Heating Help

For those who can't make it to ISH, Frankfurt

@ February 15, 2013 2:06 PM in For those who can't make it to ISH, Frankfurt

Here's a booklet about what's going to happen there. Enjoy!

I am.

@ February 14, 2013 3:54 PM in What business lessons did you learn from the Great Recession?

I know what I learned (a lot!) and thought I'd see what you guys and gals learned as well. It's great food for thought. Thanks.  

So

@ February 14, 2013 12:54 PM in What business lessons did you learn from the Great Recession?

what have you learned? 

What business lessons did you learn from the Great Recession?

@ February 14, 2013 12:27 PM in What business lessons did you learn from the Great Recession?

Top three things. What did you learn? 

Yep.

@ February 14, 2013 11:31 AM in Marker

Tempilstik: http://www.tempil.com/products/tempilstik-original/

Nice job!

@ February 14, 2013 10:24 AM in Steam Heating in a REALLY big building in NYC

You'll find those Webster traps in here. This is from the Library:

http://www.heatinghelp.com/files/articles/1338/85.pdf

Heads-up, Western Canada!

@ February 13, 2013 10:56 AM in Heads-up, Western Canada!

I got this note the other day:

------------------------------------------

Sheldon Schiffner and Bill Lowe are pleased to announce the formation of their new company:

Shel-B Sales Inc.

PO Box 71143

Silver Springs RPO

Calgary, Alberta

T3B 5K2
 ·        
Shel-B Sales Inc. is acting as an agent/rep firm primarily in Alberta but with connections in Western Canada. Sheldon and Bill bring  60+ years of combined experience ranging from wholesale to contracting to agency to manufacturing.
·        
Sheldon and Bill will be adding a few key product lines and building a strong
sales/service team over the next few months. Your past support is
greatly appreciated and future support will be essential to our success.
  ·        
Current products represented: Wade Drains (Alberta Only)  www.WadeDrains.ca
·        
Bill Lowe will also carry on his existing duties with BCL Sales Inc.

-----------------------------------------

I’ve known these guys for years and have always been impressed with their business savvy, their knowledge of the PHC industry, and their ability to create a buzz around a product.

I have watched people work in all parts of this business – from those who design the buildings to those who turn the wrenches. In the time I’ve spent watching Bill Lowe and Sheldon Schiffner, what has struck me is their ability to bring all of those people together and to get them excited about stuff. They are like the hub of a wheel  when it comes to this. When they go to work on a project, everything seems to revolve around them. They create a buzz, get people’s attention, and then move things forward with a fine balance and lots of style. These guys are as good as it gets and I’m looking forward to watching them help others through their new venture, Shel-B Sales Inc..

I believe in these guys and I’m speaking up for them. If you’re considering hiring them to represent your company in Western Canada I think you’re being very smart. And I'd be happy to talk with you about them.     

Here’s to smart people who make things happen!

Danny,

@ February 12, 2013 10:26 AM in Steam Experts, where are you?

imagine how many visitors would find you if you had a Find a Contractor ad with us. It's just a dollar a day. Want to get listed? 

Don't know him.

@ February 10, 2013 11:56 AM in Dan The Man

Sorry, David.

Very cool.

@ February 9, 2013 9:10 AM in radiator USB stick

And the others are also fun! Thanks for sharing.

That book

@ February 8, 2013 1:04 PM in MONOFLOW GPM

is how I first learned about hydronics. I went to work for the rep. They say me down with that book and said, "Read."

It was good advice. I've been reading ever since.

Lots of good stuff in that Library.

@ February 8, 2013 12:25 PM in MONOFLOW GPM

It pays to wander off the Wall. ;-)

There's a lot to this.

@ February 8, 2013 11:58 AM in MONOFLOW GPM

This is from the Library: http://www.heatinghelp.com/files/articles/955/281.pdf

Read up on it before you do anything else.

Happy Birthday CIPH!

@ February 8, 2013 11:23 AM in Happy Birthday CIPH!

What a great organization. Some of the nicest people I've ever met. Well done, eh!

http://ciph.com/emailLinks/80th_anniversary_release.pdf

I'd leave them

@ February 7, 2013 9:03 PM in Sharpe and New System

And smile when I think about the next guy who shows up. Huh?

Life's too short not to be giggling.

Happy to help!

@ February 7, 2013 8:59 PM in hot water loop off steam boiler

Thanks for reading me. 

Here's a link

@ February 7, 2013 4:23 PM in hot water loop off steam boiler

that will give you a lot more info: http://bit.ly/WROR3q

Gravity circulation is convection. The water in the steam boiler is very hot and it will rise from the boiler into the hot water zone by convection unless there's something in its way to stop it. The flow-control valves do just that.

The blending is about the temperature of the water as well. When you're making steam, the temperature of the water in the boiler is about 215 degrees. If you were to pump that up into a hot water zone there's a good chance that the water will flash back into steam when the circulator shuts off. This isn't a pressurized system and that's why that can happen. By blending some of the water returning from the zone into the super-hot boiler water you can lower the supply temperature to the zone to 180 degrees, removing the possibility of steam flash when the circulator stops.

That link will explain further. Good questions! Thanks.

Flo-valves

@ February 7, 2013 2:08 PM in hot water loop off steam boiler

Are there to stop gravity circulation into the hot-water zone when it's not calling. It can migrate from either end, and that's why there are two.

The line between the two is probably a bypass for blending, but I'm not sure which pic you're looking at.

Thanks for reading me.

Ray Wohlfarth seminar online, February 6.

@ February 6, 2013 1:47 PM in Ray Wohlfarth seminar online, February 6.

Ray is amazing in a boiler room.

http://www.gbrionline.org/products-page/courses/green-boiler-replacements/

What I love most about him

@ February 6, 2013 12:21 PM in One of our industry's best managers is available.

His enthusiasm. He grabs the world by the balls and gives it a squeeze every day of his life. 

I moved it over there so you'd get the best response.

@ February 6, 2013 12:18 PM in disappearing post

I do that from time to time. Thanks.

I'm posting this for Bill Brooks.

@ February 5, 2013 2:30 PM in I'm posting this for Bill Brooks.

I use a quietside qmv-9 mod condensing boiler with an output of 55kbtuh-115kbtuh. The boiler has 2 distinct hx, one for the indirect dhw, the other for my radiant heat which currently fires 3 zones.
The main lv. Area, garage, mer/shop.  Heat loss was calc. using rfh warmsource 2.08a. and results in 48.5kbthu for the house.
Main lv.area =14.25kbthu, garage=10.7kbthu, mer/shop=7.7kbtuh.  I suffered from short-cycling, so 3yrs. Ago I installed a 40gal. buffer tank which increased firing rates to well over 10min.  I have no issues with this decision.
The
first 2 winters were typical with several design days. At 2deg, the
main area was 67-68deg. As predicted.  The stat (lux pro air sensing) works ok but not overly speedy.  Last winter was very mild but nevertheless without complaint.  All was good. 

This
summer the flow sw. sensing call for heat by the dhw failed and allowed
copious amounts of water and (glug,glug-air) to invade the boiler
interior piping before I could get things isolated.  Needless to say,
the whole radiant system was pretty well drained with tons of air.
Obviously
I chose to do a power purge of the main lv.area first since its supply
and return manifolds are below floor level.  I am using rehau Pro
balance manifolds with stop-cocks on the return. These units can be
completely isolated from the rest of the system and purge each loop independently
from the other.  By connecting a hose to the return manifold and
immersing it in a partially filled pail of water I was able to
watch for air as it was moved out.  I pressurized the circulator header
and valved off the other circulators so that I would get a complete purge
thru this entire circuit only.  All of the loops had gobs of air and
took a while to get everything out (so I thought).  I opted to do
nothing with the
other zones until cold weather as their supply and return manifolds are
above floor level and easier to move out the air if necessary. Turns out they’re ok anyway.
When
weather got cold I was surprised to note the main lv. Area stat took
forever to get satisfied, in some instances firing all nite.  I did not want
to fool with the plant going into winter so I chose to monitor all
zones, measuring temps. And looking at floor temps.  Also observe the performance
of the plant in general.  Using a snap-on pipe thermometer as an
indicator,  I noted the buffer tank discharge as 120deg.most of the
time.
Oddly
the garage and mer/shop zones were always satisfied with very short
firing periods needed.  The main lv. Area is heated by ½’pex supplied by
¾’pex back
to the boiler.  Porcelain tile covers 1 ½’ liteweight  maxon concrete. 
During firing periods I measured 70-72deg. Floor temps which are
6-8deg. cooler
than previous years.  Also the space feels noticeably drafty.  I had to
run the gas logs most of the day to cut the chill and even had to call
up the a/c airhandler (on its own stat) with electric strip heat inside when it was below 20deg.    ABSOLUTELY UNHEARD OF!
 The
boiler and buffer tank appeared in order with discharge temps. Usually
around 120deg.  I decided to check temps. Further down the line to see what
temps. Were actually being sent to the main lv. Area zone.  Between the
buffer tank discharge and this zone’s circulator is roughly 5’of ¾’
copper.
And
a Honeywell supervent in between.  HORROR OF HORRORS I measured
typically 80-85deg. Going to the floor and sometimes as cool as only
70deg!
What
is causing this temp. drop of 40deg. Before it even gets to the
floor??  Is the supervent clogged causing a temp/pressure drop,  or is
there another
slug of air lurking in the circulator headers?   Also I am not using
outdoor reset and the circulators are not modulating type.
 I
want to restate that the plant has never suffered problems in the past
until this air situation. In the past even in bitterly cold weather
walking in bare feet
was always very comfortable!  I’ve been trying to think this thru
without outside assistance.  The smile has long since left my face!
 I’ve enclosed 3 photos which hopefully get transmitted and clarify the plant layout:
1.       Shows
the top piping  of the buffer tank. The 2 pipes toward the back are the
main radiant zone returns mixing with the heated water from the boiler.
The pipe in the foreground is the heated buffer water going to the circulator header. The boiler directly fires the buffer.
2.        Shows the relationship of the circulator header to the boiler piping. (note supervent)
3.        Continues
with the remainder of the piping relationship to the dhw,etc.  the
direct firing of the dhw and buffer are seen in this pic.
 Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 bill