things, I would bet the boiler is still plenty good enough to use. None of the DHW plate studs are broken off, yet. It should be fairly easy to seal this one up for a quick pressure test. I don't know when I will get time to do that though. I have to get my BairMatic / Van Wert finished first!
-Don
- windyhill4.2
- Member
- Posts: 6072
- Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
- Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
- Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both
blrman07,Now don't be picking on SD,he is turning ugly ducklings into beautiful creatures. He can do the work ,i can watch,its more fun that way Sd,will this one be pink or purple ?
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7496
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
- Location: PA, Southern York County!
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
- Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
- Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood
Be careful what you wish for W.H. The BairMatic was very close to being a chocolate strawberry, pink and chocolate brown!
Reverend Larry. My only regret is that I don't have a much bigger garage. And, live a couple hundred miles further north.
-Don
Reverend Larry. My only regret is that I don't have a much bigger garage. And, live a couple hundred miles further north.
-Don
- BunkerdCaddis
- Member
- Posts: 708
- Joined: Sun. Jan. 18, 2015 10:26 am
- Location: SW Lancaster County
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Bairmatic-Van Wert
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Van Wert VW85H
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Saey Hanover II working when I feel the desire, Waterford 105 out on vacation, Surdiac Gotha hiding somewhere
- Coal Size/Type: pea/nut/rice/stove-anthracite, nut/stove bit when I feel the urge
- Other Heating: oil fired hydronic
I vote for an 8n Ford red and gray...
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7496
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
- Location: PA, Southern York County!
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
- Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
- Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood
Black Friday shopping indeed! I picked up a few things from Mark's Supply for the BairMatic while I was up in coal country to.
I got it off the truck today. I hosed it out with hot water but there is still stuff in there. I got one side plate off but busted 3 studs off doing it. I got a big surprise when I removed the rear flyash trap cover. It was completely packed full of about 40 pounds of oil soaked flyash! This thing could not have vented at all with all that crap in there! The exhaust passage was completely blocked.
The boiler looks good. It will likely pressure test fine. Surprisingly, the pot is one that accepts the larger auger, 2.5". It has a 14" ash ring. The pot is in very good shape, nice and smooth in the bottom and the rings look to be in good shape to.
Here is a nice Youtube video of just how one of these coal stoker boiler projects gets going. Shoveling the crap out of the flyash trap is one of the highlights!
-Don
I got it off the truck today. I hosed it out with hot water but there is still stuff in there. I got one side plate off but busted 3 studs off doing it. I got a big surprise when I removed the rear flyash trap cover. It was completely packed full of about 40 pounds of oil soaked flyash! This thing could not have vented at all with all that crap in there! The exhaust passage was completely blocked.
The boiler looks good. It will likely pressure test fine. Surprisingly, the pot is one that accepts the larger auger, 2.5". It has a 14" ash ring. The pot is in very good shape, nice and smooth in the bottom and the rings look to be in good shape to.
Here is a nice Youtube video of just how one of these coal stoker boiler projects gets going. Shoveling the crap out of the flyash trap is one of the highlights!
-Don
- windyhill4.2
- Member
- Posts: 6072
- Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
- Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
- Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both
That video shows the not so glamorous part of your projects. Thanks for doing that.
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7496
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
- Location: PA, Southern York County!
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
- Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
- Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood
Your welcome. Sometimes it's a long road that needs to be traveled before you can even think about paint or assembly. And most of that road is just plain old cleaning!
-Don
-Don
- windyhill4.2
- Member
- Posts: 6072
- Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
- Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
- Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both
Seems to me as tho you need to always have at least 1 of the painted units sitting nearby while you are on that long road of cleaning. Nothing like the finished product to keep you going in the right direction when you seem to be getting nowhere with "this rusty piece of junk" Those finished boilers are an inspiration to any of us when working on restoration projects of any kind.StokerDon wrote:Your welcome. Sometimes it's a long road that needs to be traveled before you can even think about paint or assembly. And most of that road is just plain old cleaning!
-Don
- CoalHeat
- Member
- Posts: 8862
- Joined: Sat. Feb. 10, 2007 9:48 pm
- Location: Stillwater, New Jersey
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1959 EFM 350
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Harman Magnafire Mark I
- Baseburners & Antiques: Sears Signal Oak 15 & Andes Kitchen Range
- Coal Size/Type: Rice and Chestnut
- Other Heating: Fisher Fireplace Insert
Looks like the GJ I have sitting out in the shed.
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7496
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
- Location: PA, Southern York County!
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
- Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
- Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood
Nice! Almost an exact match. Your exhaust passage looks to be in tacked and all the DHW coil studs are there to. That's a nice boiler. Mine has a bit of road to travel before it looks like that.Wood'nCoal wrote:Looks like the GJ I have sitting out in the shed.
Although mine does look a lot better now than when it picked it up! It looked like it was in a train wreck!
-Don
- CoalHeat
- Member
- Posts: 8862
- Joined: Sat. Feb. 10, 2007 9:48 pm
- Location: Stillwater, New Jersey
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1959 EFM 350
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Harman Magnafire Mark I
- Baseburners & Antiques: Sears Signal Oak 15 & Andes Kitchen Range
- Coal Size/Type: Rice and Chestnut
- Other Heating: Fisher Fireplace Insert
Oh!!!
The oil gun was stuck through the viewing door?
The oil gun was stuck through the viewing door?