Heating Help

skimming

@ April 18, 2012 8:37 AM in When is it skimmed enough?

One of the problems with the newer steamers is that the steam space may be a bit smaller,which makes the near boiler piping even more critical. if you do the stove test and it appears that the impurities are gone and you still have some movement in the sight glass, it could be piping issues.

SOFT WATER

@ March 25, 2012 5:30 PM in Water softener use for a steam boiler - good idea?

generally ,in residential boilers softners are not used....but the key to this question is;
 ' is there any benefit to a softener is quality of water going into boiler is very hard?.
if the water is very hard,most boiler manufacturers,even residential do not want very hard water going inot a steam boiler. I would say if you have excessive hardness, it would be a good idea to have  a softner.
even residential steam boilers require make-up water. so really hard make-up water is not good....[u][color=#0066cc]Reply[/color][/u]if the boiler is a steel boiler,then it would not hurt to have softner.

generators and circuit boards

@ February 19, 2011 6:44 PM in Buderus won't run on generator

I posted on this topic before. I found that many newer furnaces and boilers with a circuit board need a very good ground.if your generator does not have a ground.(most have neutral and ground together.you need a ground(hooked to a grounding rod) or in an emergency only,use the hot and the neutral from the generator,but use the ground from the existing electrical box. ( disclaimer)-the use of the ground from the house box should only be used on an emergency basis.so in essence I have tried  to run a furnace more than once on a  generator,but it would only fire when hooked up with the house ground.

problem

@ December 19, 2010 12:39 PM in Reillo 4 section Burnham boiler

It has been a few years since I have worked on oil  burners.....you may have a little too much air.....many times it is hard to get a 0 smoke reading,if you get a trace,and it is steady ,no rumbling,you may be ok. i would try cutting back on air,also check your electrode settings again. I have had good luck by upgading the transformer to electronic ones that have a higher voltage output,it helps with smooth ignition.

hydo-air

@ December 17, 2010 7:31 PM in Modcon & Hydro Air – Big Mistake?

It will be worth the investment to install the aquastats. You may find that with the aquastats shutting the fans down,allowing boiler to catch up,should be a big benefit to you....as others said,the coils may have been sized for 180 degree water....

problem

@ December 9, 2010 7:30 PM in Condensation problem in Inducer blower housing on RUUD 90%

those tubes coming off of the inducer must be checked,and possibly shortened,so that there is no trap to allow water to accumulate. You also need to check the installation instructions on the condensate trap going from the furnace to the drain. check drain lines,or if it goes into a pump,make sure the pump is working,and the outlet piping from pump is clear.also check the installation instructions on the vent pipe and make sure no obstructions,and that it is pipeper instructions,and that it does not exceed the specified maximum length...

Tekmar 256

@ November 25, 2010 9:24 AM in Tekmar 256

having never used tekmar,I am looking at this controller. Are they reliable? seems like a decent control. Any input good or bad appreciated.  sorry should have posted in the main section....

big problem

@ October 24, 2010 4:52 PM in Navien Heat Exchanger Problems

I posted before on this,I had a situation that happened in a commercial building where a large hot water storage tank lining was destroyed by using soft water.most hot water tank manufacturers do not want soft water being introduced into their tanks. 

steam control

@ September 29, 2010 12:01 PM in steam control

Does anybody have any experience with a control by exquisite heat inc,from pleasantville new york? any info apprecited.mainly looking for anyone who has one and if it has worked well/and saved money on fuel costs.

ddc controls

@ July 18, 2010 9:14 PM in The Dreaded DDC control question

what do you need to know? how many boilers?hot water or steam?how many aihandlers,etc

reset

@ April 2, 2010 5:03 PM in Question for the experts?

I have never seen it done on hydronics in a commercial setting...but....I have seen it done an airhandler,with a ddc(direct digital control) energy management system. I had a problem with an office space that had lots of windows on the exterior.the single large airhandler also served interior spaces.by the time the space temp sensors opened the chilled water valve,it was too late.so I looked at the return air,and as soon as it got warm,I opened the chilled water valve 100 percent.It seemed to work. you may be on to something,depending on application,and specifics.

boiler

@ March 25, 2010 3:43 PM in Sudden Temperature Rise and Drop

even though the boiler is fairly new,you probalbly need to have it cleaned,and checked,with a combustion efficiency test. if the boiler efficiency test is good,then you have system problems.

settings

@ March 25, 2010 3:35 PM in Sudden Temperature Rise and Drop

in the colder apartment building,you may have to adjust setpoints for day and night to a closer differential. ie-66 degrees night,and 69 day. you may also have to change times.maybe 12 midnight night setting and 530am for daylight.you can see on the day i mentioned,that it takes a long time to satisfy all sensors,this is telling you that the boiler has to worker longer and harder to satisfy the zones.what about sensor placement?

problem

@ March 25, 2010 2:05 PM in Sudden Temperature Rise and Drop

the near boiler piping should be corrected as it may contribute to the problem. insulation will also help. what I see is that 0n 3-25.at 7:43am,all areas,apartments(zones) are calling for heat at the same time at 29-05 address.with an undersized boiler,and a newer modern steam boiler,you do not have a larger steam space in the boiler,thus causing the sudden call for heat,with no cushion,to cause the boiler to work to make up for it.at 29-01 there is no such call for heat at the same time,from multiple zones,and you have a larger boiler.back to 29-05,how does this system call for the boiler to run? can you put a runtime meter/sensor on the boilers? can you adjust the differential on the system to allow 29-05 to come on a little sooner? need lots more info on how the system is configured. maybe you can use an averaging temp at 29-05 to get better control.

problem

@ March 15, 2010 8:23 PM in Navien Tankless, A BIG MISTAKE!

It has been discussed before,if your sister had a water softner using salt for regeneration,it could have caused the problem. I worked at aa large commercial facility where a softned water was used to feed the water heater,and it caused tremendous damage to a lined tank. you should check with navien to see what the acceptable limits for softned water are. most manufacturers do not want soft water below a certain hardness...I mentioned this to someone else,and sure enough the water was below the recomended levels of hardness causing big problems.

filter

@ March 6, 2010 1:39 PM in Hydronic Sidestream filters? & Dirt seperation/removal

I have had good luck with the type that looks like a pot-feeder,(canister) from mcmaster carr.it has a metal strainer,that a 'sock'filter fits over.they are very low tech,but I have used them a few places,with good luck.

priming

@ March 2, 2010 8:03 PM in PRIME AND SURGE

the key could be that you lowered the firing rate......if you go too low,this could be causing the priming. did this just start since you downfired boiler? you will probably need to incresae firing rate to get a steady water level. if you did not add a laod to the boiler,downfiring too much can cause the boiler to prime....

priming and foaming

@ March 2, 2010 4:17 PM in PRIME AND SURGE

I have never seen these conditions caused by traps. is this anew installation?was boiler skimmed? was a signifigant new load added? priming,is normally caused by a high load condition,it can be a sudden load,causing the boiler water level to rise erratically.foamimg,a different condition,is usually caused by dirty,or contaminated water.you could have a combo of both,if a new installation.need more info on boiler,piping,system,etc,etc.....

delay tactics

@ February 28, 2010 12:17 PM in Temperature-based cut-in for a Vaporstat?

on commercial ddc(direct digital controls),one of the things that they do is add room sensors=thermostats,to get an average space temperature.it may be possible to add a thermostat to get an average temp ,rather than rely on one,thus delaying the boiler from firing....you would have to watch the distance of added wire,and possibly upsize the transformer. it would not cost alot either.

air

@ January 12, 2010 7:44 PM in Controls for Combustion Air

the combustion air supply must be sized properly to handle all 3 boilers as if they were firing all at once. alot of places just have an louvered opening to supply the air.if they need a fan,the fan should be interlocked with the boilers so that if the fan does not run,the boilers do not run.lots of ways to do this.if you had just outside louvers with a motorized damper,you would have end switches on the dampers,so that the end switch would close when the damper motor drives the damper open,and trips the end switch,sending power to the boilers.if you had a fan,you could have a current sensing relay,sensing current of the fan,and then sending power to the boilers.

test results

@ January 7, 2010 6:43 PM in Lochinvar Armor water heating boilers............

it seems ok,but you need to check at different times to see if the softner is putting out below 5 grains of hardness on a regular basis.like i said before,soft water destroyed a lined tank in a few months,very agressive when heated...good luck keep us posted

lochinvar

@ December 29, 2009 4:49 PM in Lochinvar Armor water heating boilers............

went to the lochinvar website,and under water chemistry,it states,under 5 grains is no good,causing agressive deterioration when heated? is the water that bad? it states that it can have water up to 25 grains,and solids of 350 ppm.I think that if it is continually under 5 grains,you may have problems in the future.the key is under 5 grains=no good.good luck