Paul Hubbman
Member
- Messages
- 582
- Location
- St. Louis, MO
Well, fear of this coming January's gas bill has me scurrying about trying to make my 1916 house more efficient. I suppose i might as well be puting a band aid on the Titanic to keep it afloat.
At any rate, i picked 3 things to work on - replace the 60 year old boiler, replace the falling apart aluminum tripple track storm windows, and add a layer of insulation in the attic. I started with the boiler in case it turns cold early, knowing the other two projects can continue into the winter, but i don't want a cold wife in a house with no heat.
Got the new boiler, so this weekend was time to remove the old one. I thought it would be great to pull it out and offer it up on the local freecycle. After all, it's a good boiler and works fine - just not nearly as efficient as the new ones. After disconnecting the pipes and flue, plans changed. I realized i couldn't budge the old boiler. It's got about 3 times the cast iron in it as the new one (which i can just manage to move across the floor).
It's totally against my grain to damage something that works just fine, but the bolts wouldn't come loose, and the job had to get done. I stripped off the shroud and some useful parts, then out came the sledge hammer.
As i was hauling the broken cast iron out to the dumpster, a scrap scrounger was coming up the alley in his old truck. He was totally pleased to get the 600 lbs plus of cast iron, the sheet steel shroud, and the stainless steel hood. He even helped me pull most of it out of my basement.
At least i made the scrap guy happy.
Now all i have to do is get the new boiler piped in. The gas inlet on the old one was 1-1/2" diameter pipe. I'd be in the basement, hear the valve open, the boiler roar to life, and cringe as i heard the gas meter ticking away faster than i can count. The inlet on the new boiler is 3/4". Automatic flue damper, piezo igniter, more efficient heat exchanger, heavily insulated shroud. It's a beautiful thing.
By the way, i mocked up my first storm window (yes, i'm making them out of wood like the originals were - my windows were made for this type of storm, and they'll seal up much better than the aluminum junk someone put on 40 years ago). The mockup went well using mortise and tennon joints. I'm making the wood frames to hold the glass and screen panels from the existing aluminum system. More on that later.
Paul Hubbman
At any rate, i picked 3 things to work on - replace the 60 year old boiler, replace the falling apart aluminum tripple track storm windows, and add a layer of insulation in the attic. I started with the boiler in case it turns cold early, knowing the other two projects can continue into the winter, but i don't want a cold wife in a house with no heat.
Got the new boiler, so this weekend was time to remove the old one. I thought it would be great to pull it out and offer it up on the local freecycle. After all, it's a good boiler and works fine - just not nearly as efficient as the new ones. After disconnecting the pipes and flue, plans changed. I realized i couldn't budge the old boiler. It's got about 3 times the cast iron in it as the new one (which i can just manage to move across the floor).
It's totally against my grain to damage something that works just fine, but the bolts wouldn't come loose, and the job had to get done. I stripped off the shroud and some useful parts, then out came the sledge hammer.
As i was hauling the broken cast iron out to the dumpster, a scrap scrounger was coming up the alley in his old truck. He was totally pleased to get the 600 lbs plus of cast iron, the sheet steel shroud, and the stainless steel hood. He even helped me pull most of it out of my basement.
At least i made the scrap guy happy.
Now all i have to do is get the new boiler piped in. The gas inlet on the old one was 1-1/2" diameter pipe. I'd be in the basement, hear the valve open, the boiler roar to life, and cringe as i heard the gas meter ticking away faster than i can count. The inlet on the new boiler is 3/4". Automatic flue damper, piezo igniter, more efficient heat exchanger, heavily insulated shroud. It's a beautiful thing.
By the way, i mocked up my first storm window (yes, i'm making them out of wood like the originals were - my windows were made for this type of storm, and they'll seal up much better than the aluminum junk someone put on 40 years ago). The mockup went well using mortise and tennon joints. I'm making the wood frames to hold the glass and screen panels from the existing aluminum system. More on that later.
Paul Hubbman