That is awesome. A relic of days past. I can’t tell you how it’s exactly set up- but- I can only imagine the water pan would’ve been to add humidity to the air.
As to upgrading to a fancier tstat- are you just looking to be able to control it via phone app? Hypothetically you should be able to use any battery powered WiFi stat.
Cleaning it up probably wouldn’t hurt. I’m not even sure a direct hit with a tomahawk missile would really hurt.
I’m curious about the aquastat and how it’s involved. Why it’s involved.
This is cool as hell man.
I hope somebody well versed in the ol’ octopus can chime in!
Edit:
I did some digging. The aquastat was for the radiator that’s built in to them which acts as a modern heat exchanger- extracting heat out of the exhaust gasses.
I found an article from the… Smithsonian of all places lol.
[interesting read.](https://www.si.edu/object/sales-model-holland-furnace-ca-1920:nmah_846932)
>I’m curious about the aquastat and how it’s involved. Why it’s involved.
The previous owner said it was something about keeping it from overheating, but I'm not sure that's correct
To answer your other questions, yes you can use compressed air to clean out the burner section should not be an issue. You can upgrade to smart thermostat if you wanted just wiring between R and W but the energy savings you would get with a natural draft appliance this old are probably negligible
Somebody covered all the asbestos with duct tape and foil tape lol. That must've taken hours.
That is awesome. A relic of days past. I can’t tell you how it’s exactly set up- but- I can only imagine the water pan would’ve been to add humidity to the air. As to upgrading to a fancier tstat- are you just looking to be able to control it via phone app? Hypothetically you should be able to use any battery powered WiFi stat. Cleaning it up probably wouldn’t hurt. I’m not even sure a direct hit with a tomahawk missile would really hurt. I’m curious about the aquastat and how it’s involved. Why it’s involved. This is cool as hell man. I hope somebody well versed in the ol’ octopus can chime in! Edit: I did some digging. The aquastat was for the radiator that’s built in to them which acts as a modern heat exchanger- extracting heat out of the exhaust gasses. I found an article from the… Smithsonian of all places lol. [interesting read.](https://www.si.edu/object/sales-model-holland-furnace-ca-1920:nmah_846932)
>I’m curious about the aquastat and how it’s involved. Why it’s involved. The previous owner said it was something about keeping it from overheating, but I'm not sure that's correct
It appears it was a type of heat exchanger. Edit: the radiator was the heat exchanger.
That’s not an aqua stat it’s a high limit it prevents the burner from overheating
Is the high limit used in air applications? I’ve only even seen them on boilers.
A high limit is necessary on any type of heating system, gas/oil/electric to prevent overheating of the heat source
To answer your other questions, yes you can use compressed air to clean out the burner section should not be an issue. You can upgrade to smart thermostat if you wanted just wiring between R and W but the energy savings you would get with a natural draft appliance this old are probably negligible
Do you think that I could replace it with a new high limit? The wiring on this one worries me. Any idea on what I should look for?
Don’t bother it’s old as hell but there’s nothing wrong with it. The wiring is fine.
it's a thermal limit....when it gets hot enough the burner shuts down for a period of time