My KAA-4-1

I would guess that the top of the boiler is not insulated in order to heat the basement, or boiler room. But if that is not a need for you, then there you go.

Go nice and easy with that tap, lots of oil, and don't cut too much at once. Remember it's tapered unlike other taps.

Just dope for me, no Teflon.

Hello OlliotJ,

As I mentioned in a previous post Mr. Snow said that they wanted the boilers to breather but that still has me stumped as my previous oil boilers were fully enclosed with fiberglass insulation to hold the heat in.
The Switzer hand fed boiler I had was not insulated but it had an exterior sheet metal skin with an air gap.

The amount of heat lost from the KAA-4-1 through the water jacket top is large and it will overheat that end of the house (I have no basement) and that is why I wanted to insulate it with the sheet high Temperature fiberglass(1,000 degrees Fahrenheit rated) that I purchased from Mcmaster Carr.

I planned on using fluid film to lubricate the tap and use a boiler brush to clean the threads of any Teflon tape before I run the tap through the 3/4 pipe tapping a small distance in the 3/4" tapping.

It is a balance to insulate the boiler enough to not overheat the boiler room, and to not make the boiler run excessively warm from timer cycles.

Hello Rob,

I hope all is well, Yes it is a balance problem and I will have to wiggle my way
through it with a bit of work but I am sure I will have a much more tame heating season
this year with the improvements I am making.

I could not believe the amount of heat this boiler was shedding when I ran the oil burner
to test the unit earlier in the year with a lot of lost heat for the 51 plus gallons of water in the entire system
with the boilers volume of 34 gallons, the 7 plus gallons in single heating loop and the "actual"10 gallons in the steel expansion tank.

I expect to use the boiler bypass valve they installed this year while running on Kerosene in October
and I will have spare kerosene in safety cans for refilling the tank by hand and filling
my space heater so that works out OK.

I am still up in the air about using a voltage conditioner even with Amazons prices for a Tripp Lite 6 outlet unit as it was $147+- and freight and as the new triple aquastat was nearly the same as the Honeywell L7724U I am using to replace the 2nd Hydrostat 3250 Plus I was given to replace the first one.

I will ride it out this heating season and see how things go. My friend ShawnTRD was very happy with his replacement L7224U on his coal only KAA-6 so that is a good sign for sure.

One thing I found that was odd was the plumbers installed the old triple aquastat and well were placed on the far right tapping above the fire inspection door and the new set ups K-4 have the Tstat on the left tapping and the TACO LWCO on the right tapping. Oh well, live and learn.

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Rob your house sounds so much like mine wherein the previous owner did everything or almost
everything himself and it still needs to be fixed

Not really funny in the scheme of things but it still costs good money to fix things that could be spent somewhere else.

As I no longer have an oil bill/budget payment I think I can start saving for a new metal roof
now so that is next on the to do list barring any other "incidents".

lzaharis wrote:I am back to hoarding tools and repair parts. and I now have a
3/4 NPT male pipe tape and a new adjustable wrench to fit it in
the tool box.

I needed the tap to clean out the 3/4" threads on the pipe tapping's for
the new triple triple aquastat, low water cut off and the L6006A as they
used Teflon tape for all the tapping's.

I learn more about what not to do with this boiler every day I work on
it as I have found and understand that teflon tape is no no for most of
these electrical components and their probe wells/male threaded bronze components
as it can and will create conductivity problems in the probe wells and or the
brass male fittings used on the Mcdonnel & Miller Bull Dog RB-122-E Low
Water Cut Off.

Live and learn.
resulting in false readings and or incorrect temperatures.

I have a big bottle of pipe dope so I will be all set. I just have to be sure to
use only a little as it goes a long way.

For others reading along whom may need an occasional female thread cleaned of nuisance rust, paint residue, a slight burr or teflon tape residue here is a tip that I have come to use with usually great results and it's inexpensive and disposable to boot.

One only needs to take a short length (~4"-6") of scrap matching O.D. size of pipe with a nice male thread intact and hack saw the safely clamped pipe nipple with two cuts lengthwise into the open pipe end in a "X" or "cross" pattern from the opening of the pipe to a depth of near all the length of the standard running threads. Start this "X" sliced nipple into the troubled threaded female by hand and then wrench it all the way in and then back out. I seldom use any oil, you don't want to gum up the sharp cutting edges and it is disposable after all, but to each his own. Even 3 slice cuts will get you 2 more cutters but then will fit not as tight...could make both and try both. Not saying this will replace a harden tool steel tap but it will certainly do most of the nuisance tasks for little cash outlay.
Try it you may just like it.

That is a very good idea!!!!!!!!!!

It collects the crap and holds it while you are threading and
very little if any of it gets in the boiler water.

OH fooo,
I just found the L6006A in the top of the steam chest has tape and paste GRRRR,
out it comes and the tapping and well get cleaned before I reinstall them.

Hello and good morning fellow board members,

As of yesterday I now have all the replacement parts needed
for the KAA-4-1 repair.

8 replacement nylon adjustment screws for coal stoke pusher plate,
4 replacement fire door screws
one length fire door rope gasket
1 fire door insulation block
1 extra tube high temperature gasket sealer
One insulation sheet for boiler shell-top
I needed a 1/4-20 tap and a new magic pry bar to separate the fire door from the boiler shell and the stoker from the boiler sheel to check the fire bed plates and fill gaps with OATEY high temperature refractory cement

Now I can finish it today I think.

The New Honeywell triple aquastat and the Mcdonnel & Miller fit nicely on the tappings of the KAA-4-1.
I have it mounted horizontally to make it easier to monitor and program

I will have to see how well it ties in(fits) with the coal/oil switch before I make the wire runs and terminations
and number the wire ends on the terminations as well as the required wire pairs with wire nuts.

The BX run from the LWCO to the L7224U is going to be very short and I will have to use BX elbows-I am glad I saved them all from the old boilers. I will just use a hack saw to cut the BX then bend it to break it rather than buy a BX cutter-I could measure the BX length for short piece, pull the 3 short wires out, fish the wires through the the short BX loop from the Bulldog RB-122-E LWCO to the L7224U Triple aquastat

I have to move the coal oil switch to the coal hopper wall and use machine screws, flat washers and nylock nuts to mount it to the hopper side wall and the shorten the BX cable run to the timer which also is mounted on the hopper.

I replaced the long old flat head coarse thread machine screws and square nuts in the coal fire bed with a Phillip's No.6 fine threaded flat head machine screws and hex nuts as the fire bed plates as I found the old ones loose allowing combustion air to pass under the burner bed plates and out into the firebox rather than through the three plate fire bed and it explains a lot.

I also emptied about a 5 pound bags worth of coal fines from under the fire bed when I removed the three bed stoker- I will have to check it at least once a month for fines under the grates. I vacuumed it out once during the burning season but I will have to do it more often-that explains a lot in the scheme of things too.
I will be mounting the Dwyer Mark II Manomometer on the wall opposite the fire door to keep it out of the way and run the tubing along the pipe run and down and just insert the probe as needed to check the draft reading.

I also found the combustion air fan does not stay locked in place and I will need to install another self tapping screw to hold it in place.

I don't have any of the Honeywell conductive grease for my new L7224U and I have to order some/purchase it locally before I light everything up on oil to let it run for a week or so.

Why not just get a longer piece of bx?

You don't need a cutter, just bend it back and forth until the aluminum unravels a little and you can cut it with wire cutters.

Hello and good morning Rob,

Did you get any of that Gully Washer we received here in Ithaca last night?

The bottom end of the new L7224U triple aquastat with three of the six knock outs which is
mounted horizontally is only 3 inches away from the cover of the RB-122-E Low Water Cut Off.

The RB-122-E has three knock outs at the end of the case with the test switch and the red and green
LED bulbs.

My thought was to just install one 90 degree BX elbow in one of the three knock outs in both units and then deciding whether to leave the BX elbows up or down.

I have heat!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am happy to report the new L8124L1011 Honeywell Triple Aquastat and separate Low Water Cut Off are running perfectly on oil and the coal stoker runs as its supposed to according to the electrician who left a few minutes ago. Adding the top layer of high temperature insulation has made quite a difference too and it
is really holding in the heat.

YAY!

I'm glad your boiler is finally happy!

-Don

Good to hear it! It sounds like things will be going a lot better for you this heating season vs. last.

This is my October 14th, 2016 boiler update for the NEPA Digital Membership.

SO far the boiler has barely run on oil. It has stayed very hot with the new
insulation blanket on the steam chest.

The 15 gallon steel expansion tank is 2/3's water 1/3 air cushion as it should be and the
B+G NRF circulator is set on speed one. The boiler bypass valve has been set at 10 gallons
per minute to return that amount of hot water back into the boiler sump.

The triple aquastat is set at 160 low 180 high with a 10 degree differential on the L6006A.
The Marshalltown gauge triple gauge is working well with pressures betwee12-18 PSI.

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The boilers burner noise with the R40 Reillo burner is much more noticeable than our
old Buderus Logana G205 boiler was but the smaller fire box on that boiler had a fully insulated
top bottom front and rear and the flue pipe breech was 6 inches in diameter entering an
7 inch clay thimble.

If we continue to have moderate temperatures I will lower the high limit and
low temperatures and and or install a smaller gallon per hour oil nozzle.

The way this boiler is holding the heat in with the insulated steam chest
its staying very hot.

I need to order a smaller length burner tube next year for the Riello burner
and shorter electrodes as the existing burner tube is too long.

The roller coaster of outside temperatures on my mountain have required that we
shut the oil off as the house is just too hot otherwise during the day.

The Dwyer Mark II Manomometer has been drawing nearly .02 inches of water
when operating on oil with a warm chimney.

Judging by the clear sky today we will no be running much on oil as they are
predicting temperatures in the lower 70's again.

I hope you do not mind the detailed explanation of things with regard to my boiler
but so far so good.

Update 27 October 2016;

1.High limit 160
2. Low limit 140
3. 15 degree differential on the L81241011 horizontal honeywell triple aquastat
4. L6006A set at 180 degrees for the dump zone temperature to house loop
5. Dwyer Manomometer reading .02-.03
My hold fire timer set at 5 pins every 10 minutes.
The stroke on the pusher plate for the KAA-4-1 is set at 7 threads.
I changed the first ash basket this morning as it was more than half full.

My house is very comfortable and does not require a windostat adjustment

So far so good.