The Van Wert VA600 Project

 
Dave 1234
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Stoker Coal Boiler: 1948 International boiler, EFM S-20 stoker
Coal Size/Type: Buck,

Post by Dave 1234 » Sun. May. 28, 2017 11:45 am

Nice work Don !!!

I like the way your flue gasses and heat wrap around the boiler before they are exausted .

look forward to how the stack temps run on this beauty .

Dave :yes:


 
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Rob R.
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Location: Chazy, NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Jr

Post by Rob R. » Sun. May. 28, 2017 1:04 pm

Same here - looking forward to seeing the reports on a factory-setup Van Wert.

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
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

Post by StokerDon » Sun. May. 28, 2017 5:17 pm

Dave 1234 wrote:Nice work Don !!!

I like the way your flue gasses and heat wrap around the boiler before they are exausted .

look forward to how the stack temps run on this beauty .
Thanks Dave and Rob,

The Van Wert has that neat wrap-around heat exchange but it doesn't force the hot gasses down before the exit. I'm think'in because of this, the flue gas temperature might be on the high side.

Time will tell.

-Don
Last edited by StokerDon on Sun. May. 28, 2017 5:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
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

Post by StokerDon » Sun. May. 28, 2017 5:39 pm

Things were going well today,

I got all my tools together to finish the boiler clean up before painting.
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I painted the H-stamp tag and the steam water level tag silver before taping them off.
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This boiler is a little more complicated than most. It has places that are difficult to get to with a wire wheel and paint.
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I also sprayed the fire door area silver, then taped it off.
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Ready to start paint'in!
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The only paint that I had enough of to do a whole boiler was the Hi Heat semi-gloss black, so on it went!
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I was about 90% done and then it started raining. DARN!!!
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I was half way through the final coat on the top. I pushed it back inside quick but some rain drops got on the wet paint.
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Here's what it looks like now.
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It's a bit to black for me. I think we will brighten it up with a Two-Tone paint job once the weather dries up.

-Don

 
Qtown1835
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Posts: 705
Joined: Sat. Nov. 08, 2014 11:47 am
Location: Quakertown, PA
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker '81 KA4 (online 1/16/17)
Coal Size/Type: WAS Lehigh Rice (TBD)
Other Heating: EFM SPK600

Post by Qtown1835 » Sun. May. 28, 2017 6:33 pm

Looks like a fun project. Everything is coming along nicely. Makes me want another project, just don't know what I would do with another boiler. :)

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
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

Post by StokerDon » Sun. May. 28, 2017 7:32 pm

Qtown1835 wrote:Looks like a fun project. Everything is coming along nicely. Makes me want another project, just don't know what I would do with another boiler. :)
Me to, I only "need" one boiler but these things are so neat to play with! That leads to finding more boilers to fix up and re-do.

If I had more room, I would probably just keep them. Usually, when it gets to crowded, I sell one or two.

-Don

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
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

Post by StokerDon » Sun. May. 28, 2017 7:36 pm

Qtown1835 wrote:Looks like a fun project. Everything is coming along nicely. Makes me want another project, just don't know what I would do with another boiler. :)
A word of advise, if you do go looking for another boiler project, get and under fed stoker. Under feds are really nice machines and you don't have to fill a hopper, just take the ashes out.

-Don


 
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Scottscoaled
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Location: Malta N.Y.
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520, 700, Van Wert 800 GJ 61,53
Baseburners & Antiques: Magic Stewart 16, times 2!
Coal Size/Type: Lots of buck
Other Heating: Slant Fin electric boiler backup

Post by Scottscoaled » Sun. May. 28, 2017 8:49 pm

Looking good Don! The black is a real eye catcher. :clap: :clap:

 
alpineboard
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Joined: Thu. Jan. 20, 2011 8:12 am
Stoker Coal Boiler: Van Wert 600
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Tarm 202
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Harman HXL, 150, Crane 88, Crane 404
Other Heating: Solar

Post by alpineboard » Mon. May. 29, 2017 9:12 pm

Great job, looks familiar, with an extra hole for the oil burner.

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
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

Post by StokerDon » Wed. May. 31, 2017 9:34 pm

Thanks guys!
alpineboard wrote:Great job, looks familiar, with an extra hole for the oil burner.
That's right, it's just like your orange one but it has an extra hole.

I guess I'm done painting the boiler, I was going to do it Two Tone but it looks plenty good the way it is. It was finally nice outside when I got home from work so I wheeled it outside and finished the paint work.
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Looking in from the back. I painted the ash diverter with hi heat silver to brighten it up on the inside.
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Looking in from the oil burner hole. Notice how the oil burner cracked the ash diverter.
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Looking in from the back again. The vertical slot on the right of the fire door is where the hot gasses escape, then they travel between the two boiler walls at the front, then around the outside of the left boiler wall, then to the flue in back.
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I have the openings covered up and a 60 watt light bulb inside to keep it dry until it goes into the basement.
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That's it for the boiler, the stoker is about done to. The doors and frames still need to be cleaned and painted. This boiler is getting it's sheet metal covers put back on it so they will need to be cleaned and painted also.

-Don

 
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lsayre
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Posts: 21781
Joined: Wed. Nov. 23, 2005 9:17 pm
Location: Ohio
Stoker Coal Boiler: AHS S130 Coal Gun
Coal Size/Type: Lehigh Anthracite Pea
Other Heating: Resistance Boiler (13.5 KW), ComfortMax 75

Post by lsayre » Thu. Jun. 01, 2017 6:05 am

Scottscoaled wrote:Looking good Don! The black is a real eye catcher. :clap: :clap:
I agree! Leave it black.

 
LehighanthraciteMatt
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Van Wert
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Alaska
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Warm Morning
Coal Size/Type: Rice,Buck, and Nut

Post by LehighanthraciteMatt » Tue. Jun. 06, 2017 3:33 pm

Beautiful Job! Looks wonderful, I know it will be good to you as I have had and still have Van Werts. They are a fine machine!

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
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

Post by StokerDon » Sat. Jun. 10, 2017 7:37 pm

Thanks Matt!

TODAY WAS MOVING DAY!

Rigged up the truck, engine hoist and boiler.
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It's gonna land right there on that dolly.
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And, in it goes!
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A perfect shot! Right on the dolly!
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A view of the rigging from below.
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There it is! At some point over the Summer I will move the BairMatic out and plumb in the Van Wert.
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The covers are ready to be cleaned, painted and insulated.
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-Don

 
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lsayre
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Posts: 21781
Joined: Wed. Nov. 23, 2005 9:17 pm
Location: Ohio
Stoker Coal Boiler: AHS S130 Coal Gun
Coal Size/Type: Lehigh Anthracite Pea
Other Heating: Resistance Boiler (13.5 KW), ComfortMax 75

Post by lsayre » Sat. Jun. 10, 2017 11:46 pm

Looking mighty good there Don!

Of course all of your searching for the perfect boiler will only end when you finally get an AHS S-130 Coal Gun installed. But its simplicity would bore you to death.

 
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Rob R.
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Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. Jun. 11, 2017 6:56 am

Very nice. Don, do you have a non-coal fired way to produce hot water?

I have an indirect run off the oil boiler, but I am starting to wish I had something else. I want to make some piping changes to my system, but I usually only get an hour or two at a time to work...that doesn't work with three other people in the house looking for hot water.


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