Does anyone live or work in a building that has either original or just plain old HVAC stuff? The oldest I ever lived in growing up dated back to the 50's. My apt in NOLA had the original boiler from 1929 which was neat. I would love to see pictures of any of the old stuff, heat, air, power panels, etc.
Old heating stuff
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norgeway
Well-known member
Now//
Ypu are talking my language, I used to be a oil burner serviceman back in the 80s, my hometown is full of older furnaces,mostly Delco Heat, York, Waterbury,or Lennox,some Iron Fireman,and once in a while you would see an Esso or something equally as odd like a Texaco Fuel Chief, but the oddest of all, and most technologically advanced for its day would be a General Electric boiler with the low pressure oil burner, these gave well over 80 percent efficency ratings in the 30s 40s and 50s and were known to cut fuel bills in half, not many left now because very few people know how to work on them, they have a control system similar to a washer timer!!but nothing and I mean nothing burns as clean or runs as quietly, If I was lucky enough to have one I would do almost anything to keep it running....and I know how to set one up, I was taught by two old time furnace men, also I loved working on pot type burners such as were found in some floor furnaces and oil burning heaters..oh for he days of cheap oil!!!
Ypu are talking my language, I used to be a oil burner serviceman back in the 80s, my hometown is full of older furnaces,mostly Delco Heat, York, Waterbury,or Lennox,some Iron Fireman,and once in a while you would see an Esso or something equally as odd like a Texaco Fuel Chief, but the oddest of all, and most technologically advanced for its day would be a General Electric boiler with the low pressure oil burner, these gave well over 80 percent efficency ratings in the 30s 40s and 50s and were known to cut fuel bills in half, not many left now because very few people know how to work on them, they have a control system similar to a washer timer!!but nothing and I mean nothing burns as clean or runs as quietly, If I was lucky enough to have one I would do almost anything to keep it running....and I know how to set one up, I was taught by two old time furnace men, also I loved working on pot type burners such as were found in some floor furnaces and oil burning heaters..oh for he days of cheap oil!!!
NorgeWay,
A friend bought a house that still had an Iron Fireman coal feeder in the basement. Sadly the furnace was gone. Most of the old homes here in mid/so GA were heated with coal. Mostly hot air but some boilers. My house was heated by 4 fireplaces and a kitchen stove all of which burned coal. But I would be facinated to watch a coal feeder keeping the gravity circulation octopus at just the right temp!
A friend bought a house that still had an Iron Fireman coal feeder in the basement. Sadly the furnace was gone. Most of the old homes here in mid/so GA were heated with coal. Mostly hot air but some boilers. My house was heated by 4 fireplaces and a kitchen stove all of which burned coal. But I would be facinated to watch a coal feeder keeping the gravity circulation octopus at just the right temp!
norgeway
Well-known member
Go to
You Tube and look up Coal Stoker, their are several people that have videos of them running.
You Tube and look up Coal Stoker, their are several people that have videos of them running.
polkanut
Well-known member
Here is a link to RickR's pics of his 1941 Lennox furnace, and an operating cost estimate from 1946. Scroll down to Reply #239177
http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?13925
http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?13925
Polka, thanks for posting that thread, I had forgotten all about it. Now if we could get some members who live in the city to sneak down to the basements of their buildings and snap pix that would be awesome. I bet someone lives in a building being cooled by steam!
dustin92
Well-known member
Our house was built in 1950, but the furnace (Which I am almost certain was a gravity furnace, judging by the placement of registers and cold air returns), was replaced about 1990. The placement of the hot air registers is terrible for a forced air system, but would have been just fine for a gravity system. A friend of mine a couple blocks over has a house built in the 50's and it still has the original gravity furnace. Our house does still have some of the original wiring, which by today's standards is very inadequate and probably dangerous (No ground wires and cloth insulation, screw in fuses, only 50 amp service into the box). We have made a few changes to the wiring, mostly to replace worn out outlets or rearrange a couple circuits, but the wiring itself seems to be in good shape. It would be nice to upgrade to modern wiring, because we have to be careful about what can be run where (No microwave, toaster, or coffee maker on when the dishwasher is running, Nothing on the east side of the house when both the washer and dryer are on, etc... We blew a main cartridge fuse last summer (of course at 8pm on a sunday night!), and drove all over town trying to locate a replacement, we now keep a spare. Not such a big deal now that we know our limits.
Davie, neat pic. Any idea how big it was? What was it used in?
retromania
Well-known member
Coal Stoker
The place were I live originally had a coal stoked furnace. Then an oil furnace and finally gas. The auto stoker parts are still in my cellar.
The place were I live originally had a coal stoked furnace. Then an oil furnace and finally gas. The auto stoker parts are still in my cellar.
My house was built in 1912, and it's still heated by a Bryant tubular gas boiler. Bryant invented this type of boiler in 1908, so it's possible ours is the original boiler for the house. I don't have time to post a picture now, but will try to do so later. If anyone has tips on dating an old boiler like this, please let me know. Thanks.
My workplace used to have two older Cleaver-Brooks boilers installed in the early 60's loved that "Flame in the Hands "logo Cleaver-Brooks used.Now they are replaced with two newer Cleaver Brooks boilers made from Canada.Don't have pictures of the old ones-they did have charactor to them-and a window so you could watch the flames-the new ones don't have that.the old ones had 1hp 3ph 208V motors to run the blower and fuel pump-the new ones have a single phase half hp 120V motor.Liked the older ones better.
What was it used in?
You mean what IS is used in, still chugging and thrumming away!
Here's a view looking down into the boiler chamber. It's only partially below grade. It heats an 8 story apartment house. It's really oversized - the big insulated "box" to the very left was a heat exchanger which originally provided domestic hot water. It was oil fired originally, I think we switched over to gas in 1971 (when heating in Chicago was switching over from coal in smaller buildings).
You mean what IS is used in, still chugging and thrumming away!
Here's a view looking down into the boiler chamber. It's only partially below grade. It heats an 8 story apartment house. It's really oversized - the big insulated "box" to the very left was a heat exchanger which originally provided domestic hot water. It was oil fired originally, I think we switched over to gas in 1971 (when heating in Chicago was switching over from coal in smaller buildings).
Davie, very cool! That's when things were made to last. (ps. get ready for spoil sport to complain about asbestos!)
I'm not asbestos... That's why.
What, don't you like mesothelioma? The loose stuff's been abated and the rest left in place, as it should be.
The new stuff is what's giving us trouble (in fact, its not that its new, it's that its the wrong stuff, really) rather than the old stuff. But there are problems with the old stuff too, just less.
What, don't you like mesothelioma? The loose stuff's been abated and the rest left in place, as it should be.
The new stuff is what's giving us trouble (in fact, its not that its new, it's that its the wrong stuff, really) rather than the old stuff. But there are problems with the old stuff too, just less.
Davey, there is a TV station here that plays the "My name is Doug and I have mesothelioma" commercial over and over again. It drives me crazy!
norgeway
Well-known member
Asbestos..
Yes, its dangerous...But only if you disturb it! If everyone would let it be, they wouldnt have trouble.I mean, Why on earth take up an asbestos tile floor, it has tons of wax on it, and is hurting no one, its much worse to go chipping it up, same with asbestoscell covered boiler pipes, if you let them alone they are fine.
Yes, its dangerous...But only if you disturb it! If everyone would let it be, they wouldnt have trouble.I mean, Why on earth take up an asbestos tile floor, it has tons of wax on it, and is hurting no one, its much worse to go chipping it up, same with asbestoscell covered boiler pipes, if you let them alone they are fine.
norgeway
Well-known member
General Electric Oil Furnace!
Here is a picture, from the mid 30s until 1958 when GE discontinued the line for a cheaper design, this was thee oil furnace, this is a boiler, but they made hot air models as well, the whole mechanism was ran by what they called a "master Control" basically a washer timer, these had many fine safety devices such as a flue pressure switch, if for any reason there was a delayed ignition or too much oil entered ,it shut the furnace down instantly, as far as I know, no oil furnace today has such a device, the burner was a low pressure burner, the flame shot down from the top, air was induced from the bottom so the flame floated, my hometown still has a bunch of these in it, but most have been converted to high pressure burners because of scarcity of parts, but for highly efficent oil burning, these were unbeatable, in the days when many oil furnaces were delivering 50 to 70 percent efficency, these were doing 80 to 85 percent, the flue connection comes out at the rear, right down at the floor.And QUIET!!!! They dont make any more noise than a clothes dryer, if that much.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313&_nkw=g+e+oil+furnace&_sacat=0&_from=R40
Here is a picture, from the mid 30s until 1958 when GE discontinued the line for a cheaper design, this was thee oil furnace, this is a boiler, but they made hot air models as well, the whole mechanism was ran by what they called a "master Control" basically a washer timer, these had many fine safety devices such as a flue pressure switch, if for any reason there was a delayed ignition or too much oil entered ,it shut the furnace down instantly, as far as I know, no oil furnace today has such a device, the burner was a low pressure burner, the flame shot down from the top, air was induced from the bottom so the flame floated, my hometown still has a bunch of these in it, but most have been converted to high pressure burners because of scarcity of parts, but for highly efficent oil burning, these were unbeatable, in the days when many oil furnaces were delivering 50 to 70 percent efficency, these were doing 80 to 85 percent, the flue connection comes out at the rear, right down at the floor.And QUIET!!!! They dont make any more noise than a clothes dryer, if that much.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313&_nkw=g+e+oil+furnace&_sacat=0&_from=R40
norgeway
Well-known member
Somehow!
I printed the whole page, look at the picture postcard, that gives you an idea ho small the units were.
I printed the whole page, look at the picture postcard, that gives you an idea ho small the units were.
The neighbors next to us growing up had one of those GE hot water boilers. I thought it was strange that GE had anything to do with a flame as they were all electric I thought. They never seemed to have any problems with it and their house was always warm this time of year. We had a converted coal to oil octupus that my father refused to replace and we froze because all the vents were in the center of rooms. Finally the heat exchanger went (no carbon monoxide detectors then) and my mother threatened him with the black soot out of the vents and he finally replaced it with a Sears Homart and moved the vents properly to the outside walls. We were much more comfortable after that
Norgeway, are these the units that found their way into the "Levitown" type house?
norgeway
Well-known member
No,,,All Levittown
Houses use York Heat oil fired boilers, York Shipley Company, they also had a Bendix Washer, a Hotpoint stove, and I think a GE refrigerator, Lustron homes all had Williams Gas O Matic, or Williams Oil O Matic furnaces, they were hung from the ceiling of the utility room, Williams Oil O Matic also use a low pressure burner, similar in theory to a GE, but it didnt fire down the center, Williams Co was EUREKA WILLIAMS of Bloomington Ill, and YES, they also built Eureka Vacuum Cleaners!!!!
Houses use York Heat oil fired boilers, York Shipley Company, they also had a Bendix Washer, a Hotpoint stove, and I think a GE refrigerator, Lustron homes all had Williams Gas O Matic, or Williams Oil O Matic furnaces, they were hung from the ceiling of the utility room, Williams Oil O Matic also use a low pressure burner, similar in theory to a GE, but it didnt fire down the center, Williams Co was EUREKA WILLIAMS of Bloomington Ill, and YES, they also built Eureka Vacuum Cleaners!!!!
norgeway
Well-known member
Here is another
GE ad, showing the conversion burner, and a few furnaces, they were in it in a big way, and these were very expensive units.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1938-vintag...929?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4857005929
GE ad, showing the conversion burner, and a few furnaces, they were in it in a big way, and these were very expensive units.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1938-vintag...929?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4857005929
norgeway
Well-known member
Bet you didnt know!!
NORGE made a furnace as well!!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1937-NORGE-...695?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f30593e67
NORGE made a furnace as well!!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1937-NORGE-...695?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f30593e67
norgeway
Well-known member
WATERBURY!
These were one of the best oil furnaces ever, my hometown is full of them, talk about quality, the burner is CAST IRON!, they will absolutely run forever.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/WATERBURY-F...97071?pt=BI_Books_Manuals&hash=item5651658c8f
These were one of the best oil furnaces ever, my hometown is full of them, talk about quality, the burner is CAST IRON!, they will absolutely run forever.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/WATERBURY-F...97071?pt=BI_Books_Manuals&hash=item5651658c8f
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