How did you get your gasifier in your house?

[eauzonedan]

By most standards I guess i cheated..........but a 40T crane for $450 to set the trusses and drop the boiler I just couldn't refuse. That included 45 minutes of ferry time both ways. I came from Chicago and they wouldn't drive that rig around the block for that kind of money....... I guess I'm not in KS anymore......... (and proud of it). Oh yea......that's just a partition wall to an overhead door area - just in case I ever have to get it out, but without benefit of the big rig.

 

[hobbyheater]

By most standards I guess i cheated....

No cheating there , that's using your brain !

 

[GS7]

The photos make you look like a magician getting that monster to the concrete pad. Real nice set up. Wish you had a video!

 

[arngnick]

It was even more difficult to move the 500G propane tank in my basement than it was to move the boiler. But I do have a walk out basement and a tractor with a loader. Once I got it inside it was all about dollies and patience.

 

[huffdawg]

And a flat of beer and 2 strong friends to prybar it into place

 

[WireNut]

I wasn't able to take a bunch of photos during the move-in process. I had a friend with a backhoe come over, and we only had 3 people plus the backhoe operator to move a 1600 pound boiler....well, minus the weight of the doors and center bricks.

So, he has forks for the loader on his backhoe, so that's how we moved the boiler to the basement door.



The basement door is 1" wider then the boiler. So the control box had to come off of one side.



This is where the pictures stopped for now, because we all had to have hands on the boiler....no time for photos. We hooked a chain to the bucket on the backhoe, and to the lift point on the top of the boiler. Then we laid the boiler down on it's front (all doors removed), and put it on top of three 2" black iron pipes I have from cutting my old heating system out. I saved them when I did the scrap yard run just for this purpose. Then with the three of us guiding the boiler into the door, we put a split piece of wood form my pile between the bucket and the lift point on the boiler. Using the bucket, he pushed the boiler into the basement door opening. As the boiler rolled off of the pipes and into the basement door, we used the pipes as levers to straighten the boiler in the door opening, with about a half inch clearance on each side of the boiler.

Once the boiler was about 1/3 into the basement door, we hooked the chain back onto the bucket so that the furnace wouldn't just slide right down into the basement uncontrolled. We then used the pipes (all of which were freed from under the boiler now) to level the boiler into the door enough that it passed it's tipping point. Once it did, the weight was on the bucket chain, and he lowered it down using the bucket/chain.

We stood it upright by hand, and it barely cleared the ceiling joist by about a half inch (we took all of the components off of the top as well). Everything was measured in advance to make sure it would work (Pythagoras for the win). Once we had it upright, we had the backhoe operator tilt the boiler slightly using the chain, and put the pipes under the furnace. Then, using the Egyptian method, we used the 3 pipes to roll the boiler into place on the opposite side of the basement.



The only damage to the furnace was cosmetic to the sheet metal, where it had to pivot down the basement stairs.





And it is now in place. The next challenge is getting all my heating pipe in before the heating season starts. I'm going from a single whole-house zone to 4 zones, from old iron pipe to new copper with zone circulators, so this is the fun part. Luckily I have a friend who does HVAC for a living, and he's going to help me get it in and looking neat...I'll be paying him though, he's having twins at the start of next month and he could use his time doing other side work...so I wouldn't feel right taking his time for free!

 

[BoilerMan]

I picked up my boiler in Cape Cod Mass. Bought it on CL (new) they had a crane load it onto our 1ton p/u.

Drove 800 miles home with 1,200lb boiler and unloaded it with a Cat 318 backhoe onto a pallet.

Used a floor jack and two guys to roll it 50' to it's final resting place as a pallet jack would not fit through the boiler room door.

Slab on grade. I wish I had pics but I was the backhoe operator and the long drive home has us worn out

TS

 

[NCFord]

Yes that's my 5 and 7 year olds doing all the "work" after I built the building I just lifted the boiler off my rollers and
set it in place. So easy a little kid can do it!

 

[Gasifier]

I wasn't able to take a bunch of photos during the move-in process. I had a friend with a backhoe come over, and we only had 3 people plus the backhoe operator to move a 1600 pound boiler....well, minus the weight of the doors and center bricks.

So, he has forks for the loader on his backhoe, so that's how we moved the boiler to the basement door.

The basement door is 1" wider then the boiler. So the control box had to come off of one side.

This is where the pictures stopped for now, because we all had to have hands on the boiler....no time for photos. We hooked a chain to the bucket on the backhoe, and to the lift point on the top of the boiler. Then we laid the boiler down on it's front (all doors removed), and put it on top of three 2" black iron pipes I have from cutting my old heating system out. I saved them when I did the scrap yard run just for this purpose. Then with the three of us guiding the boiler into the door, we put a split piece of wood form my pile between the bucket and the lift point on the boiler. Using the bucket, he pushed the boiler into the basement door opening. As the boiler rolled off of the pipes and into the basement door, we used the pipes as levers to straighten the boiler in the door opening, with about a half inch clearance on each side of the boiler.

Once the boiler was about 1/3 into the basement door, we hooked the chain back onto the bucket so that the furnace wouldn't just slide right down into the basement uncontrolled. We then used the pipes (all of which were freed from under the boiler now) to level the boiler into the door enough that it passed it's tipping point. Once it did, the weight was on the bucket chain, and he lowered it down using the bucket/chain.

We stood it upright by hand, and it barely cleared the ceiling joist by about a half inch (we took all of the components off of the top as well). Everything was measured in advance to make sure it would work (Pythagoras for the win). Once we had it upright, we had the backhoe operator tilt the boiler slightly using the chain, and put the pipes under the furnace. Then, using the Egyptian method, we used the 3 pipes to roll the boiler into place on the opposite side of the basement.

The only damage to the furnace was cosmetic to the sheet metal, where it had to pivot down the basement stairs.[/COLOR]

And it is now in place. The next challenge is getting all my heating pipe in before the heating season starts. I'm going from a single whole-house zone to 4 zones, from old iron pipe to new copper with zone circulators, so this is the fun part. Luckily I have a friend who does HVAC for a living, and he's going to help me get it in and looking neat...I'll be paying him though, he's having twins at the start of next month and he could use his time doing other side work...so I wouldn't feel right taking his time for free![/quote]

WireNut. Nice job getting that in there. I don't want to derail this thread. Do you have a thread about your install? I am wondering about things like your piping, your return water protection, your storage if any, series or parallel, etc. If you do not have a thread about your install, maybe you can create one and tell us about it. Or send me a PM. I am interested, being a Wood Gun owner. Thanks.

 

[WireNut]

WireNut. Nice job getting that in there. I don't want to derail this thread. Do you have a thread about your install? I am wondering about things like your piping, your return water protection, your storage if any, series or parallel, etc. If you do not have a thread about your install, maybe you can create one and tell us about it. Or send me a PM. I am interested, being a Wood Gun owner. Thanks

I don't have one about my install yet, I'm in the process of collecting parts and whatnot....I plan to start one, most likely after this weekend (when I, with some help of a friend, do the first of the plumbing).

 

[kopeck]

Nothing our Kubota and a pallet jack couldn't handle!





BTW, I love the overhead door in my basement!

 

[nrcrash]

Like arngnick, my boiler was easy to get into my basement. It was the 1000 gallon propane tank that took some work..... Thank god for the walkout basement!

 

[JrCRXHF]

(broken image removed)

I used the kubota to get it close then 4 friends and some 2x4's to move it into the boiler room. I guess its a good thing we are all still pretty young.