"Here's a very recent article on Green Building Advisor that reinforces the issues to…"
Anybody know what this is??
During an audit of an apartment building in N. Wisconsin that started life as a high school built in 1908, I found this very strange cast iron - steel device up in the floored attic. Anybody have any idea what it is??
The whole thing is about 2 feet tall and weighs 75 pounds or more. The bottom two-thirds (straight sides) is a tube made out of thick cast iron, and it looks a lot like cast iron sewer pipe. (And yes, the building does have cast iron sewers and sewer vents.) And, as you can see when looking at it from the bottom, inside the tube of this lower portion there are two spiral fins.
The bulbous top portion is thinner -- I think it's not cast iron but heavy sheet metal, like 12 or 10 gauge. I didn't look closely enough at the fitting in the bulb -- I do not know whether it's threaded to accept an NPT pipe nipple or not. I was, after all, supposed to be working on auditing the building...
I am only guessing, but it looks like a "topper" for a cast iron sewer stack. But I don't know that. And I sure don't have any idea why a sewer stack would need such a device on top.
I don't even know for sure that it's a building component, but I think it is. (It could be part of some wierd 1920s high school science demo. Maybe the Mad Scientist HS teacher performed unspeakable "experiments" up in the attic!) The building is fairly small, maybe 7,000 square feet per level, two stories tall with a full basement and a walk-up stairway to the floored attic above. The walls of the orignal building were triple-wythe brick. The chimneys (for the long-decommissioned boilers) are all conventional brick, so I don't think this is a smokestack cap.
Any hints??
Views: 384
- Attachments:
-
-
PB201638a.jpg, 37 KB -
PB201643a.jpg, 42 KB
-
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Stan Kuhn on -
It appears to be an early "flush" toilet. I've seen two very similar devices in turn-of-the-century homes, one in a basement alcove and one in a "shed" attached to the rear of the house. They both had water valves with a pipe angled into the bowl. It doesn't appear that it was connected, but just sitting in the attic, so likely just placed there rather than throwing it away.
-
Permalink Reply by Andrew F. on -
Looks like the base of an old water tank, I've found some old water tanks in attics of pre-1900 buildings that were used to maintain good watre pressure before municipal water systems were available. Any other guesses out there ?
-
Permalink Reply by Bradford E. White on -
Looks to me like the top of a steam relief vent used to terminate the top of the vent pipe from a boiler feed unit receiver or pressure relief valve. The top was designed with a drain you can see on the side, this kept it clear of ice. The bulb top was jacketed so steam filled it, warmed it and kept ice from forming in the bowl, so it did not plug the next release.
One company that made them was Marshalltown out of Iowa. Look for that on the casting. These are collectable to some pack rats :)
I have searched Google Images for a photo of a similar device and I have one photo at work from a 1936 High School north of Boston. May post that if I can find it to show it "in place".
You may also see these on old steam tug boats, often a relief pipe running up the side of the boiler smoke stack. This is the bulbous object at the top of these vents.
Home Energy Pros
Home Energy Pros was founded by the developers of Home Energy Saver Pro (sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) and brought to you in partnership with Home Energy magazine.
Latest Activity
David Eakin commented on Elisa Wood's blog post Momentum builds for energy efficiency...but is the wolf at the door?
Egr renovation posted a status"of course he is in paris but works around europe
http://ning.it/16KrbS7"
Egr renovation posted a status"i just find a good photogrpahe for your master piece
http://www.armanimage.com"
Meagan Foster posted eventsHomes 401: Green Rater Training
August 15, 2013 to August 16, 2013BPI Building Analyst Field Training
September 9, 2013 to September 12, 2013BPI Building Analyst Field Training
July 15, 2013 to July 18, 2013
Meagan Foster updated an eventEnergyLogic's RaterFest! at Black Hawk, CO
September 13, 2013 at 10am to September 15, 2013 at 12pm
Join us for one of the best home energy conferences available! This retreat will provide…See More
Meagan Foster updated an eventHomes 401: Green Rater Training at Berthoud, CO
June 25, 2013 to June 26, 2013
This highly interactive workshop builds upon the material presented in the online course, further…See More
Meagan Foster updated an eventHERS Rater Training - Online at Online
July 1, 2013 to July 26, 2013
NEW - our great RESNET HERS Rater online training is now completely self-paced, so you can start at…See More
Meagan Foster updated an eventBPI Building Analyst Training - Online at Online
June 3, 2013 to June 28, 2013
Join the EnergyLogic Academy for our BPI BA online training - we just went to a completely open…See More
© 2013 Created by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
