Heating Help

Wet vacuum & short pail..........

@ January 30, 2012 5:58 AM in How to drain boiler without a floor drain

Malex: We keep an assortment of altered five gallon ( & smaller ) pails on our trucks; some are as small as 2" tall to fit in tight places, mostly for draining sink traps or toilet tank connectors. You could combine a short pail and wet vac to get down to the last drop.............................. 

I dont know ALL the concepts...............

@ January 24, 2012 9:13 AM in air elimination

dp: I would never recommend using a water heater drain cock as a source of a high pressure purge connection; most water heaters are not maintained properly and you definitely don't want the minerals and sediment that accumulate in the bottom of the tank in your heating system.
  I read Dan's book " Pumping Away " in 1994 and have been doing so since with spectacular results. I suggest that if you don't want to move the circulator, at least move the feed valve to the place where the expansion tank is connected and add a Spirovent or equivalent.

Rydlyme will work.............

@ January 21, 2012 7:20 PM in HTP INDIRECT WATER HEATER

Icesailor: I understand the difference between the two coils and was merely sharing my experience with a proven product. Apex tech support will help determine the most effective ratio needed to dissolve the scale from the domestic side of the indirect.................

Try Rydlyme.....

@ January 21, 2012 6:10 PM in HTP INDIRECT WATER HEATER

Steve: I use a product called Rydlyme made by Apex Manufacturing. It is safe and effective, but will discolor most metal finishes. I use a 4 to 1 ratio  ( 4 parts water ) to pump through stubborn mineral laden domestic hot water coils. I save the fluid when done and reuse it to remove scale from toilet bowl rim / siphon jets..............

tekmar

@ December 30, 2011 6:27 PM in Tekmar D 664

Make an offer......................

Tekmar D 664

@ December 30, 2011 8:46 AM in Tekmar D 664

I have a snow detector & melting control brand new in the box. The install and data brochures are dated 2001.

variables

@ November 30, 2011 10:38 AM in Crossed Hot Cold Pipe?

Jemm55: If you start an orderly process to identify & eliminate any / all possible contributors to the hot water migration you will discover the source; are you sure of the integrity of the valves on the inlet & outlet of the domestic coils. Is there a range boiler or another type of domestic hot water storage tank? Could one of the shower valve handle sets be left open / on with a shut off at the fixed or hand - held shower head? If your domestic hot water coils are not isolated from the loop, the hot water from the higher floors will back feed through the coils into the cold water piping .........................

Drain, waste, & vent fittings........

@ October 14, 2011 4:55 PM in Drain, waste, & vent fittings........

I've permanently switched to PVC for all DWV piping and have hundreds of  1.5", 2", 3", & 4" ABS fittings for trade or barter. Will consider any / all offers.

Thanks for the opportunity............

@ August 25, 2011 11:46 AM in Help me raise an Eagle

Dan: I've been a disciple of yours since I attended one of your seminars a dozen or more years ago. The value of information I have gleaned from you and this fantastic forum far exceeds my small contribution, but it feels good to be able to give back;  especially in support of someone who will no doubt be a life long contributor to our modern society.

piping & control strategy

@ June 3, 2011 9:45 AM in Outdoor wood boiler

Thanks to all of you for your replie's; I can always count on the Heating Help community for valuable information! My client is very energetic and  looking forward to using the wood he harvests as he transforms his 30 acre forest into a retirement compound.
The house is heated by a Viessmann Vitodens which is connected to 3 hydro - air handlers and an indirect water heater. There is 2000 feet of pex in the basement and garage slab's, and staple up pex for the master bath and kitchen floor warming; we will be connecting this in the near future.
I'm hoping the wood boiler manufacturer we choose will have competent tech support to help integrate the systems. I'm sure I'll be moving the indirect from the primary side of the low loss header and adding a buffer tank to store and deliver btu's as needed..................

Outdoor wood boiler

@ May 28, 2011 7:10 AM in Outdoor wood boiler

I will be connecting a wood fired boiler to an existing hot water heating system in a clients retirement home. Does anyone have a brand / manufacturer that they prefer ............

Undefined variables & orderly process of elimination

@ March 16, 2011 8:42 AM in Baseboard heating pipes burst help

I'm not a frequent contributor here, but wanted to help.  I'm at the point in my 40 plus year career as a plumbing / heating professional where I don't assign fault or blame but try to focus on effective solutions to the challenges that are our work, and it can be interesting and fun to find the causes for the effects. 
I don't think all the variables are defined that could contribute to a frozen / broken heating loop as has been described. I have seen many frozen baseboard heating loops in warm apartments. Sometimes a floor length window treatment / curtain shut tightly can direct enough cold air onto the baseboard to freeze it while the thermostat is satisfied by a powerful lamp. Many times there is enough heat from adjacent apartments to satisfy the thermostat, especially if the thermostat is set low. I have also seen a wall mounted air conditioner ( right above the baseboard ) without an outdoor cover and a loose indoor cover direct frigid air onto the baseboard and if there is even a temporary flow loss the pipe can freeze.

wood fired boilers.

@ June 11, 2008 11:34 AM in Wood fired boilers

Does anyone have an opinion / experience with HS Tarm wood fired boilerss?

peeves

@ February 27, 2008 12:05 PM in pet peeves in piping

How about closet flanges installed flush with the finished floor...closet bowls not caulked at the floor......below grade sewage ejectors not vented correctly....shoe box sized ejectors installed without a union or drain; a serious bio-hazard in medical/dental applications.......an air break when an air gap is required..........

Peeves

@ February 27, 2008 7:20 AM in pet peeves in piping

How about plumbing system venting.....we find horizontal vent piping below the flood level of most bathtubs we uncover during remodeling or repair work........

faucet primer

@ December 27, 2007 3:43 PM in valves

Most domestic hot water valves / stems open counter clockwise and close clockwise. Domestic cold water valves / stems open counter clockwise when there is a round or cross handle; a lever ( or wing) handle should open clockwise..........

@ December 27, 2007 3:29 PM in valves

Liner

@ April 28, 2007 11:53 AM in SS Chimney liner

I'm venting two Viessmann vitogas boilers..........sizing is correct, I'm looking for a flexible liner........

Stainless chimney liner

@ April 28, 2007 10:18 AM in SS Chimney liner

I'm looking for an 8" x 50' stainless steel chimney liner.....anyone know a source in the northeast........thanks in advance

@ March 12, 2007 9:38 AM in Outdoor reset vs programmable tstat

My solution to this has been to use hydro air, a buderus GA124/17, a Tekmar 262 with outdoor reset and indoor temp control and a Honeywell t-stat that is set to not cycle. Night time setback 18C, morning 21C, daytime setback 18C, retturn home 21C. Works like this. At about 4:45 am the Tekmar moves to the daytime reset curve and the boost function provides a temp boost of about 10C. With the AH running at it's low speed of 345 cfm, it takes hours for the house to go back up 3C. However, the AH blower is hooked up to the Honeywell which controls it's high speed but shuts off at 21C. So the blower speeds up at 4:45 am as well and goes back to regular low speed in the hour to hour and a half that the recovery takes to 21C. The Tekmar was none the wiser. What would be nice is if the Tekmar boost function also provided a signal to speed up the fan. Could eliminate the Honeywell t-stat (not really, it's need for A/C), but at least I wouldn't have to match program times on the Tekmar and Honeywell.

@ March 8, 2007 1:34 PM in Buderus g142

Beg to differ. I heat a 4500 sq ft house with a big 4 coil Lifebreath AH fed by a Buderus GA124/17 via a buffer tank. The air handler runs on low (340 CFM), so there is no blowing at all. The target temp of the boiler is 134F at -6F design temp. The boiler return temp from the AH is 80F or thereabouts. Most of the winter the boiler supply is around 104F. All the return temps are well within the condensing range of mod-cons and I'd argue the supply temps are lower than a baseboard system. Then again, I have an ICF house that needs only 19000 BTU on design day.

@ February 28, 2007 1:17 PM in Relief Valve Dripping Mornings

One more thing to check. If you have an automatic makeup valve from the city water supply, make sure its pressure is set to the lowest expected value in your system. Otherwise it will charge the system to a higher pressure, and then when the boiler heats up the relieve valve vents as the expansion tank won't be enough.