boiler identification help

[buffalo heat]

I moved into a house 2 years ago with an old outbuilding business . Inside is a boiler with a long gone nameplate . Its deffinatly a boiler , it used to deliver hydronic infloor heat to a dog kennel business in a concrete slab . The house was built in 1960 , not sure of the kennel but id guess same time period . the infloor is old school , had glycol in it when I demoed some pipes , with a supply , return line out of the concrete , I'm sure the heat was pretty uneven as there is one giant loop . Building maybe 60x20?

Anyways , im wondering if I can recondition this thing to be an outdoor boiler for my house . In the least identify what it is . It has 2 doors on the front and a bottom slide out drawr . one one door says combo , but I see no evidence it ran on oil also which is what the house runs on currently . On a side note the house had a coal boiler tied into the house hydronics so maybe a coal/wood combo?

 

[webbie]

Hmm...I'm going to dig through my catalogs, but that side piece looks like it has two flues? It may have had some kind of attached or semi-attached oil burner. Or, combo may relate to coal/wood.

In any case, before I would consider restoration - what I would do is:
1. Determine how much water this holds - if need be, by filling it up! A boiler which has water most of the way around it has a better chance of being of value than one with lesser "wet" areas.
2. Remove the jacket where possible and inspect carefully inside and out using an old screwdriver, etc. to determine if the steel has flaked away to any large degree......
3. Fill it and run the pressure up fairly high - another way to test for leaks. Use air pressure if you don't want to use water. On the first try, run it up to about 30 lbs of pressure and leave it with a gauge on it and see what happens (does it lose pressure). Air is pretty good for this because you can then use soapy water to find leaks around fittings, etc.

If your pressure vessel is good, then restoration is a possibility.

 

[buffalo heat]

Hey thank you very much for the advise!
I will remove the jacket and inspect . From what I see so far I believe the internals are all cast iron . I have a compressor and gauges and will do as instructed . How do I determine the amount of water held by the heat exchanger vs. the ability of sqft heat capability?

I'm in the heating trade but excuse my ignorange , I have no experience with wood heaters . I assume what would be called the heat exchanger/water jacket? , vents into another cast iron box , then vents into a chimney. This second cast Iron box has 2 vents , one of which is capped , the other vented to chimney . There is a capped oil line near the unit that branched off an oil line to a oil hot water tank , but I just don't see an oil application on this beast .

I will be tapping a natural gas line for heat by next winter and installing ductwork for a forced air furnace . I would love to have this unit, if I can ,to provide the majority of my heat . I have 14 acres of woods on my property . Ideally masybe some in floor heat , but im getting ahead of myself now .

 

[webbie]

Well, if it's cast iron you may be in luck. You don't need to know exactly how much water or heating surface - just that many boilers from way back were made with some tiny areas of heat exchanger as opposed to fireboxes being surrounded by water. If it is mostly surrounded by water, you are in good shape in that regard.

In terms of heating capacity, the firebox size in addition to the wet area will determine that.

I still don't know what that second heat exchanger thingy is......strange!

 

[buffalo heat]

if you ask me it dosnt look like a second heat exchanger , just a big box with 2 vent taps off the back of the boiler, it dosnt come into contact with the fire box? whats more strange is both vents off this box are below the vent from the actual outlet of the firebox. could that be to slow the draft and absorb more heat? in any case i have some time before next winter to learn about her.
one more question which will probabaly sound super stupid to you guys. what kind of wood can i burn , how do i season it? how long does it have to dry? i have heard you have to dry wood for a season? i may have to buy wood for next season
to get this going while the wood i chop is prepared?
i dont mean to be lazy , if there is a faq please direct me to it , and thank you bery much for your time.

 

[webbie]

The Wood Shed (other forum) has hordes of folks who can help you with the wood stuff. Check it out....you'll find loads of info there.

 

[webbie]

I wonder if this is a hot air furnace with a hot water attachments. See enclosed.... Combo Furnace Company

 

[buffalo heat]

awesome webby thx for digging that up You were right that is a heat exchanger. that looks just like what i got except i have a boiler hot water supply return on it and missing the return box and fan, also no forced air supply. wonder if they offered a hot water or forced air version? has the domestoc hot water tapes , though i have no internal coil , must have been taken out at some point.

i should have looked for you guys before i demoed out the unit in my garqge. it was even more wild. had an auger thqt i believe pulled the ashes out. unit was about 10' long.

 

[buffalo heat]

the new outdoor wood boilers ive seen are much larger. i wonder how often i would have to feed this unit. what kind of fire am i looking for? how much wood should i put in it at once? Im kinda excited to fix her up