AA 130 M Restoration and Installation

 
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McGiever
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Post by McGiever » Fri. May. 18, 2018 11:20 pm

Lightning wrote:
Fri. May. 18, 2018 10:59 pm
Well, I was hoping not to sacrifice any floor space along walls. It would effectively make the room that much smaller when it comes to putting equipment or cabinets up against the wall with the baseboard heaters in the way. But, by the sounds of it though, it would be the simplest and most effective way to heat the rooms.
It was mentioned to maybe have constant circulation to avoid cold shocking the boiler with 150' of cold water slugging the boiler after extended periods between heat calls.

This would be where the fan over coils convection would work a treat. (Know any schools to be remodeled, get them cheap or FREE)

Will not work to have constant circulation when running fin-tube baseboards, unless you set it up properly to allow for that to happen and not over heat the space.

https://www.buildinggreen.com/product-review/ther ... board-heat


 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Sat. May. 19, 2018 4:28 am

McGiever wrote:
Fri. May. 18, 2018 11:20 pm
Will not work to have constant circulation when running fin-tube baseboards, unless you set it up properly to allow for that to happen and not over heat the space.
You could use an arrangement of normally closed and normally open zone valves, to close the loop to the outbuildings well insulated 24/7 loop and simultaneously open it through the outbuildings HW baseboard(s) only upon a T-Stat heat call.

 
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Post by CoalJockey » Sat. May. 19, 2018 6:36 am

lsayre wrote:
Sat. May. 19, 2018 4:28 am
You could use an arrangement of normally closed and normally open zone valves, to close the loop to the outbuildings well insulated 24/7 loop and simultaneously open it through the outbuildings HW baseboard(s) only upon a T-Stat heat call.
That is exactly how the system at my old house worked Larry. When we plumbed the coal boiler in, it was set to run a large loop with a constant circulator. This was done using a bypass and two zone valves...one normally open and one normally closed. When the thermostat called for heat the zone valves would shift, thus diverting the hot water through the house instead of the bypass. When the heat call was satisfied the valves shifted again and the water now ran the bypass loop again.

It was a simple and effective system that worked very well.

 
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McGiever
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Post by McGiever » Sat. May. 19, 2018 10:15 am

Yes, a bypass loop...that works as a sorta primary/secondary setup by zone valves.
And a 3-way zone valve has both a NO and a NC port.

 
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Post by CapeCoaler » Sat. May. 19, 2018 3:10 pm

Closed cell foam, foil face to the inside heated space...
At R-6/7 per inch, 3 or four inches will do...
Radiant floor heat would be nice for warm feet...
Put in 2 small modines to quick heat the space...
Or just insulate and air seal well and the heat load will be low enough...
to maintain a higher/normal constant temperature...
After all the spray fluids might thicken and instruments don't like fluctuating temps...

 
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Post by Lightning » Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 3:41 pm

Time to resurrect this old thread 8-)

I did a little cleaning on the AA today.. I have a few questions if y'all could be so kind to give me some input.

Firstly, the "fork" end of the ratchet lever looks a little bent to me, or maybe it's suppose to be that way, not sure.
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This boiler has two thermostats on it. One on the front, one on the side. The One on the side looks newer. One is set for 180 the other 190.
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Then there is the controller on the back which I thought would be controlling everything.
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Then there are a few wires that are cut, one comes off the front thermostat. The others come from a junction box under the ratchet lever. I'm gonna guess one is for power, one is for the fan and not sure what the third is for unless it connects to the one off the thermostat at the front.
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So should I just tear off all this stuff and start from scratch with new wiring? That's probably the only way I'll get it right and learn in the process..

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 4:18 pm

Call AA and get a manual, they will send it free of charge and a bunch of other stuff. Wire it as described. I'm pretty sure all the forks look like that. I would say as a rule, Axeman stuff appears a bit crude but "robust" nonetheless.


 
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Post by Lightning » Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 4:42 pm

Thank you. It looks like some of the wiring is okay but some of the metal conduit is broken in places..

It looks like he wired an outlet to the side but I can't even be sure what that's all a bout either.

 
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Post by McGiever » Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 4:58 pm

Outlet may be traced backwards to find it's wiring starting point...my guess is it's for C circulator to plug into.

Best make some crude labels with model numbers of each aquastat so we might communicate better when discussing the different AQUASTATS.

X2 on the manuals

Your 3rd photo:
AA fan...called B for BURNER
AA circ-pump called C for circulator
AA hi/lo limit (operating) aquastat...maintains vessel temp within operating boundary (120VAC with built in 24VAC transformer and relay for TT) (TT is 24VAC connection to and from wall thermostat)

Dump aquastat...purges excess heat to a chosen zone before reaching excessive temps and or pressure (24VAC)
Dump zone may be optional, requires big enough expansion tank or else you'll wish you had the dump zone.

No keep fire timer is required...the bigger issue is to get the fire to go out when you want it to.

HI Safety Limit aquastat...if all else above fails this has one task...to kill ALL the source power to the Burner/Fan(120VAC)

Missing, I think, 30 psi. PRV (pressure relief valve)

 
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Post by McGiever » Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 5:05 pm

Hope you have been keeping those tankless coil bolt studs soaked all year since picking up this boiler...

50:50 ATF, Tranny Fluid and acetone...make yourself a quart and load one of Momma's spray bottles. :stfu:

 
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Post by Qtown1835 » Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 6:48 pm

McGiever wrote:
Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 5:05 pm
Hope you have been keeping those tankless coil bolt studs soaked all year since picking up this boiler...

50:50 ATF, Tranny Fluid and acetone...make yourself a quart and load one of Momma's spray bottles. :stfu:
Make sure its polypropylene.

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 6:55 pm

And use brass nuts when you are done.

 
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Post by Lightning » Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 7:37 pm

Thanks for all that great info fellas..
I feel better already lol.

So, you guys really think I should pull that DHW coil and risk busting those studs even though it passed the pressure test last summer. A couple of the bolts look a bit questionable. If I go that far shouldn't I just weld a plate over it and use an exchanger for DHW? or wait till it fails?

Sounds like a do it now or do it later job.. when it does fail I can just turn a couple valves to isolate it and return to heating water with the electric tank until I route in a water to water exchanger.

I plan to run the coil in line with the electric hot water tank. The valves to isolate the coil from the tank are already in place from the coal furnace water coil.

So based on all that, I should go ahead with pulling the coil?

 
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Post by StokerDon » Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 7:43 pm

Lightning wrote:
Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 3:41 pm
Firstly, the "fork" end of the ratchet lever looks a little bent to me, or maybe it's suppose to be that way, not sure.
It does look bent. You will want to re-bend it so that there is a minimum of side to side slop but not tight.
Lightning wrote:
Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 3:41 pm
hen there is the controller on the back which I thought would be controlling everything.
That is the triple aquastat, it pretty much does control everything. The 2 single aquastats on the front are for a high limit safety and the other is for a dump zone.
Lightning wrote:
Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 3:41 pm
Then there are a few wires that are cut, one comes off the front thermostat.
The one that comes from the triple aquastat probably is from C1, C2 which is the circ pump. One of those cables is going to be the main 120 VAC in.

The video below covers some of the basic wiring. I just figured out where to jump the 120 VAC in and it all fired right up.

Glad to see you are back on this project!

-Don

 
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Post by StokerDon » Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 7:49 pm

Lightning wrote:
Sun. Sep. 08, 2019 7:37 pm
So, you guys really think I should pull that DHW coil and risk busting those studs even though it passed the pressure test last summer. A couple of the bolts look a bit questionable. If I go that far shouldn't I just weld a plate over it and use an exchanger for DHW? or wait till it fails?
That all depends on when you want to fix it. Most would say that it is easier to fix it now when it's not in a basement, full of hot water and with a fire in it's belly.

-Don


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