Heating Help

Pauly, Would you post some pictures of your new steamer?

got whopped with gas charges

this month.. Was thinking maybe boiler not running correctly?? Got 100,000 btu steamer used 176 therms in 31 days, average use 5.68 this year, last year same period 3.71 Keep heat at 68-70 during day drop down to 64-66 at night (tstat 1 floor below bedrooms we dont want heat coming up at night, gets stuffy in bedrooms) Is there a way to clock the meter while boiler is running to see if its consuming too much gas? neighbors report less $$$ on their bill and they got 150,000 btu steamers!! what do ya think?? set backs at night killing me??

Barking up the wrong tree

Clocking the meter will only tell you the firing rate of the boiler. Highly doubtful that this would change unless someone fiddled around with the gas pressure. What has probably changed is that your boiler is firing more to produce the heat required by your house. Assuming that the degree days are relatively close this year to last your increase in consumption would lead me to look in other areas. More than likely a good boiler mechanic would be able to spot some areas where your system efficiency has dropped off from last year. Could be a venting problem on your mains, could be a leak in the casting above the water line, could be the heat exchanger surfaces are dirty, could be a draft problem, could be, could be, could be a lot of things.

That is SO True. *~/:)

Our average

Daily temps for Nov were 4 deg cooler than last year in WNY's So. Tier. A therm a day is about $ 2 diff.

I’m not a strong believer in setting back any boiler, steam or water more than one degree. It just takes too long of a cycle to heat back up the rooms. On a one-pipe system a long cycle can flood the radiators and vents. On a two-pipe system, all your steam traps and pressuretrol must be working exactly perfect or you are just over pressuring or wasting fuel if the steam traps are not closing. You might try leaving the stat on one setting or only one-degree setback and shutting off the radiator with the valve in the bedroom at night or all the time if you have that option. As for your possible increase in fuel use, you might take a hard look at the burners on the boiler. They probably could use a cleaning and are not burning properly as they once did.