does anyone have vintage pre-1987 central air condtioners, forced-air gas furnaces, and thermostats?

[seamusuk]

Asbestos......

Is there not an Asbestos danger with some of these- Rick particually yours from 1941? guess it could have been removed at some point tho?

Seamus

 

[toggleswitch]

Millivolt Gas Valve

750 millivolts =
750/1,000 or 0.75v, I would assume.

Powerpile = thermopile = thermocouple.

Question is, can such voltage open TWO?

Perhaps one of these and one as you currently have (piped in series) with a by-pass so you can manualy route the gas (via piping and a valve) around the electric-opeated one in a blackout.

http://www.myhvacparts.com/Catalogue/Gas Furnace Controls/Robertshaw 700 Gas Valves.htm

 

[toggleswitch]

~Is there not an Asbestos danger with some of these- Rick particually yours from 1941? guess it could have been removed at some point tho?

As long as asbestos is not friable, it is generally considered to be safe.

As long as there is no asbestos in the air-flow "circuit" I personally woeuld not fret too much over it, if at all.

If there is asbestos in the combustion chamber, I'm thinikng any released will float up and out of the chimney, which would not affect (in theory) the occupants of the home.

 

[tolivac]

I don't have any pictures of the system-but a govt building I worked in had a Carrier 1939 vintage chilled water system AC-was one of the first govt buildings to be airconditioned.The Carrier chiller had Crocker-Wheeler 700hp motors on them and ran from 2500v 3ph.they had to be started locally and manually.the new Trane units use half the power and have twice the capacity.They can be started by one button or even remotely from a control center in another building.Its planned to have them start and stop automatically with no intervention at all in the future.The heat came from steam from the Capitol Hill Power plant.The plant provided heat and electric power for Govt buildings in downtown Wash DC-the one I was in included.The place I worked in had both Capitol Hill power and commercial power-and a large deisel generator.the cooling system for the studios was a separate chilled water system that had two Trane chillers with Dunmore-bush units as backup.I was shown how to transfer them in an emergency.And the computer-mainframe area also had its own chilled water cooling system using Worthington chillers.At the transmitter they used to have two 150ton cap Worthington units that now have been replaced by Carrier chillers.have to reset them on occasion during VERY HOT weather.Gives the compressors hi temp and hi pres overloads.

 

[chromacolor]

This system was in my house until I replaced it last year. It's a 1963 Sears Homart. The furnace worked fine but I was having problems with the central air that was added in 1997. The system kept freezing up. I called the repair company that the original owner had used, and they had to make 4 trips out before figuring what the problem was (and it took the owner coming out who hadn't been on a call in years to figure it out)The blower was a belt drive pulley system and the owner of the company remembered that they had to change the pully out each summer for faster air flow. He told me the furnace would last forever, but it was never designed for central air and was hard on the AC unit. Also efficiency was nill.
I decided to replace with a new Frigidaire matched system.
However I have not noticed much savings on the gas bill, but that may be due to the rising cost of natural gas.
I now wish I would have kept the old system in use. I would be $5000 richer now... LOL!

View attachment 9-29-2007-08-02-30--chromacolor.jpg

 

[chromacolor]

Picture of 1963 Sears Furnace

my pix doesn't seem to want to load. I'll try one more time.

 

[jasonl]

I remember when I was small, we had a 70s Carrier central AC/Heat with Honeywell roundie. My grandparents had an earlier GE Central Air. The original motor used to make a distinctive sound on startup, kind like a vintage fan.

Sorry, I have no pics, only memories.

 

[dalangdon]

Tim, I used to see a lot of those old coal/gas conversions back in the midwest. My Grandma had one, and one of my mom's friends still does. They look cool as hell, but they take up SO much SPACE!

I see electric forced air furnaces from time to time in customer's homes. The utility really pushed those in the 50's & 60's. Some of them are quite stylish (for a furnace, anyway) but they cost frightening amounts of money to run.

 

[volvoguy87]

Don't replace the Roundie, its not broken!

Pete, don't replace your Honeywell Roundie thermostat, it's not broken. Those operate with a mercury switch, and the thermostat must be absolutely level to be accurate. Try leveling your thermostat and see if that fixes it. Take off the front cover and there should be a line on the back, just get a small level, hold it up to the line, and loosten the screws, turn the thermostat housing until its level, tighten the screws, and put the cover on and test.
The mercury switch is a glass vile with a drop of mercury in it. The vile is attached to a bi-metal coil. As the temperature changes, the coil expands and contracts, tilting the glass vile left and right. The drop of mercury slides to whichever end of the vile is lower, one end has the electrical contacts in it. When the drop of mercury hits both contacts, it completes the circuit and turns the system on, when the vile tilts the other way, the mercury leaves the contacts and the system shuts off. If the thermostat isn't level, the vile won't be at the right angle, so just level it.

Mercury is dangerous in nature, so don't juust throw away a perfectly good Roundie,
Dave

 

[fonografmaniac]

yo j, was that ge unit the uprite ones with the round dome-shaped fan grill? my dads house used to have that kind. itz from 1970 and it came with the house when it was built.

 

[abcomatic]

1897 draft control

I still have the 1897 draft control for the original furnace in my house. It must have been a Round Oak made in Michigan because that is what the plate says. Big plate with places for the chains to fit. One side says 'draft' and the other side says 'check'. The holes are still in the floor where the chains would have gone. I wonder what those terms mean? Gary

 

[petek]

Well I went ahead to install the new digital roundie seeing as I'd bought it a few months back only to find out after istalling it and seeing nothing, then rereading the package that it won't work on my two wire standing pilot system..GRRRRRRRRRRR and GRRRRRR again. My fault for not reading the back of the package thoroughly enough. Anyways all is well and I put the oldie back on, after blowing about 1 pound worth of dust of the mercury vial lol. I re levelled it and it's fine. I'm going to take the roundie over to moms house. Last year I put her in a new Honeywell, but a square shaped one with up/down buttons and buttons for switching between her a/c and heat and a button for fan on/off. It's done nothing but confuse her since I put it in. I even had to tape over the fan on/off button because she was always getting them confused. This digital roundie will be much easier for her to use since she's always said she liked those kind better anyways.

 

[danemodsandy]

Honeywell's "Round"

That thermostat is called "The Round", and was designed by no less than Henry Dreyfuss. It's one hell of a thermostat; so long as it's level and free of dust, it will operate essentially forever. One of the most unique things about The Round when it was designed was that it was completely self-explanatory; no one had to read an instruction manual to be able to use it. Many thermostats are like that today (well, non-programmable ones, anyway), but Dreyfuss did it first. It was also designed expressly not to take a chunk out of anyone who bumped into it in a narrow and/or dark hallway.

 

[fonografmaniac]

vintage 80+ high efficiency furnace

here a rheem furnace that was installed in 1986 at my dads house. 1986 is also the year i was born so this is my childhood furnace. during the time my parents were still together 'til 1993, but anyway back to this furnace. itz a spark to pilot ignition, inducted draft blower and itz a downflow with a bryant central ac and a-coil that was installed in 1999. my childhood central ac was a 1970 ge unit that came with the house. i love the sound of it and it sound like those heavy duty portable fans. too bad it went i missed that unit and that sound. also this furnace has a humidifier on it, but itz disconnected from the water supply.

 

[cammurray22]

Floor Furnaces

You should take a look at the pre-1987 floor furnaces. I had one in my mom's house. The brand name was Ward. They get extremely hot if you put it on 80, so be careful!

Chris

 

[bundtboy]

1968 Central A/C

I've got an original unit from 1968 still working in my one trailer trailer park next door. It's the original one that came with the mobile home when it was new, and has only had to be serviced once, under warranty, for it's evaporator fan motor. I keep it running by oiling the condensor and evaporator fan motors, cleaning the coils, and making sure the drain is free running yearly. It's an amazing unit, and I think it's the oldest central A/C I've ever known.

B

 

[sudsmaster]

Old General Controls Thermostats

Still work, if you don't mind manually turning them on and off.

 

[fonografmaniac]

bundtboy, is the unit a split system or a package unit and what brand it is? btw, on ebay i saw a ge central air conditioner ad from 1967 and it was the same exact ge ac my dads used to have, but his is from 1970.

 

[bundtboy]

it's in 2 pieces

The condenser unit is connected only by freon lines and electrical lines, and sits on cinder blocks seperate from the evaporator unit, which is hung underneath the mobile home from steel supports.

I'm not sure what brand it is, as my grandfather painted it in the early 70's, and I think he painted right over the name, but i'll try to check it out during the light of day tomorrow, and possibly snap a photo of it.

Do I win the oldest central AC prize?

Hurray!

Bob

 

[cuffs054]

My M-I-L had a terrific ARKLA SERVEL water cooled ac/heat unit for many years in ATL. When she got it (1957) Atlanta Gas had a program that included twice annual service as long as she kept the house. Toward the end they had trouble finding service people who knew anything about gas absorption units and residential cooling towers. It worked perfectly until she sold house in the late 90's. I used to love watching the cooling tower work. The whole unit was very quiet in both heat and cool modes. On occasion it would build up hydrogen which would block the heat/cool absorption cycle. ATL gas would come and remove it always with the warning that the hydrogen could cause an explosion and/or fire!