A museum piece.....but reliable....

[dishman]

Got my annual boiler service today. Took a a bit longer than usual. The kid they sent out was pretty young and had only worked on stuff newer than 00s.

So when I presented him with the 40 year old Gloworm Spaceaver 45-60 and he looked at it like he was inside a museum looking at a long lost artefact.

(not my actual one, but exactly the same)

But....after a bit of trepidation...and a the squeezing and sliding of panels. Everything was opened up and cleaned out to get through another winter.

He seemed a bit unsure at first, he knew his stuff alright, but I think he was just worried about breaking the thing. Even though it is built like a tank.

He was impressed at the overall good condition it's innards were in and that the exterior flu was still shining in all it's stainless steel glory (not a hint of rust).

I think this year may be it's last, but it must be over 40 now, and has not broken down once in all that time....

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Dont tempt fate....

 

[dishman]

lol.....looking for something wooden to touch as we speak....

 

[John D v2.0]

Nice! The simplicity probably helps. Probably more echo friendly to run that boiler for 40 years than to build and scrap 4 more modern boilers and run them for 10 years each!
Having said that, ours might not last the winter either, you can see it's getting on a bit

 

[aptsys]

Nice! The simplicity probably helps. Probably more echo friendly to run that boiler for 40 years than to build and scrap 4 more modern boilers and run them for 10 years each!
Having said that, ours might not last the winter either, you can see it's getting on a bit
View attachment 136198

Looks very similar to the one in the basement in one of the houses I lived in back when I was at university. The room above was always warm.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Nice! The simplicity probably helps. Probably more echo friendly to run that boiler for 40 years than to build and scrap 4 more modern boilers and run them for 10 years each!
Having said that, ours might not last the winter either, you can see it's getting on a bit
View attachment 136198

What sort of boiler is that? Presumably gas? Looks like something American - usually installed in a basement.

OP - If it ain't broke.......................

 

[John D v2.0]

Not sure

What sort of boiler is that? Presumably gas? Looks like something American - usually installed in a basement.

OP - If it ain't broke.......................

Got it here
http://www.diychatroom.com/f17/ancient-boiler-170660/

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Not sure

Got it here
http://www.diychatroom.com/f17/ancient-boiler-170660/

As I thought, it's in East Liverpool, Ohio. Americans often use their boilers for decades. Seen one 100 years old that was solid fuel, converted to oil. They're more interested in durability and long life of boiler than efficiency.

There will be asbestos lurking somewhere on the system of the boiler in your photo.

 

[Wildcat1961]

Nice! The simplicity probably helps. Probably more echo friendly to run that boiler for 40 years than to build and scrap 4 more modern boilers and run them for 10 years each!
Having said that, ours might not last the winter either, you can see it's getting on a bit
View attachment 136198

Can’t beat those good old flueless appliances.

 

[stem]

My parents had a Spacesaver in their brand new bungalow when they bought it in 1980. It worked perfectly and without a single fault for over 25 years. Every part on it was the original. I remember well, how in cold winters, the condensation from the balanced flue terminal would drip on the ground right in front of the kitchen door, where it turned to ice, causing unsuspecting visitors to slip on it.

However, my folks told me that for the last few years when it was serviced by BG as part of a maintenance contract, they were advised that it was getting old, would become unreliable and parts difficult to find so should consider replacing it. Because it had worked so reliably, and for so long they were adamant that they wanted only another Glow Worm to replace it and nothing else would do. So, an Ultracom 30cxi was duly installed in its place. It's approaching 10 years old now and must have developed a fault on average, pretty much almost every year. What a dire machine! It has filled the kitchen with smoke (mum was frightened by this, because she had to stand in front of it whilst unlocking the door to make her escape) It has leaked numerous times, from various internal parts, died completely, and is now randomly discharging its contents into the garden from time to time. But no one know can find out why apparently.

Mum kept a record of their gas use each year and the 'new technology' didn't even give them any noticeable reduction in gas consumption. I can't see this one making 25 years somehow. But I guess that's progress for you. At least the patch of ice has gone.

 

[algas]

If it ain't broke!!!

 

[Nige F]

As I thought, it's in East Liverpool, Ohio. Americans often use their boilers for decades. Seen one 100 years old that was solid fuel, converted to oil. They're more interested in durability and long life of boiler that efficiency.

.

Remind me of the trio of boilers in the hotel where I worked. 3 Robin Hoods 1960's originally running on oil that had immersion heaters in the tanks to allow it to flow. Converted to gas before I got there. Old belt driven pumps with dripping glands, supposed to do that. Lumps of yellow phosphur from the oil in the flueways. All changed after I left, so they did 30+ years.

 

[GeorgeNewman]

Well done, dishman! You're three years ahead of my trusty Worcester Heatslave 2+, a mere youngster at 37 years. Is that a Grundfos Selectric pump you have there? Mine's a Selectric 4, which still runs perfectly.
Cheers! George.

 

[dishman]

@stem

Interesting about your parents and British Gas, they tried the exact same thing with this boiler (when we used to use them). It was the only time in it's life we had an "issue".

Just before winter, they did their annual service, which took far longer than normal. I thought he was just being thorough. I seem to remember him fiddling a lot with the gas mix dial on the mclaren valve and testing the flue for a long time. He did the usual about it not having parts any more and that it should be replaced etc.

However, towards the end of his inspection, the engineer called us into the kitchen to suddenly announce he had to condemn it, no questions, no attempt to discover the route cause of the issue. He had not, if memory serves even taken the covers off to check the heat exchanger or internal flu access. He said his meter got a carbon monoxide reading while checking around the boiler casing inside the house. This is fair enough if valid, but he was super vague about where it was detected, and why it would suddenly occur, especially when we have an alarm which gave no indication.

I was furious. Something felt very odd about the whole scenario. So I kicked up a fuss, and eventually his boss arrived (area manager) who backed up his engineer.

His excuse was that the rope seal had probably failed and that 1) the original part was not made any more (to it's original specification) 2) the rope seal was not accessible and the whole thing would need to be taken down to access it, at which point it would probably not go back on.
They capped it off, left a dangerous item sticker on it, and promptly left leaving two fan heaters .

I was still not having it, so decided at my expense to get a second opinion. I went around the corner to ask a local firm if they could help. They made no promises. They opened it up completely, found a lot of dirt inside as if it had not been properly serviced in a while. After 2mins he took off one of the covers to directly access the rope seal and flu. It looked old but intact. As a precaution he replaced it with a new seal and double wound it. It fired up first time, and there were no suspect readings, everything was within the expected ranges.

Their service cost about £200 which, after a four page letter to british gas, was refunded to me as part of their apology.

I have not used their service since.

 

[John D v2.0]

Interesting stories, ours was even worse for condemning perfectly good boilers, we were renting in 2012 and the boiler had an issue, one engineer turned up, took one look and said it's the main heat exchanger (even I knew it wasn't) and quoted for a replacement.
The second engineer had a go, then called his mate/colleague for advice on speaker phone. His mate asked what was on the display, then when told the was no display (only lights) he said no point trying to fix just replace the whole thing.
The original boiler was from when the place was built in 2002.