Heating Help

well...

@ January 23, 2013 11:22 PM in High steam pressure at boiler

If all you have in the control circuit is the stat and your p-trols, you gotta make sure that one or the other is cutting out when they should be. The stat is the first in line, then, its up to the ptrol-but there could be other things-like a condensate return line temp stat in the circuit getting in the way of things,Definitely  have to make sure the pressure you see is really the pressure there...

heat loss calcs-

@ January 22, 2013 10:42 PM in And the pendulum has swung

Don't matter when it comes to steam. You have to match the boiler with the connected load.  Steam doesn't care what kind of windows you put in. A lot of folks that learn about heat calc don't have any clue as to this very key point about steam-because not enough trade schools have anyone teaching load calc that know anything about steam.

combustion

@ January 22, 2013 10:29 PM in And the pendulum has swung

What kind of burner did you have on that one? Atmospheric, I'm guessing?

Pigtails and pressuretrols

@ January 17, 2013 8:12 PM in Sticking pressuretrol?

You don't need a pigtail for p-trols/gages if you do a little manifold that drops down a bit to provide a water seal. If your ptrol is a mercury switch, you have to make sure it is oriented properly in relation to the pigtail, and you also have to make sure it's level. That doesn't matter if it's the newer honeywell mechanical switch-but I'd rather have the old mercury switch anyday-I've seen plenty of problems with the new switches not working properly.

fan switch

@ January 10, 2013 6:51 AM in Steam Air Handler?

I wonder if you could use an aquastat strapped to the piping as a fan switch-you just need a make on rise to bring the fan on only when the coil is hot, right?

Drier

@ January 3, 2013 10:27 PM in Moving radiator a few inches

Couldn't you just get a drier that opens the other way? lol

I'd agree

@ January 1, 2013 7:06 AM in Oversized Boiler, now what?

As far as oversizing goes, you have to find your edr per radiators, plus your piping pickup, and slightly oversize based on that.  If any system has ever been exactly sized tit for tat I'd love to see it!
Like JohnNY says, you could have it dialed in a bit based on manifold-but our manufacturers limit how far down they'll allow the gas manifold pressure to be adjusted.
Vent Vent Vent!
Happy New Year to all!

can you clarify

@ December 22, 2012 9:47 AM in auto feed system - necessary?

What do you mean by an auto feed tank?
If yours is a system with a vacuum return/feed pump, you'd ideally need a receiver along with it. The feed pump on the vacuum tank will pump condensate out as soon as it's float switch rises-if it just goes straight to the boiler, I can pretty much guarantee you'll end up with a flooded boiler, because that float doesn't care what's going on in the boiler. If it pumps into a receiver, the pump/s on it will be controlled by the boiler's controller-and will only feed when needed.
If a tank/pump isn't working, your controls should bring in fresh water to make up-and also shut off the burner if that fails.  Depending on your code, you may have two LWCOs for added safety. It's always possible both could fail. If you EVER can't see water in the gage glass, shut off the water feed, shut off power to the boiler, and call for service. If you feed water to a boiler that was in a low water condition and still firing, the results could be catastrophic.
Some pics would help us identify exactly what you've got.
 

hmmm

@ December 21, 2012 1:14 AM in rpm

higher than 1075? Unlikely. Higher efficiency units will typically have lower speeds based on demand; at "low fire", you'll have lower rpm-less demand-less required airflow, but that will vary as demand changes.
Why do you ask?

hmmmm

@ December 19, 2012 9:46 PM in Two-Pipe System with Air Vents?

well that's odd.
Maybe two pipe steam with the trap eliminated? (seen that just this past week. towel warmer added by a "good hot water guy". take me at my word here-not such a good idea. Their take seems to be it's such a big system, it wouldn't matter.
Oh, but it does...
Oh, and your air vent is upside down.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that runs across jobs that have people working on them that have no clue-sometimes you think you might be crazy-especially when you hear "this worked just fine till you got here..."
ummm hmmmm.....

Lockouts

@ December 15, 2012 10:26 AM in Honeywell random fault lockout

I would recommend having the flame safeguard bench tested to rule out programmer problems. Don't start trying to adjust gas pressure to the burner unless you have a combustion analyzer-assuming it was set up properly at start-up, if you change pressure you'll change how it's firing-if done improperly, you'll end up sooting up the burner-not good!
Common causes of pilot failures on Powerflame burners are incorrect pilot pressure, and too much air-usually caused by the dampers being open too much or air leakage around the burner. You can find the manual for your burner on their website.
I'd certainly recommend having your service co. get this resolved-not a do-it-yourself type of project...

thats the thing-

@ October 7, 2012 8:48 AM in Combustion Alayzers

When I saw they had a 5 year warranty, I figured they must have faith in their product. Testo has been a little salty when it comes to sensor replacement-not that they are alone in that category

MMM Hmmm

@ October 3, 2012 10:12 PM in Combustion Alayzers

Thanks for the heads up

Combustion Analyzers

@ October 3, 2012 9:47 PM in Combustion Alayzers

Hey folks-
Anyone have any thoughts on the UEI Eagle X analyzer? We do a lot of combustion analysis, and are not impressed at all with the performance/repair-calibration costs we see with some of the "go to" manufacturers. This UEI unit says that (for a limited time)-if you buy one, calibration and service costs (I'm sure up to a point, anyway) are covered for 5 years.
They are either hoping for the best, have very clever lawyers, or maybe they have a product they believe in and stand behind-I'm hoping for the latter. I've had UEI multi meters through the years that I thought were top notch, but none of us has dealt with the combustion analyzers-any input is appreciated-
Thanks-

Fulton boiler

@ June 21, 2012 3:44 PM in Fulton boiler

Hey folks-
Has anyone had to replace the upper and lower refractory rings on a Fulton ICS boiler? We've got one with cracked refractory, and it does not look like it's going to be easy to replace it. Any thoughts or warnings are appreciated-

Duct inclination

@ April 29, 2012 7:02 PM in Return Air Duct: Incline Necessary?

Having the duct on an angle made it easier for marbles/crayons/cats to get back to the furnace when they fell in the return grilles-

pump adventures

@ April 29, 2012 7:42 AM in Grundfos pump

Thanks to all for trying to help me out-
After much wailing and knashing of teeth, we ended up going with a Wilo Stratos D pump. Grundfoss was an adventure-found that currently listed curves for the pump aren't what the original curves were. They stopped making that pump at one point-then started making it again...but with different curves-and different overall dimensions.
As per Wilo pumps...
Be careful when you are choosing one. We wanted a dual 2x3-40, per their literature, based on their pump curve. It's a bit confusing, but the 2x3-40 doesn't really exist on it's own-it's actually (2) 1.5x3-40 pumps-yeah I know, I said "HUH?" more than a few times. Also-make sure that the pump you order is in fact ANSI sized-the very first pump we got was actually designed for a French application. The manual leaves a bit to be to be desired at this point as well. I will say that I found tech support (Keith) to be an excellent resource-very knowledgeable, forthcoming, and to the point. If you are looking to use a dual pump setup, bear in mind you will need interface modules for the master and slave pump.
I'm looking forward to using Wilo on applications where we're looking for more than simply constant load-there are lots of bells and whistles that would be perfect for varying loads.
Each one of the pumps we've got now has a max rpm of 4600, with only 1.8 running amps-and quiet as a church mouse.
Time will tell as to reliability-anyone have any time in grade with these pumps?
Thanks again for all your help-
Will

Grundfos pump

@ April 21, 2012 9:16 AM in Grundfos pump

They are 2 1/2" flanges. First time I've ever seen this type of pump. Our local rep is having a hard time getting info on it-apparently Grundfos changed their nomenclature about 8 years or so ago-just to keep things interesting, I suppose-and has made simple cross referencing not so simple. The number 1 pump failed mechanically about 3 months ago, and the number 2 motor failed electrically yesterday. I'm hoping to replace it with a B&G (parts are much easier to get here around Chicago), but so far I don't have any idea what the Grundfos ratings are in terms of GPM, HP, etc.

Grundfos pump

@ April 21, 2012 7:34 AM in Grundfos pump

Anyone have any idea as to where I can find info regarding a Grundfos pump model UPS 65 160? It's also tagged as a "8542 Dual", if that helps. The Grundfos site hasn't been much help so far.

combustion analyzers

@ March 31, 2012 1:20 PM in uei analyzer question

We do a lot of combustion analysis work when working on boilers, and use a few different manufacturer's analyzers. I have to be honest when I say-I"m a bit leery about them. I've set up boilers using "company A's" analyzer, pulled up certain readings, and then tested the same burner with "company B's" analyzer-and found the readings to be totally different. Bear in mind these are testers that were both calibrated, and supposedly good to go. It's not a big deal if your CO reading is different by a few ppm (we always try to get CO down as low as possible), but if there is a discrepancy in O2 of 4-8%-well, which do you believe? Could be the difference between a boiler running fine and a boiler that soots up-and I've been on the losing end of that preposition.
Bottom line-we're all only as good as our meters-but how good are they?

Coil check

@ December 3, 2011 4:17 PM in HELP!!! Flooding Steam Boiler

After you make sure there is no leak by through a valve, I'd isolate each coil and pressure test each with some dry nitrogen. Very possible that you have a leak even with a new coil.
Good luck-

Air bubbles

@ November 29, 2011 11:08 PM in Pump problems

Steve-
Is there any possibility that a defect in the design of the vacuum tank could be allowing air bubbles to cause this? I gotta think you know your pumps just from what you've put forth here now, and since we're multiple thousands of dollars into this with absolutely no clear cut answers, I'll be totally honest when I say I'm ready to look at this problem from all possible angles. The manufacturers and the reps want to look a different direction-I get it. All I want is to solve the problem.
Thanks for your interest so far, and for what ever other direction you can point me in
Will