One of the eight valves in question.
Posted on 12/31/2007 2:45:01 PM PST by Tennessee_Bob
Logged in...check Beeber set on stune...check Shower taken...check Series subject...well, not really, but check Person from a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918 (upon declaring its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire) until 1992...Czech
Ok, here's the question. I own a home built in 1944 as part of the Manhattan Project (some people have uniforms or vehicles or other militaria - I have a house). The government equipped this particular type of home (known as a Model 19, or locally as a Flat Top) with a hydronic heating system. A gas fired (used to be coal, I believe) low pressure boiler (hot water, not steam) with a thermostat and a circulation pump, pumps hot water through copper lines in the concrete slab. Of course, they didn't equip the homes with AC, but that's not the issue here.
There is a manifold that comes off the boiler and feeds the heating lines in the slab. There is a second manifold where the lines return to the boiler room. This return manifold has gate valves and petcocks on it. The gate valves are how you regulate heat in the various rooms, the petcocks allow that particular system to be drained.
At least, I think they are gate valves. I'm attaching a picture in the hopes that someone out there can look at it and say, "Oh, heck yeah, that's a 1944 model Breen and Blumenthal Ball Style Gate Valve," or something similar.
There's a marking on the top of the valve that as near as I can tell is an arrow of some sort indicating flow direction. Care to take a look and see what you think?
Before I go and start twisting valves back and forth, I thought it would be a good idea to have someone take a best guess at it. I've tried to research these homes, and so far, I've been able to find out who lived in it back in 1946, found a basic outline drawing of the home, but as far as any manuals or diagrams, forget it. Guess the layout is top secret or something.
Thanks in advance
Bob
One of the eight valves in question.
Hire the oldest local plumber you can find. Surely he’s seen these before.
A side view would be better but it looks like a ball valve (1/4 turn) not a gate valve.
But who cares? Getting a new valve in and out without breaking anything is what you need to worry about.
New valves are cheap.
Don’t ever turn that one;)
As for me. I'm going to pop myself a nice cold bottle of Red Seal Ale and enjoy the thread.
I hope the mods don't move this over to chat or some other black hole.
Feng Shui for plumbers
I lived in a house like that. Valves and all.
Here is what I did. I hired a plumber and asked if there was a way to hook up the valves to thermostats. We bought the cheapest thermostats we could find, and installed them in each room. Each thermostat controlled the heat in that room only via the valve. (BTW, this was 30 years ago, too). Bet in todays world, there are computer controlled valves to do the same thing.
I loved the heat the pipes provided, and no dust but the biggest thing I liked was the floor being warm all the time.
Anyway, talk it over with a plumber and see what he/she can do.
My plumber gets $150/hour. I told him that I didn’t pay my lawyer that much, and he said “I could not charge that much when I was a lawyer”.
Let me know how you make out, I am interested.....
....Bob
Boy, how I miss the Far Side. I'll see if I can find that cartoon.
You’re right, that’s a plug in a “Tee” fitting.
Trusting? Nah - everything here is taken with a grain of salt. But heck, it’s informative and cheap entertainment.
As expensive as it is to heat this house with the system, I’m thinking seriously about putting in a wood stove. Just have to find out how much it’s going to cost to do it. But in the mean time, I need to figure out the heating system that’s currently in place.
Enjoy - and send me one of those Red Seals - if I had my druthers, I’d be drinking John Smith’s Best Bitters. Damn the RAF for getting me hooked on that stuff.
I don't think so. What looks like a plug is the rotating part of the valve. In the position in the photo, it is open. Turning 90 degrees with a wrench closes the valve.
If the valve is leaking, it may be that the body can be left in place and a new packing installed, provided it can be dis-assembled.
10-4. Freepmail me your 20.
I’ve seen similar valves at Los Alamos and Hanford on a gaseous diffusion system but I didn’t get to inspect them because I was near my administrative limit of 5000 mr/year and that would have pushed me over the top. Well, since your’s were installed in ‘44, they’re probably near background by now. :)
My wife was worried about how the pictures looked - I tried to explain that the plumbing was 60 years old, and wasn't expected to be chrome plated and sterile. At least, I wasn't expecting it to be. I guess I'll be steam cleaning and plating the stuff on my next days off. ;-)
And since she's reading this over my shoulder...I love you honey!!
Oh, brother. Get a room you two.
That’s a valve, and it’s pretty corroded. No simple job.
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