Winkler automatic stoker

Hi all,

My mother recently bought a retirement house and it has this Winkler boiler in the utility room. I haven't come up with much information on the internet besides where it was made and when. Is it worth restoring? Is it scrap metal? Is it an environmental hazard? It doesn't seem to have the auto feed that i have seen elsewhere, but seems to be in pretty good shape for being 80+ yrs old. Anyway, any information you have would be appreciated. We're not sure what to do with it at the moment. Pics attached below. Apologies if this is in the wrong topic!

What you have there is a hand fired steam boiler that at one time had an upgrade with a "winkler" stoker added to auto feed the coal. The "winkler" has long since been removed and currently that old steam boiler is being fired by, looks like fuel oil.

Restored would be back to hand fired as the "winkler" looks to be missing.

And do NOT "stir up" that Asbestos Insulation affixed to the outside of that boiler if you can help it.

That boiler has a gas burner on it and it is not very efficient.

David

No matter what you decide its going to cost you some$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Having the boiler removed is going to cost your grandmother a bit of money(which the seller should have taken care of to begin with by the way).

The asbestos on the boiler has to be corralled and bagged by an asbestos contractor which will require that the basement has to have an air lock created to correctly.

It is time to convince grandmama to have a chat with the her barister(attorney) and send a nice pair of letters to the real estate agent and the previous owner or the previous estate barister (attorney) reminding them that the home should not have been sold to the present owner "AS IS, WHERE IS' essentially as this is something she should never have had to deal with due to the current asbestos abatement requirements which have been in force for many years.

As it is now if the steam system fails grandmama will probably be looking at a 5K asbestos removal expense plus the installation of a much more efficient very small steam boiler with drop headers to feed dry steam to the upper floors.

I am still amazed at the crap that they(realtors/real estate agents) pass off as safe these days.

I would also ask for the six percent commission back from her real estate agent since he or she has sold her an unsafe home or ask nice to have the old boiler removed and a new smaller one installed with drop headers to create dry steam for the upstairs radiators- AT NO COST TO GRANDMAMA.

Welcome to the forum,

stillcreek wrote: ↑

Wed. Oct. 16, 2019 12:01 pm

My mother recently bought a retirement house and it has this Winkler boiler in the utility room.

Unfortunatly, as mentioned above, the "Winkler Stoker" part of this system is on longer around. It looks like it has been converted to a gas burner. The only easy way to get this boiler to burn coal again would be to remove the gas burner and install a set of coal grates like it originally had.

-Don

Thanks for all of the information, I really appreciate it. So while the house still has radiators, including one on the ceiling, which i had never seen before, the boiler is not operational. The house has been converted to central air, though most of the boiler infrastructure remains intact. I'm very concerned about the asbestos hazard now (thanks again folks for pointing that out!). This small utility room that the boiler is in has the main electrical service panel, and is where the water main enters the house and trunks off and also has an a/c junction. So the room has to be accessed on occasion. Is this thing safe to leave in here, or, as some have suggested, should it have been removed prior to the house being sold? Thanks again for everyone's time and information. I have no experience with these things!

Was there a Home Inspection done? They would of discovered it.
Was there a Home Warranty purchased? That would of maybe covered it???

Maybe encapsulate it in place and then cover it with some sheet metal to protect from becoming physically disturbed...

Abatement is the best but will make you wish someone else footed the bill real quick!

stillcreek wrote: ↑

Wed. Oct. 16, 2019 11:20 pm

Thanks for all of the information, I really appreciate it. So while the house still has radiators, including one on the ceiling, which i had never seen before, the boiler is not operational. The house has been converted to central air, though most of the boiler infrastructure remains intact. I'm very concerned about the asbestos hazard now (thanks again folks for pointing that out!). This small utility room that the boiler is in has the main electrical service panel, and is where the water main enters the house and trunks off and also has an a/c junction. So the room has to be accessed on occasion. Is this thing safe to leave in here, or, as some have suggested, should it have been removed prior to the house being sold? Thanks again for everyone's time and information. I have no experience with these things!

==========================================================================

Its best to have it removed and MAKE THE SELLER PAY FOR THE REMOVAL AND ASBESTOS ABATEMENT.

If the main steam riser is where the boiler is now it would be easier to put the new steam boiler in the same place as the removal and abatement process is going to dislodge asbestos in the air in any case.

They used to hang steam radiators on the walls and in the ceilings so no worries there.

Do you know if the central air system is also being used to heat the home?????? you need to find this out.

Have a heat study and home inspection done as soon as possible as there are probably many things that the "realtor or real estate agent" did not know about or "neglected to mention" OR ARE HIDDEN.

Around here once you close you own the house and any/all of its issues, so the time to get the seller to address something like this generally is beforehand. Maybe you'd have a case if somebody demonstrably falsified a disclosure document, home inspection report, etc., but there is no general requirement that asbestos be removed, even though it is hazardous. If anything, removal can create hazards for home occupants that would not arise if the asbestos was simply left undisturbed (perhaps with the help of some encapsulation), a strategy employed by numerous owners of older homes.

Mike

Putting a sheet over the boiler & wearing an aspirating mask--PLUS not telling the world you're doing this--would simplify removing the asbestos SLOWLY-- with shop vac. to do final clean up--would cover all legal problems IF you've already had closing!!! Course I live in Freetown where things are much less complicated!!! LOL

Even in Freetown there's a pretty good chance that approach to removal would produce greater exposure to airborne asbestos fibers than would occur if the asbestos were left undisturbed or encapsulated. Maybe keeping it all wet would help some.

Mike

A shop vac is a terrible thought as it is the partical size that can pass through the filter that are the worst in the lungs.

x2 McG.

Mike

Sheet rock filters work well & keepin it wet while removing it is a great method that I forgot to mention P--thanx. Hell, out here most don't have a clue what encapsulate means!!! LOL

Thanks all for the information. The house has closed and I don't recall any asbestos on the inspection report, but I will check. I wonder if they have any liability. If not , I may have to look into non take-out-a-second-mortgage methods of getting this removed. ugh. I never would have known the danger had I not stopped in the forum, so thanks again to all who replied!