Above 1200 Sq/FT 86's 20HP shop

[86turbodsl]

We had dad's service yesterday. Saw many old friends and family. Dad was very outgoing and had a lot of friends. The church was packed. I realized some things. He gave me my career. He passed his love of cars to me and I became an engineer in the auto business. I owe him much. I hope one day to see him again.

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[Strouty]

Death can put a lot of things into perspective, heck just discussing a will with my father (yes, he doesn't have a will) has really been an eye opener for both of us. Sounds like your Dad did a good job overall and I am sure he will be happy to see you again, but not for a while.

 

[Spareparts]

You can't go anywhere yet, got to get that oil burner going first

 

[86turbodsl]

I had my issues with him, but i do think overall he did a good job. Nobody is perfect on this side of heaven. I do wish we had a better relationship toward the end.

I do need to get that oil burner working better. I'm a little scared to pull it down when more cold weather is coming. It is a PITA to clean right now, but its' working well enough at the moment. I'm continuing to move forward with 2.0 and collect parts. The pneumatic solenoid showed up. I still have programming and wiring i can do while i bide my time.

 

[86turbodsl]

In my haste to get something done today, i managed to drop the hydraulic pump on the floor and broke half the mount off. I'm going to have to braze the ear back on. Haven't done much of that, not sure if i want to learn tig brazing or not. I have the stuff to do it. Or nickel rod stick. Decisions decisions.

 

[Strouty]

Sounds like we are twins, I dropped my Procon pump, if there had been a video, it probably would have looked like I spiked it, but I was just trying to catch it, honest.

 

[86turbodsl]

Heh. Some days i wonder if i'm cursed. Hope your pump is good. They are just carbonator pumps with a lighter spring. You can get em on ebay cheap. Maybe cheaper than a rebuild.

 

[86turbodsl]

Spent today cleaning the shop and organizing parts for the ball valve upgrade to the oil feed. Back to work tomorrow. Not looking forward to it really, but need to do it.

 

[86turbodsl]

Working on the boiler again. Got the vfd and 24v power supply mounted. Ran a line for the 3ph to the pump motor. Frustrated I ran out of black. So that sits!

Supposed to be 10f tonight. Really tired of cold weather.



The pneumatic solenoid is mounted and working on wiring in the parts. I need that automation back!

I could take a week off to work.

I soldered in the new expansion valve for the heat pump. If I had that mounted I could just run it to stay warm. Oh well.
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[Strouty]

It was single digits here last night, looks like you are making progress.

 

[86turbodsl]

It's really getting old i tell ya. 2weeks more at least for our forecast.

It's slow. I need more time in the evening. I try to get home and get started quick but I usually only have a hour or two at night.

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[86turbodsl]

Also picked up a Wilkerson electronic pneumatic regulator, between that and the vfd drive pump I can control the full output of the new burner.

Plan is to tune the burner to several different heat levels (combinations of air pressure and oil flow that work without creating problems) and then be able to monitor boiler temperature and select the right burner output automatically as needed. I believe that most of the babingtons that have been made to date had different optimum air and oil flows depending on how long they have been running. Once they warm up they need different air flows primarily. The auto regulator was a screaming deal on ebay. Normally those are like $500-600. If i can get it to start automatically and not create a ton of crud i will be pretty happy.

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[Strouty]

In about 10 days things will feel much better regardless of the temps, I can guarantee that.

 

[86turbodsl]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention i dropped the hydraulic pump for the waste transfer on the concrete and broke an ear off. Cast iron, so i took it apart, and cleaned and sandblasted it. Then ground a v in the crack and i will be trying to tig braze it. Stay tuned on that one.

 

[86turbodsl]

In about 10 days things will feel much better regardless of the temps, I can guarantee that.

Why is that?

 

[Strouty]

Why is that?

Clocks move in the fun direction.

 

[86turbodsl]

Oh yeah, forgot about that. Muuuuch nicer time.

Just saw this on Andy's thread and thought of my brother in Texas.

He would love to screw the little buggers...

 

[86turbodsl]

Worked on the hydraulic pump tonight. I decided to try Tig brazing with silicon bronze. Pretty different. Kinda like soldering with a Tig torch. I quite liked it. I think I'll just do this instead of torch brazing from now on. Supposedly you can use it on any metals. Even copper to steel. And the rod is cheap.

Also ran the 3 ph lines to the pump.

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[86turbodsl]

I picked up this electronic air regulator. Needed a place to mount it. So I whipped up this mount. It will regulate the air flow to the babington ball. Between this and the vfd drive pump I can fully tune the heat output of the new burner.

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[matt_i]

Sorry to read about your Dad.

I like the look of that control panel! It is trying to work in the cold knowing its going to warmup (you know relatively speaking) in a few weeks but its definitely a pay-forward for next winter.

I just got my ceiling drywall hung and started messing with testing my forced-air heating system, so far this is disappointing as far as the warmup rate compared to the original part of the shop. Have some ideas for improvement though

Nice work on the silicon bronze. A mentor of mine swore by that when doing auto body work as well. He had a technique where he cored a hole, dimpled it slightly, and then dropped in a flanged nut, and tig-silicon bronze it in place for a weld-nut that could be finished flush.

 

[86turbodsl]

Thanks Matt. It was harder to lose Dad than i thought it would be, but after a couple weeks i'm starting to think about it less.

I think the panel is starting to shape up. I thought it was a little large originally, but now that it's filling up, i think it'll be about right. There'll be air in there too. Should be interesting. I have some machine tool wire on order too.

The existing boiler works okish, but smokey and needs a lot of cleaning. I'm working on getting a different induction blower for the combustion air. And then it takes several hours to warm up the shop, so i would really like some automation going.

None of the guys at work had ever heard of tig brazing, they thought it sounded cool though, i told them i would bring in a couple of rods for them to try. The nut idea sounds pretty cool. Have any pics?

I wish i'd known you were hanging ceiling drywall. I need a place for my drywall lift to disappear to... LOL.

 

[86turbodsl]

Didn't get much done today other than making the shop warm again. Seems like I spend most of the day getting it warm enough to work in and then it's time for bed. Sigh.

Painted the bracket and installed it. Then mounted the regulator.

Need to get it plumbed. The manual valve is really getting old. 11f tonight. 12f high tomorrow. Ugh.

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[Strouty]

Keep at it, next heating season you will be thankful you spent all the time and effort. It is looking good and in a few more weeks, things should be looking better outside as well.

We are getting hammered with snow right now, I am just glad I put the plow inside this time, it should make my job easier.

 

[86turbodsl]

I saw that storm heading your way and thought about you. My relatives in the up are still digging out from their blizzard.

I'll keep pecking away at it.

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[Strouty]

That is all you really can do. I am going to order the procon pump this week and try and fix the cooler so it works, at least I am still on target for an April completion.

 

[86turbodsl]

Very cool. I need to find a water filler neck for my tank i'm making on the cooler. It's been on my mind because i'd like to use my new torch, but heating seems to always take the front line. The cooler tank is a stainless water table 1/2 pan. You still have a good motor with tang drive right? I'm not sure if i have parts left over from my two carbonators i can send you. The one with the football tank is supposed to make it into my kegerator so i can slow down the bleeding with soda pop we buy. I have a garbage bag a week in empties to return.

i need to find a water neck somewhere...

 

[Strouty]

I think I have all the parts I need, just the pump, once I buy that, it should go back together pretty easily. Then I can rebuild the other one as a spare.

 

[86turbodsl]

Worked on air plumbing tonight. Also some of the new oil feed plumbing. I hope to get this done soon. Tired of babysitting.

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[86turbodsl]

I think I have all the parts I need, just the pump, once I buy that, it should go back together pretty easily. Then I can rebuild the other one as a spare.

Having a spare on hand will be nice. Hope it's warmer there than here, it was 10f when I got home from work. And still daylight!!!

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[Strouty]

Today turned out really nice, it was in the low 40s with lots of sun. Everywhere that offered the procon pump I need has them on backorder. Might get one shipped out this week, if they arrive. I guess that is par for the course. I hope things warm up for you.

 

[86turbodsl]

Ugh. I'd kill for 40's right now. 8F this morning. I made the shop up to 50F by 1130pm.

 

[bimmer1980]

I've continued to follow along on this thread. Sorry to hear about your dad..

It's interesting to see the control logic that you are putting together to control the burn.

 

[86turbodsl]

Thanks Bimmer. We've known about dad for 2 years already, but it's still hard to have him gone, even though I wasn't as close to him as the rest of the family. He and I didn't see eye to eye on a lot. But still, you only get one dad. And i owe him a lot. Wish i had him back.

I really hope all this time and effort on the controls are worth it. Should be able to make some real progress soon. Been burning so much i can't take it down for the newer controls at the moment. It's supposed to warm up a bit this weekend, i hope to take it down for some extended time. I skipped tonight. Too cold.

 

[86turbodsl]

Words cannot express how ridiculously tired I am of starting the boiler and forgetting to turn on the oil feed and the fire going out only to discover it after a couple of hours. Grrrrr!!!!!

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[Spareparts]

Time for a break, cold and all

 

[86turbodsl]

Boy what a statement.

 

[86turbodsl]

This weekend, i changed fuel filters on the truck and fixed the fuel starvation problem i've been having. Got things to move as spring hits and needed it up 100%.

Also completed 99% of the wiring on the boiler panel. I need to spend a little time programming the plc tonight to get it back operational, just in time for 66F weather on Thursday.

Par for the course i guess...

 

[86turbodsl]

And success! Plc now controls functions on and off from front panel operators. Now to add more functions.

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[Strouty]

Very good, the box even makes me think you know what you are doing. You even added in the volt meter for bonus points.........

 

[86turbodsl]

Very good, the box even makes me think you know what you are doing. You even added in the volt meter for bonus points.........

Ha! I don't know i would go that far... i'm not an industrial electrician by any stretch. i do love a good panel though. I'm trying. i have a very good understanding of electricity and controls, but when it comes to panels, i am just learning. I haven't put any labels on the wires and or made a wiring diagram yet, so i think i fail. i like to figure things out as i go. i'm pretty happy the operators were working, i'm going to be totally stoked when there's actual timers and temp measurement involved...