What is this piece called & how to replace it?

[Uncledodat]

Hello, new member here. New homeowner also. My background is limited to fixing computers. How i wish I had at least took a hvac class or some type of carpentry. Heck, even my brick steps could use some redoing.

However, the reason I am here today is a piece to my boiler/furnace (not even sure) is leaking very bad and i need to know where I can get the replacement part and the steps to replace it. I've included pics of this mysterious piece.

Thanks in advance for any info

 

[NY_Rob]

It looks like it has B&G stamped on the casting.

Bell & Gossett is still around... ask them.

http://bellgossett.com/

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Dana]

I don't recognize the exact model has the form factor of a pressure reducing valve/auto-fill valve, designed to automatically add water to the heating system if the system loses some water. It was manufactured by Bell & Gossett (the B & G in the casting.) Most residential system auto-fills these days have bronze rather than cast-iron bodies, but B &G still makes similar models in cast iron. They are sometimes sold together with a pressure relief valve, but are usually separate:

The replacement doesn't have to be cast-iron, and it's handy to get one with a lever for rapid-filling the system:

 

[Uncledodat]

Thank you so much. What can you tell me about replacing one of these babies? I was under the impression that I was looking for the same model and color, just to make things a bit easier. Is it just a pop of the old one and pop on the new? Or do I have to drain the system or something?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dana]

If you can isolate some or all the system with other valves to keep it from draining it will save you a lot of air-purging headache/time. If it can't be isolated, be sure the system temp has dropped to under 115F before opening it up, to limit the scalding risk.

Be sure to install it with the the flow-direction indicator pointed toward the heating system side rather than the potable water side.

The replacement doesn't have to be the same model. The big box stores tend to carry Watts versions. It can be 3/4" or 1/2" connections- doesn't really matter.

Buying one with a backflow preventer (required by code in some areas) with an outflow connection can be useful, should your system ever go over pressure for some reason. Be sure to plumb the outflow to a safe disposal location- you don't want steaming scalding water all over your boiler room.

 

[Uncledodat]

Thanks a lot. I will be tackling it over the weekend.

 

[MACPLUMB]

I would suggest that you do not try this on a weekend ! Especially a holiday weekend !
As a professional, there is no way to get any parts ! Most Professional Plumbers and Boiler workers carry these parts on their trucks or in the shop and know how to make the necessary repairs this not some thing a DIY should try as a first time
home improvement project !
change out a toilet or a faucet even a garbage disposer, but not a boiler repair that your family needs for Heating over the weekend !

 

[Uncledodat]

Thanks for the concern. I really appreciate it. As a new homeowner I can not even tell you how many times I have been in that situation.

Well I tell you about this one time. Then hopefully you'll see why it really doesn't matter that I attempted to tackle this project over the Christmas weekend.

Our very first winter in this house the boiler went out for some reason. Thankfully I had American Home shield. (I dont anymore) The major problem was the piece that eas needed had to be ordered and it was going to take a week and a half. (Go figure) During this week and a half it was the begging of Feb. Temps were below zero and we were miserably cold. I broke out the kerosene heater. And the five of us were literally living in the living room. Blankets were up to keep the heat in that one room. As the rest of the house wad freezing.

We were surviving. The very day before I was scheduled for my repair. Temperatures really dropped and i remember the wife waking me up frantically and telling me that there was water all over the sun porch. Which gets very cold. Not only did the baseboard heating pipes freeze and burst. They bursts in five different spots around the porch. And to add insult to injury after each of the cracks were repaired and we went on with our normal lives. There was a burst pipe under the house that we didn't know about until the water bill came in. Talk about a horrible winter. And a very high water bill.

It was at that time I began to research wood stoves, pellet stoves, and inserts. I mean I had a fireplace. It looked like it use to be used for something. I was three days away from having a wood stove installed when I researched how much work they were and the fact that if have to be messing around with it every three to four hours. I could really see myself waking up in a cold house. It was at this time I discovered coal. I mean I really felt like I discovered these black rocks. I researched and researched the properties of coal. I was totally sold once I read about 12 to 19hr burning times.

Then I discovered that the coal stoves of today were nothing in comparison to the stoves made in the late 1800's, early 1900's. While learning about the properties of coal. I came across this video entitled The best coal stove ever made.

It was at that point I knew what I wanted.

From there things just got bad. I mean the addiction was real. It's like once you get one then you want another, and another. Next thing you know, you have ran out of space to put any other stoves in the house.

Unless I can get the wife to agree with an old school coal cook stove.

I'd better stop while I'm ahead. That is a beautiful stove though. All that to say. The boiler has been off since last season and I am soley relying on coal, right now.
But with the weather just about to get really coal. I don't want to take the chance of my porch pipes freezing again. This is why I'm attempting to repair this boiler piece. ASAP

If your still reading I really thank you for your concern, but are running around in shorts and tank-tops. Also if anyone else has made it this for. Forgive me. I can be so long winded. Lol sorry. Im a Gemini.

Now about my weekend project. It has went a bust. For the life of me i can not get the piece off. It just will not budge.

I Went to YouTube and learned about heating up the nut and letting hot wax loosen up the bolt. But you really need a blow torch to do this correctly.(I dont have one) The I tried the aceton and automatic transmission fluid to loosen it up. Bottom line I can't even get the damn thing off to replace it. SMDH. (Secretly Wishing I'd went to school for hvac instead of computers)

What can I do?

 

[Dana]

What you need is a hacksaw, to cut the sweat-copper pipes out, and a pipe cutter, torch, flux & copper pipe (and a pipe brush to clean the thin oxides off the copper prior to applying flux) to plumb in the new valve, which probably has different dimensions from the old valve. Measure it all up carefully, and be sure to have all the fittings ahead of time rather than making 5 trips to the store for more parts.

 

[Jadnashua]

When it was installed, they screwed the fittings into the valve (with maybe a stub of pipe already attached so they didn't overheat the pipe dope on the threads), then soldered the pipe to those fittings...IOW, you won't be able to unscrew them.

As Dana said, you'll have to cut it out to a convenient place, then rebuild things with the new valve. You could use some unions so, if you lived there long enough, you wouldn't have to cut it out, but finding one exactly the same doesn't always work, so it may still require some rework.

 

[Dana]

If you buy an auto-fill already married to a backflow preventer it elminates the need for a union, since they can be undone in the middle and replaced separately, if need be:

 

[Uncledodat]

Yeah, this just got so much more enjoyable. I wish you guys could see the enjoyment just leaking out of my eyes. Oh, wait those are tears. Damn, I kick myself in the ass for not taking a hvac class or something.

So here's what I'm thinking. Today I had a game plan. I don't own a torch, so I said to myself. "Self" if you have to cut the pipe off your gonna need a torch and all the Dana said I'd need. But since you have to purchase a torch anyways. Why not try that heat the bolt up and let candle wax do the heavy lifting trick. However, at this point i am considering draining the system of all water to prevent frozen pipes. Until I can get someone out here. Its going down to 13 degrees tonight in Delaware. Just rev up the coal stoves a little more.

This sucks. I fix computers. SMDH lol