Heating Help

Gasoila

@ June 20, 2011 4:03 PM in green pipe dope?

Gasoila is close to that color.

"it depends"

@ June 20, 2011 1:43 PM in Summer/Fall Upgrade Suggestions

Brent, how much fuel do you burn on an average year?  What are the current aquastat settings?  Does the tankless coil meet your hot water requirements?  A new boiler will be more efficient, but there might be some things you can do to ease the pain until you are ready for a boiler swap. 

It is good that you have a water softener...it will help maintain the performance of any water heater you chose.  Superstor and Triangle Tube have a good reputation in my area, but everyone has their favorites. 

?

@ May 27, 2011 7:59 AM in Need a DHW solution for low basement.

David, what makes you think your current system is "terribly inefficient"?

825 lbs

@ April 22, 2011 8:06 AM in Guess the Weight

825 pounds is my guess.

Two words...coal stoker

@ April 18, 2011 10:09 AM in choices of cost saving heat alternatives

Unless you really enjoying cutting and splitting mountains of firewood, forget an outdoor woodboiler.  They are terribly inefficient, smokey, and require frequent attention.

If you live in the Northeast I would start doing some research to see if anthracite coal is available in your area.  Despite what the common person thinks, anthracite burns with zero smoke, low emissions, and is very economical compared to fuel oil or propane. 

I have an EFM (Electric Furnace Man) stoker boiler in my home, and I think it is the best investment I have made to date.  The EFM boilers are ASME stamped, built like tanks, and the stoker is simple in operation.  The beauty of a stoker is that when there is no call for heat, the unit just "sleeps" and occasionally runs off a timer to stay burning.  My EFM idles at 150 degrees during the day, and my daily maintenance consists of changing the ash tub...about 2 minutes.  Here is a video to show you what an EFM looks like in operation:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hW65fisK1I&feature=player_profilepage

Other stoker boiler manufacturers include Keystoker, Axeman Anderson, Alternate Heating Systems, Leisure Line, and a few others. 

Hydro Quebec = Cheap power

@ March 25, 2011 9:19 AM in Hydronic heating system - how long will the pipes last?

I live about 45 minutes South of Montreal, and I know how painful your fuel bills must be.  There are plenty of old houses in my area with electric boilers installed, and the owners love the quiet steady heat of the electric boilers with cast iron radiation.  The black iron pipes will probably outlast you, I would leave them in place and spec. out an electric boiler.

tankless coil

@ March 4, 2011 1:49 PM in Oil fired boiler problem!!

Does the boiler have a tankless coil in use?  A pinhole in the coil will pop the pressure relief...if no tankless is installed, than disregard.

tankless?

@ March 4, 2011 1:48 PM in Cant get hot water to stay hot

Is this a new problem with a system that previously worked correctly?  Does the boiler use a tankless coil to heat the water?

Fired on oil?

@ January 21, 2011 4:27 PM in boiler plate

You could try posting pictures of the unit here and hope that someone knows what it is.  If that beast is fired on oil there is probably a lot of room for savings with an upgrade. 

As a side story, my dad is currently running a 1954 Electric-Furnace-Man Model 520 Coal Stoker Boiler.  The boiler itself was made for EFM by Fitzgibbon Boiler Company.  The boiler has 21 firetubes, and holds 54 gallons of water.  At 100,000 btu's/hr input you can nearly hold your hand on the flue pipe.  I have never seen better workmanship on any piece of heating equipment.

-Rob

Don't read the Gauge

@ December 20, 2010 1:50 PM in system 2000 problem

The tank gauge is not a good way to measure fuel consumption...especially if you were watching the first quarter of the tank.   If you want to accurately track consumption, an easy way is to install an hour meter that runs with the burner. 

Do your zone valves have end switches?  If they do, that sounds like normal operation to me.  If everything else appears to be in order...perhaps it is!  Have a System 2k guy check things over if you want to be sure.

-Rob

Baro on a wood burner?

@ December 17, 2010 11:48 AM in test woodsmoke with oil gas analyzer?

I would NOT use a barometric draft control on a wood burning appliance.  Burning wood creates enough creosote WITHOUT admitting room temperature air to the flu.  The use of a barometric damper cools the flu gases and promotes creosote formation.  In the event of a chimney fire the baro. will open and feed the fire all the air it needs to destroy the chimney and/or home.

-Rob

Smaller than 0.85

@ December 17, 2010 9:17 AM in oversized oil boiler - what to do?

If you intend to downfire the boiler to something less than 0.85 GPH, I would plan on keeping some spare nozzles and filters on hand.  Nozzles that small do not tolerate dirty fuel, and if you have an old tank the problem is even worse. 

If you are considering adding an indirect, I would question firing the boiler below 0.75 GPH.  A 30 gallon indirect will take about 90k btus/hr to achieve rated output.  As for the short cycling from the two zones, a buffer tank or control that varies the differential (Heatmanager, Aquasmart, etc) will take care of it.

-Rob

Gravity

@ December 16, 2010 9:11 PM in Need suggestions...diverter tee no heat

Are you sure that isn't an old gravity system? I am wondering if a low-flow pump would help. Are there any valves upstream of the circulator that you could use to slow down the flow?

Gravity

@ December 16, 2010 9:11 PM in Need suggestions...diverter tee no heat

Are you sure that isn't an old gravity system? I am wondering if a low-flow pump would help. Are there any valves upstream of the circulator that you could use to slow down the flow?

2 minutes is short...

@ December 15, 2010 4:09 PM in oversized oil boiler - what to do?

Are your baseboards 3/4"?  What do you have for circulator(s)?  You can't get much smaller in the world of oil boilers.  Your baseboard load is small, but I still wouldn't expect the boiler to short cycle that badly. 

I installed a Beckett HeatManager on my oil boiler to cure short cycling; it worked as advertised, but I don't know how it would play with a tankless coil.

-Rob

Solid fuel boiler

@ November 17, 2010 9:26 AM in Is pex safe

Most of the barrier pex I have seen lists a rating of 80 psi at 200 degrees F.  Look up the specs on your tubing to be sure.

NRT_Rob, 200F is not uncommon with wood or coal fired boilers in the spring and fall.   e.g.  I have a dump zone set at 200F on my coal boiler.

-Rob

Indirect size

@ November 4, 2010 2:03 PM in Superstor and Baxi

You probably don't want to hear this, but a 60 gallon indirect is a big load for a 110K btu boiler.  I looked at the manual for your boiler, and it appears that there is a three way valve that allows the DHW priority.  If it is only has "one or the other" functionality, it will be dedicated to heating that Superstor for quite a while...or as you have observed, long enough for the house to start cooling. 

Plumbing the indirect as a regular heating zone would reduce the recovery of the DHW, but if the 60 gallon reserve is enough for your needs that might not be a problem. 

GRRIP

@ November 1, 2010 8:09 PM in Best pipe dope for large threads

I have had good luck with Gasoilia pipe dope + teflon tape on my applications, but recently I installed a 50's coal boiler that had some rough looking threads on some of the boiler tappings.  My local supply house recommend a pipe dope called "GRRIP" with teflon tape.  This pipe dope looks like coal tar, it is black...and it refuses to come off anything it touches.  I put two wraps of teflon tape on the male threads, a libral amount of dope, and also some dope on the female threads.  It has been pressurized for a week with no leaks!

My only concern with this pipe dope is future removal of the fittings...it seems to set up pretty well.

-Robert

Air Scoop?

@ October 26, 2010 11:11 AM in Why does system need to be bled three times a winter?

Does the system have an air scoop/separator correctly installed?  If there are float vents already installed, are they functional? 
A neighbor of mine had the same issue last winter after his new boiler was installed.  The installer neglected to install an air separator...

filter change

@ October 26, 2010 10:00 AM in oil burner help

As an added precaution, I usually change my tank filter right before I get my fall delivery of fuel.  If something bad happened, I would rather deal with 50 gallons of fuel than 250.
x2 on the vacuum trick, a friend of mine changed a damaged valve while a shop vac kept the fuel from leaking out.

A few thoughts

@ October 23, 2010 7:59 AM in My Boiler Is Acting Up. Is 210 degrees normal!?

It is not uncommon for the boiler temperature to creep up a little bit after a call for heat.  If the boiler is firing until it hits 200 degrees, 210 isn't out of the question after shutdown...especially with an oversized, high mass boiler.  I would start by changing the aquastat high limit on the Weil Mclain to 180 degrees. 

Your expansion tank could be undersized, but I would bet that the air pressure in the tank is low.  Every expansion tank I get off-the-shelf has about 8-9 psi, and it should be 12 psi.  Depressurize the boiler and check the air pressure in the expansion tank, adjust as needed.

Was the pressure relief valve recently opened?  It is common to check them during the boiler service, and the valve doesn't always seat correctly...especially if it is old and/or there was some crud around the valve seat.  You could try opening and closing the valve a few times, but I would be proactive and replace it.

Something I don't see in the pictures is any type of air removal device.  Is there an air scoop directly above the expansion tank?  

Extra zones?

@ October 21, 2010 1:11 PM in Replacing old coal boiler with standard 82 %

I agree that the efficiency on a gas-converted coal boiler would be terrible...but the exact number is a mystery, so base your boiler sizing off the heat calculation.  Have you considered splitting the units up into individual zones?  Additional zones would spare some boiler capacity; especially if some of the units are ever empty and could be turned down to ~50 degrees.

Take a look at Bell & Gossett's Inline-air-separator.  They work well, and the 2" model should run you about $40.