Jetstreams - Out With The Old And In With The New.

This is a project that was done with mixed emotions! The boiler was still in good condition in spite of being 30+ years of age.
The recent and quick death of an older brother to cancer, a second older brother having had a debilitating stroke last fall, and my oldest brother with serious health issues got me thinking. Should some health issue or worse overtake me, Woodwidow would not be able to do the switch over if required and finding someone locally to do the job would be likely impossible plus very expensive for her. So while my health is good, I decided to do the switch to the new Jetstream which should give another 30 years or more of service.
The first part will deal with the removal of the old boiler.
Sorry Gassifier, I wanted to keep some parts.


Jackets, timer box, loading door, smoke hood, blower removed, plumbing and electrical disconnected.


A moment of silence in respect for a good old friend.


Heat exchanger removed.


The refractory base showing its years of use, but still repairable.


The refractory was in a lot better shape than what I expected as it took 3 hour to break it up and wheel it out of the basement up hill to the pickup.


The bottom of the box that the refractory was encased in was burnt out.


Woodwidow giving her approval!



Pulling the heat exchanger up the hill to the road.

 

The Jetstream is a little different as with other boilers you need to connect the plumbing, electric, and chimney. But with the Jetstream, it is sectional so you have to do the assembly first!


The refractory base and heat exchanger sitting on the dolly in my work room. When the boiler room was added onto the house, a high sill was left when the door was cut through a 8 foot high concrete wall. This created a dam that would contain all the water from the boiler and storage tank in the boiler room but a bit of an obstacle to get heavy boilers into the room.


To get over the hump, the heat exchanger was lifted off the base.



The dolly was made so it could be assembled or disassembled under the 1,400 lb base very easily.



Back for the heat exchanger.


3/4 inch deep High Temp Stove and Furnace cement (2,700 F) is spread over the base to form a gasket between the base and heat exchanger. This gasket assures good radiant heat transfer between the base and heat exchanger plus the BTUs that are captured in the flame tubes.

The new heat exchanger is almost there.



In place. Just before the heat exchanger makes full contact to the base, you wiggle the heat exchanger to get a nice flat seal.

 

Part three.



Boiler did not quite line up with the flue so one end had to be moved 1 inch.



Smoke hood installed.



Turbulators into the fire tubes.



The new boiler turns out to be 1 1/4 of an inch lower!



Used a bottle jack to lower the chimney.



Move the boiler closer to make the smoke pipe connection.



Connection made with no extra smoke pipe joints.

 

And to think... you had all this done by lunch...

Very impressive Allan! You're one talented guy. I'm bettin' Woodwidow is gonna keep ya...

 

Part Four.

Looking down loading tube into the high temperature burn chamber.

3 lbs of kindling. This processes is repeated every 2 hours until all moisture is driven from the refractory. Usually about 48 hours.



The big moment. Here's a picture so it really did happen.


Start of the first curing fire.


This is the end of the ninth burn. The grey refractory is cured but the upper section that is still black. The moisture has yet not all been driven out.

 

Just like the Cabin you built. Projects like this are fun and a few curves make things more interesting plus rewarding.

 

Bet you feel great knowing it'll be there when needed...

 

You betcha I am keeping him. Going to feed him some more baked goods as a reward. As for lunch, yes, he managed to fit that into his schedule so it was ready when I came home for lunch. The last two days were easier to schedule as I have been home sick.

 

I'm just trying to figure out how you guys do what you do... you obviously don't bother with sleep... too much to do...

Hope you're feelin' better soon.

 

Before retirement , I thought there would be lots of EXTRA time! Now I'm trying to figure out how I ever fit work in!

 

After 29 curing fires the last 5 using 6 lbs of kindling ,the moisture has been driven from the refractory!

The curing fires are done with the loading door adjar , so only the draft inducer operating no forced combustion air . The Jetstream will gasify just on the draft inducer so the small loadings of kindling prevent gasification and the high temperatures .Tedious process but will pay off in longevity of the refractory!
Same picture no flash.


One happy camper here!

 

Nice job Allan! Those things used to be made in my neighbourhood. Or at least Kerr has been in my neighbourhood since then - not sure exactly where your Jetstreams got made though.

Hope to make it back across the country to the Island some day - spent my last university summer working there, which involved walking the entire width of it from Nanaimo to Bamfield & Ucluelet/Tofino & back again. Was a great experience. Made it up to Comox, but didn't get to Campbell River quite.

 

#528, the one I just removed, was made in Truro, Nova Scotia by Kerr Controls.
#175, the unit just installed, was made Nov. 1981, in Charlottetown, PEI by Hampton Technologies.

Nanaimo to Ucluelet and back, that's some walk.

 

I've got an album of pics from back then around here somewhere. Haven't seen it for a while, hopefully it will surface.

The Kerr factory here is now branded Granby.

 

As usual Camp, an impressive project and just the way you post your pics and narrate them you can tell you enjoy what you are doing. You two seem very happy out there, I enjoy reading about your lifes adventures on FHC. Thanks for sharing!

 

Nice job there! & take care of yourself. I lost my younger brother to cancer too.

 

thats so awesome you had a second one of those monsters!

 

There was a time when I had all the parts and pieces for a third one including a new refractory liner! But being in my retirement years my kids said ,I could keep the brand new one for a spare but number three had to go!
I had also floated the idea of going with two boilers powering 3,000 gallons of storage and keeping the third one for spare ,but !

The refractory liner for number three .

 

See! You could have sold one to me Alan!

Really, really nice work. Always impressive to see someone do that kind of work. There are not to many men/women out there who can do all those things you just did to get that job done. So many types of work there and you have some great experience and patience to complete it all. Very cool.

I do not have any experience about that kind of work. I was so glad I could pay the guys I found to install my gasification boiler. And they did a great job. I just did the rigging/lifting/lowering and got my tank and boiler in place in the basement. Then let them have at it with the piping and electrical/mechanical. Hopefully, the guys that built my boiler did a great job as well. If it last 20 years I will be happy. That would get me to my retirement from current job, and into my next job.
Hope you and the mrs. enjoy burning wood in this boiler for 30 more years together!

 

Projects such as this are interesting plus fun. A un-anticipated curve like the new boiler being just a little lower made for an interesting challenge.

Allan