The Furnace Works Model SFB-3

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Steve1

New Member
Jan 3, 2011
12
Southern New Jersey
I have a Furnace Works Model SFB-3 wood boiler that was manufactured in the late 70's early 80's. The company is no longer around. I need a damper motor for this unit and Im unable to find parts. Has anyone heard of this boiler and can direct me on where to find parts for it?
 
Hi, Welcome to Hearth. I think I saw this on Ebay, there were 2 of these. You probably need a Samson damper control. You can get this at Connecticut Green Heat. Search boilers on their site, scroll down to Atmos & you will see Honeywell/Braukman listed. This is a good price, Randy
 
Yep, they had 2 of these on Ebay. Is there a chain that attaches to the damper? If chain is missing is there an attachment point? Is there an adjustable thermostatic actuator(Samson) on the top of the boiler? Not the electrical aquastat. Pictures of the top of your boiler would be helpfull, Randy
 
Steve1 said:
I have a Furnace Works Model SFB-3 wood boiler that was manufactured in the late 70's early 80's. The company is no longer around. I need a damper motor for this unit and Im unable to find parts. Has anyone heard of this boiler and can direct me on where to find parts for it?

When you say "motor"-- is it a grey box with a crank arm on the side that lifts a chain to lift the damper? Some of the older wood units (like my old wood/ hot air Sam Daniels) used a system like that with a Honeywell motor-

http://customer.honeywell.com/Honey...nnelID=B02CD9124-96F3-4A04-8EA7-1777CCCAD5B3D

Probably not cheap, and so you may want to really test the motor you have to see if it might be something else in the controls.
 
Thats the problem, The old motor is missing so i have no idea what im looking for. All I do know is it has a 1 to 1 1/2" shank sticking out from the side of the damper and a mounting bracket that the motor for lack of a better term mounts to the underside of. There is also an aquastat taped and mounted to the top of the unit that is disconected. I assume that the aquastat was some how connected to the damper motor scenseing temp from the wood stove and telling the damper when to open and close.
 
Singed Eyebrows said:
Yep, they had 2 of these on Ebay. Is there a chain that attaches to the damper? If chain is missing is there an attachment point? Is there an adjustable thermostatic actuator(Samson) on the top of the boiler? Not the electrical aquastat. Pictures of the top of your boiler would be helpfull, Randy
I will try to get some pictures snapped today. Thanks for the reply.
 
Singed Eyebrows said:
Yep, they had 2 of these on Ebay. Is there a chain that attaches to the damper? If chain is missing is there an attachment point? Is there an adjustable thermostatic actuator(Samson) on the top of the boiler? Not the electrical aquastat. Pictures of the top of your boiler would be helpfull, Randy
There is no chain or chain attachment point. I think your right about the adjustable thermostatic actuator. Im going to be honest with you this is my first experiance with anything like this and im learning as I go. Thank you for your reply. Im going to try and get some pictures posted.
 
Steve, I think you need to install a Samson control on this. This will involve either drilling & tapping the top of the boiler near the edge for, I believe 1/2" pipe thread, or drilling the same & welding in a 1/2" steel 1/2 coupling. If you have 1/4" plate at that point tapping should be fine. A chain will run down to the damper & lift this variably with water temp. The damper cannot be real heavy, if its cast iron or heavy gage you will need to remake one out of sheet metal, Randy
 
I do have two taps in the top of the boiler. One has a threaded cap in it which i believe is for a temp guage and the other has what to me looks similar to the high-low temp setting on the front of my oil boiler. This is the box I set my high and low temp setting for my oil boiler to kick on and off. Sorry if Im being remedial but Im not sure what things are called and trying to explain the best I can. The box on top of the wood boiler is a honeywell and has the round dial inside of the box to set a high-low temp. I wish I could send a picture but Im on my work computer and they dont allow pictures to be uploaded and I just moved into my house and dont have internet yet.
 
I was finaly able to take some pictures.
 

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Another front view. I know its old but it works really well. I would like to switch to newer model someday but money is tight right now so Im hoping to get this one fixed for now. Any Ideas?
 

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The honeywell 8043 and 8044 zone valve motors are a direct replacement.He will also need the Erie Motortrol that the motor bolts to.See Pics
 

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The controls on my similiar era boiler consist of two temperature switches on the boiler water jacket. One switch is an overheat switch that opens up a dump valve to circulate excess heat through one of my zones, I think mine is set at 205 degrees. The other switch is set lower, possibly 195 degrees, it controls the damper motor, when the temperature goes above 185 degrees, the switch opens and the damper motor shuts the damper until the temp drops. The circulator pump was set up to run all the time there was power on the boiler. I installed another temperature switch on the jacket that starts the pump once it goes over 140 degrees. In addition to the switches there are also two safety relief valves, One dumps to the floor and the other sprays in the firebox. The Firebox one is supposed to be set below the one that dumps to the floor but I havent been able to find one set at 27 PSI. My damper uses the asme Honeywell motor but it runs a lever that is hooked to a chain on a damper plate. HS tarm used to use the thermostatic damper that didnt need power to operate.

A general note is to try not to run the boiler wth the damper closed by limiting the amount of wood you put in the firebox. With the damper open you have a reasonably clean stove, but with it closed you have a "smoke dragon" which is also causing creosote.
 
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