Heating Help

Puzzled the differential

@ March 19, 2013 7:22 PM in air valves spitting water not fixed, and more..

Is located inside the grey box. It is a white wheel. The clear box is the emergency manual reset pressuretrol.

you would chill your building as

@ March 19, 2013 10:51 AM in If you were designing a heating system for dream house/dream shop, what would it be and what design tweaks would you take to maximize efficiency?

you tried to heat it. Kind of like being on a tread mill. Keep the loops away from the building

yes to noise complaints

@ March 19, 2013 10:47 AM in Noisy Carlin EZ gas conversion burners

the frequency is different due to the light burner. The oil has lots of cast iron parts to muffle the noise is what I figure. Also tuning by way of a combustion analyzer is critical to keep the noise down. No gas valve noise complaints though. The fresh air intake cover helps with noise complaints if they exist after tuning.

Gary you can always

@ March 19, 2013 10:42 AM in Ols steam system, troubles come my way?

drop them my number if you would prefer to not mess with it. Just saying.

Yep it's an OE

@ March 19, 2013 10:36 AM in Ols steam system, troubles come my way?

It is a vent you will need to find a different way to vent the system. I would have guessed pressure relief for sure. Just do a proper piping job and vent the mains well and you should be fine.

too complicated think basic

@ March 19, 2013 10:31 AM in Backup boiler piping for solar drainback system

1. Pipe from tank to current mixing valves.
2. Pipe boiler to supply line for mixing valves with closely spaced tees.
3. Have current four ways divert back to tank if call for heat ends and boiler water is above a set temp.
4. Make sure controls for each mixing valve do not divert to tank if there is a call for heat in either zone.
5. Make sure burner stops and starts only on call for heat.
Circulators for supply and boiler should run from feedback concerning system water temps.

Since the first floor radiator valves

@ March 16, 2013 6:01 PM in Please help identify type of two-pipe steam system

have been changed they are stealing the steam and getting steam to the vent too quickly. You should look into adding orifices to the first floor radiators and increasing the venting at the boiler. I would highly recommend an ounce scale vaporstat to keep the pressure down too.

You need to remove the valve

@ March 16, 2013 11:26 AM in Removal and Cap of Steam Radiator

and cap the pipe with the corresponding size of an iron pipe cap. Why do you want to remove the radiator?

reversing flow

@ March 16, 2013 11:12 AM in Delta T issue

introduces the heat to the floor in a different pattern that may or may not be more even. The hottest water I prefer to direct to the outside or colder area of a room. The real reason is to distribute the heat in the floor in a different pattern.

If the boiler is large enough or

@ March 14, 2013 5:47 PM in Swap McDonnell MIller 47-2 with VXT 120

your area requires it, you may need 2 LWCO's on your boiler. Is the PS8000 an automatic or manual reset model?

I vote VXT

@ March 14, 2013 5:43 PM in automatic water feeder vxt or mcdonnell

the meter alone is worth it to learn a new control.

I often worry about

@ March 14, 2013 5:40 PM in New Modcon old cast iron radiator system

cleaning the system so well it starts leaking where there were no leaks before. I prefer using a good dirt separator like a Calleffi or a nice settling point like a low loss header to drop out the crud with out disturbing the system too much. rust transmits heat fairly well when wet.

you seem to want to try your options

@ March 14, 2013 5:36 PM in Delta T issue

you may get a better delta T or more even heat transfer by reversing the flow in each loop separately and together. Larger pump means more electricity being used. You can get a pump to get that up to 12 gpm but the floor may vibrate from the flow rate. If you really want to get efficient get a variable speed pump that goes above and below your range and use that.

I have one I saw yesterday

@ March 14, 2013 4:54 PM in Steam Boiler-How Not to Do It...

the owner would not allow me to take photos of it. The boiler was relocated across the basement and Propress coBBer was used for ALL the piping. 2 risers 2" off the boiler feeding into a 2" header supplying a 3"x 2 1/2" bullhead tee 25' away. dry returns going from 2" to 1 1/4" on the horizontal with no main vents.They said it worked "fine" " it's steam after all what can they expect?"
I was there because the water heater pilot was out. The chimney for it was plugged. They had no interest is checking out this site either. They are not planning on owning it long anyways.
p.s. they said that 5 years ago too.

recommended books

@ March 14, 2013 1:26 PM in Help in Queens NYC

as listed and in that order.

Thanks for the feed back Norm

@ March 14, 2013 1:24 PM in STEAM COMING OUT OF A CONDENSATE PUMP

Here on the wall we often never get that unless we show up in person. I saw your post today and started reading down and was about to suggest the false water line and then I saw your reply. Bet you look wicked smart to the church now. It is not about having all the answers most days. just about knowing how to find them.
Thanks again for letting us know.

If you put the boiler

@ March 14, 2013 11:13 AM in Backup boiler piping for solar drainback system

on the supply to the mixing valves. Then simple have the circ run after boiler shut down until boiler is below X temperature with the four way directing flow straight to tank it will store excess boiler heat post heat call. Keep it simple.

Tom aside from the wise cracks

@ March 14, 2013 11:00 AM in WTB: Ridgid 1210

I have been scanning craigslist with no luck near me. I know the Chinese ones sound tempting but for tools I need to work I would stick with Rigid or Rothenberger. Be patient and maybe get a rigid 700 for the mean time. between CL and ebay you should be able to find one.

You will rot out the baseboard

@ March 13, 2013 6:14 PM in Converting Closed Radiant BBoard to Potable HW

or cross contaminate the DHW. use a Heat exchanger, you families life is worth more then it costs I can promise you that.

Wow another boiler made in my fair city of Springfield, MA

@ March 13, 2013 4:37 PM in help with harvey whipple

So are you near Springfield?

has any one been near the boiler?

@ March 13, 2013 4:35 PM in help with harvey whipple

could be a valve was shut off. I have seen them clog shut but there was lots of warning. Is it stopped at all faucets?

If you take a deep breath

@ March 13, 2013 4:31 PM in adjusting the air on a power flame gas burner

grab a cup of coffee and grab a seat under a good light it is all in that manual. Read it step by step and do it by the numbers. I was sent to work on a power burner a decade, maybe two decades ago, with no back ground on these burners. In half an hour I had it lighting smooth and in an hour is was shifting from high to low and back without spiking the CO levels.