New Yorker WC Boiler Rebuild Project

 
NoSmoke
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Location: Mid Coast Maine
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: New Yoker WC90
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Other Heating: Munchkin LP Boiler/Englander Pellet Stove/Perkins 4.108 Cogeneration diesel

Post by NoSmoke » Mon. Apr. 14, 2014 7:41 pm

Those darn red dresses tend to throw most guys off I guess, though I am not a believer in "luck" or being "lucky". Being a Christian I believe in God, and look at Katie as being God's Grace...certainly more than I deserve as she is a sweetheart in all aspects of our marriage. The fact that she works hard to look good in a red dress is just a bonus. (And keep in mind, she just had a baby 10 months ago...you can actually see the bassinet in the photo as proof).

I did find the ole Modine covered in rust tonight, but it will work perfectly. A small unit at 17 inches wide and 22 inches high , with two sets of copper tubes with a fan behind it, but should be enough to draw down the boiler in a high temp situation I would think. It will fit neatly into the space I had envisioned for it, with easy plumbing and it was derustified rather easily with a wire wheel cup on a electric grinder. A bit of paint and it will look good as hopefully as good as it does as a heat dump circuit.

Good point on the 55 gallon drums and 275 gallon oil tanks, I should have thought about the pressure design flaw, but atlas it did not escape your thoughts and once again steered me in the right direction.


 
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whistlenut
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Post by whistlenut » Mon. Apr. 14, 2014 9:12 pm

If the motor on the modine dies, keep your eyes open, because through the dealer they are 340 green, If that doesn't knock you on your butt, remember old radiators (hot water are the ticket.)

The reason I know about the 'burst pressure' is 8 years ago a local college had 2- 10,000 gallon tanks buried in a parking lot that used a 275 oil tank as a 'day tank' inside to temper the fuel before it hit the boilers.
The HVAC guys were on the roof in Feb, and piled wet, slushy snow on top of the system vent pipe. -20 that night........froze the entire vent system.

Boilers called for heat all night, day tank activated the pumps in the 10,000's, so trying to make a balloon out of a 275 was not pretty. Security CAUGHT IT AT 05:00. 3300 gallons of #2, 8" deep and it was flowing to the sump pit for the building which pumped into the municipal sewer. Engineering data later said the 275 tank is safe up ONLY 5 psig.
WTF was not even thought of. Clean Harbors was there for 3 days, never saw the bills, but it was a mid-level 6 digit number.
You all know the smell when you get a few drops of diesel on you clothes.....this was making people sick to just enter the building.

Soooooooooooooooooo NO un-rated tanks please. :idea: :!: :!: :!:

 
NoSmoke
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Other Heating: Munchkin LP Boiler/Englander Pellet Stove/Perkins 4.108 Cogeneration diesel

Post by NoSmoke » Tue. Apr. 15, 2014 7:03 pm

Funny you should mention the electric fan motor...I was cleaning up the modine from grime and rust tonight when I made the builders plate readable on the fan motor. I was surprised to find that it is a 230 volt motor instead of what I assumed would be 120 volt motor. It is not an insurmountable hurdle, but will complicate getting it wired up correctly. I'll also test it with compressed air before I get too far with this unit just to make sure I am not massaging a dead horse.

BTW: I call it a Modine, but it is a Modine wannabee I think. The builders plate on the heating unit is not readable, but when you hold it up to the light just right, and look at it in the mirror, you can make out "Herman Nelson HiJet". I have no idea how old it is, but the builders plate is in plastic so it must have been made after 1940 sometime. A search on the internet did not turn up much except that the company is still in business.

Interesting story on the college and its tanks. Yep, that would make me remember what the safe pressure was on a 275 gallon oil tank. Whoops!!

 
NoSmoke
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Other Heating: Munchkin LP Boiler/Englander Pellet Stove/Perkins 4.108 Cogeneration diesel

Post by NoSmoke » Mon. Apr. 21, 2014 7:17 pm

Well the modine is now installed and working, though technically it is a Herman Nelson HiJet Heater. Whichever you prefer, I got the heater painted up, installed, rewired the electric motor out of the armature and managed to get everything to work and even spin in the right direction; all this on 120 volts!! So in a high heat situation, I should be able to dump a lot of heat out of the boiler in a hurry, and since it is inside my boiler room and blowing into my woodworking shop, I should be able to do this without antifreeze in the system reducing the overall efficiency.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what a 20 inch by 17 inch double tubed copper finned heater with a 12 inch fan dispenses in btu's? I am guessing maybe 40,000 BTU's or so, but that is just a guess?

I'll have to try and get a photo of the ole boiler at some point, as I realized all I have posted is one of my wife, and if I know you guys, you are far more interested in what the boiler looks like then Katie. I'll see what I can get as this project is progressing.

 
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tsb
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Post by tsb » Mon. Apr. 21, 2014 7:26 pm

Get pictures of katie and the boiler together and let us choose what is
more interesting.

 
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whistlenut
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Post by whistlenut » Mon. Apr. 21, 2014 8:36 pm

The Modine Style unit you mention probably is around 55 to 63K. The fan is the instrument of heat exchange, however don't forget what I mentioned: They are PRICEY (the fan replacement). That is why many of us like old cast radiators, or an inexpensive boiler blank (cast iron). Anything that moves air makes things messy, so once again, that is why we like radiators...if possible. The little Red Dress will beat anything you can put on there......so thank your lovely wife for the 'eye candy' she provides......or you sneak in. I am keeping an eye out for you on aquastats to 'mello' an out of control on ebay. This deal will make you happy for a while, but as we said, a stoker will be in your future in the not too distant future. Hopefully as we all age, we absorb more knowledge through experience. Work smarter, not harder. Read about Smitty and the transition to a stoker boiler, from an excellent heat producing Harman Mark 3. He is NOT going back.

Best of luck with the rehab....and keep your eyes open for additional treasures. :idea:

 
NoSmoke
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Post by NoSmoke » Tue. Apr. 22, 2014 7:07 pm

Wow, I did not think the Modine Style heater would be that high in BTU's, but then again you guys would know more than I do. That sounds good actually so things are looking up in the heat dump circuit.

I did find some cement blocks so that I can put the ole girl on stilts and get her off the ground. Well the boiler that is, Katie is fine at 5'-5"...6'-0" when she is in her high heels ,but that is another story...or picture I suppose. Speaking of high heels and boilers...this forum probably being the only place one could put such items together cohesively, I probably could buy a Stoker Boiler if she did not have 200 pairs of shoes and belong to three shoe-of-the-month clubs, but we all have our vices. Mine is old boilers, hers is shoes, so be it I guess.

Side Note: I did actually count up the number of shoes in this house a few weeks ago and came up with a total of 94 for 6 people; 2 adults and 4 children. I owed 4 pairs; 2 pair of boots, a pair of sneakers and one pair of church shoes, the lowest member in the house. Kaelyn actually owns 8 pairs of shoes and she is only 11 months old and does not even walk yet!! And yes, one pair is a pair of high heels made specially for infants!!

BTW: No need for aquastats; the boiler actually came with them. I appreciate the effort looking for them though.

You are probably right on the stoker though. Someday perhaps, though I must admit I like the idea of being able to burn wood AND coal. As I have said before, there is no comparison between the two, as coal outshines wood on almost every level, its just that I don't have a seam of coal outback, but do have plenty of wood. The man who had the boiler said I would burn around 6 cord of wood per year, which is what I burn now for wood with a hand fed woodstove. That would mean around 4 ton of coal per year. I could cut two loads of tree length wood and then just buy the coal, which is an option of course. It just seams like a stoker would limit me to burning only coal, propane as a backup, and NO wood. That might be a concern because there is no shortage of wood here. Just as an example, last year I put up 8 cord of firewood and did not cut a tree down to get it; it was just wood we had kicking around from the logging operations, and still have another 4 cord or so to clean up.

It really is a dilemma because while it is fast and easy to cut 18 cords of tree length wood to buy coal, it only requires 6 cord of firewood cut and split to heat my home burning firewood. Both would take about the same amount of time, but it takes 30 years or more to grow a sizable tree, so that extra 12 cord is a sizable loss in the forest. But of course if I worked overtime at the shipyard, for the same time spent logging or cutting firewood, I could buy the coal to heat my home...or propane, and save all my trees for other endeavors. That is why I like having heating options, I don't even know what I am going to do.


 
NoSmoke
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Post by NoSmoke » Wed. May. 14, 2014 2:27 pm

Well I have been pretty busy on other projects, but have managed to squeeze some time in for the ole boiler.

I guess I left off with finding some cement blocks to put the boiler up on, and after using some staging, a lifting beam and a tug-all, my father and I managed to heft it up nearly a foot off the floor. It is at a good height for loading wood, coal and now taking out the ash. Good call on that Whistlenut and worth doing before she was bound down by plumbing and pipes.

But while the height was good, it looked ratty with the boiler sitting upon cement blocks. I actually have a brake and using some scrap metal trim, some rivets, and copious amounts of paint; I managed to put trim on the bottom of the boiler to hide the cement blocks. I think it is an improvement in the aesthetics department and fits fairly well. Maybe not exactly like a stock new Yorker Boiler, but close!

Then I turned my attention to the chimney, forgoing my original idea of going out through the wall and instead went straight up through the roof with it. I put a Tee on the bottom to aid in cleaning the chimney and then used metalbestos through the roof with proper trim collars and the like. I also installed a manual damper just in case the fire gets away from me, or the draft is too much on this hill, and put in a barometric damper as well. I still need to install a manometer on this thing, finish up the outside aspect of the chimney and then move on to plumbing this bad boy (or bad girl if someone prefers).

After all that I decided yo put some finishing touches on my boiler and grace her with some accent paint. I always liked red and black and so touched up the barometric damper, the handles on the stove doors, the manual damper control, the tip of the shaker lever, the covers on the aquastats and finally the cast in NY lettering on the boiler door. I think it is starting to look sharp as paying attention to the details always does.

And yes I got photos for you coal boiler lovers.

 
NoSmoke
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Post by NoSmoke » Wed. May. 14, 2014 2:37 pm

tsb wrote:Get pictures of katie and the boiler together and let us choose what is
more interesting.
Well I did as you asked as who am I to let fellow coal burners down. It did not take much convincing and Katie can be quite the model sometimes. To be fair we felt matching the model's dress color to the trim color on the boiler would be most advantageous, but you can be the judge on that. And yes, there is a boiler in the photo! :-)

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Katie stoking the fire with a shovelful of stove coal!

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Last edited by NoSmoke on Wed. May. 14, 2014 2:55 pm, edited 2 times in total.

 
NoSmoke
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Other Heating: Munchkin LP Boiler/Englander Pellet Stove/Perkins 4.108 Cogeneration diesel

Post by NoSmoke » Wed. May. 14, 2014 2:44 pm

They say a picture is worth 1000 words and you can tell in these two photos I have my work cut out for me. Not only do I have to plumb the boiler for the emergency dump, plumb it to my existing boiler, wire everything and finish the chimney above the roof line, I must also finish the mud room the boiler sits in. That will mean making some walls non-combustable due to clearance issues, putting up drywall ceilings, drywall on the walls and adding a few doors. Then of course the trim and flooring (slate), so I got plenty to do!!

The window behind the boiler (and Katie) let in too much light for the photos so we covered it with a blanket, but that will eventually be a door. I have delayed working on the boiler to dig the foundation for a 13 foot by 22 foot woodshed that will sit right outside the door. The building is actually sitting over at my grandmother's house and just needs to be cleaned out, jacked up and then pulled across the road (about 500 feet) with my tractor. Hopefully that will be in place in a few weeks.

In the top most photograph, in the top/right corner you can see part of the black "modine" type unit I will use as a emergency heat dump.

So I have not been idle, just a bit slow on getting the boiler finished.

 
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Rick 386
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Post by Rick 386 » Wed. May. 14, 2014 8:50 pm

NoSmoke wrote:They say a picture is worth 1000 words and you can tell in these two photos I have my work cut out for me. ...
OK
I'm already over 3000 words after seeing those pictures.

A quick question....... If you got that at home (Katie), why do you even need a boiler ?????? :whistle: :drool: :love:

I'm just glad that Fred isn't using the computer too much right now. If he was, and saw those pics, he could have a serious relapse !!!!

OK Carry on.

As Sting says, "I'm going to go back and lay by my bowl of very cold water."

Rick

 
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Post by Lightning » Wed. May. 14, 2014 11:06 pm

NoSmoke wrote:And yes, there is a boiler in the photo!
What boiler? :lol:

 
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Post by franco b » Thu. May. 15, 2014 10:30 am

Enjoyed your pictures and still remember the set by the railroad station. As a storyteller and photographer I think you missed your calling.

 
NoSmoke
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Post by NoSmoke » Thu. May. 15, 2014 8:08 pm

Thanks for the kind words.

You would have to know Katie to truly understand that she is just as beautiful as a person as she is in beauty that you can look at...a sweet gem truly. What she sees in me, I am not sure!

As for photography, this was just a fun silly photo shoot, but was not like our Trash the Dress photo shoot, or the Railroad photo shoot you mentioned. Those were great because it took weeks of planning, a day set aside to carry them out and reaped the rewards of a photo shoot well done. This one was just an hour of fun.

The thing is, we cannot seem to think of a good themed photo shoot to do. I thought of Katie dressed up like an 1930's aviator, but where do you get a plane from that era? Or a Bonnie and Clyde type of thing, but where would we get a car? So we are still thinking. We do want to get one of our family, looking like a depression-era family from the 1930's before our little baby outgrows her babyness. Katie and I both enjoy the 1930's and 1940's, and are working to make our new kitchen look like a throw back from that era, and when Katie does her make-up and puts on her 1940's clothing, she can really pull it off.

As for writing, I got a few potential articles written on local history here in my part of Maine, a faith based agricultural non-fiction book, and a murder-mystery fiction novel from my railroad days. None are published though. Is writing/photographs my calling...perhaps some day, but for now I am content to build battleships for the US Navy. Maybe someday that will change.

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Katie and I in 1940 clothing at our local railroad station in a previous photo shoot.

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Post by franco b » Thu. May. 15, 2014 10:44 pm

So glad you put up that picture again. You so perfectly captured the essence of what you were trying for. Like a Rockwell painting. Not an easy thing to do.

You might try your take on the "American Gothic" painting which I think would be interesting and not need much in the way of props.

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