Heating Help

Silver Brazed:

@ March 31, 2013 6:28 PM in brazed fittings ok for oil line?

I think you are confusing low temperature soft solder with high temperature Silver Brazed. Like on Refrigeration lines.
Silver bearing low temperature solder like Silvabrite 100 melts at 600 degrees or less. You can solder it with a air/acetylene torch or LP/Mapp Gas torch.
Silver braze is done with silver alloy rods that melt at over 100 degrees and need a Oxy/Acetylene torch. I have used high temperature Silfoss hard brazing rod on oil lines in the past when I had solder couplings but no flare couplings. Refer guys use it all the time. It is a legal water connection for underground connections in Massachusetts. I remember it being in the oil burner code as an allowable connection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazing

"M"'s

@ March 31, 2013 5:50 PM in Heating a 5 x 10m room to constant 48 degrees

I was going American and didn't notice the "M" after the 10M for meters.
A mini-split would fall into the realm of electric heat.
He didn't say what was going into this room.
And no mention of the fact the "48 degrees" was centigrade and not Fahrenheit

EK System 2000:

@ March 31, 2013 10:33 AM in Rattling sound

I've never installed one, seen a few but I never did a careful run through.
That said, I can't find an install manual or spec sheet. Boilers like that that are fed from the front section and returned to the front section, can be prone to bad circulation (in my opinion) with poor water flow in the back of the boiler. Years ago, I installed a number of Repco boilers that a supplier sold me. I always used one size. They worked OK but they all turned to crap. I installed one that was the next size up. It would not circulate water to the back of the boiler. They had a 8184H (I think) for a control with the capillary sensor in the back section and the tank less in the front. The boiler would be hot in the back and keep the burner off on high limit while it was cold around the tankless. There was no tapping in the back of the boiler to improve internal circulation in the block. The block was too long.
Back when I used to install Weil-McLain #68 boilers, I always bought "A" blocks rather than #P# Package boilers because the "A" blocks had a tapping on the bottom of the back section. I always got better flow circulation through the boiler.
If it is really a problem, and you want something to look at, try a double tapped bushing where the return goes into the bottom of the boiler and run a piece of copper tube, screwed into the inside of the bushing that will run water to the back of the boiler. Drill some holes along the tube but leave the back open. It will improve boiler circulation. EK could eliminate this problem (in my opinion) by putting a 3/4" tapping in the back of the boiler on the bottom where you can run a recirc. line from the boiler out/system supply and a balancing valve.

The Google:

@ March 31, 2013 10:02 AM in Sunrad radiators

Did you try The Google?
It always works for me.

http://www.usboiler.net/products/baseboard/radiant/

Heating small room:

@ March 31, 2013 10:01 AM in Heating a 5 x 10m room to constant 48 degrees

Electric.
Its the size of a small bathroom. It will cost you more to run mechanical piping to it than to run a wire. A quality thermostat will control a low temperature like that. Especially if it has no exposed to the outside air outside walls. Cellars don't count. If it is in the middle of a structure, and it is well insulated, you could probably heat it with a large light bulb.

Ferrous PRV's

@ March 31, 2013 9:55 AM in Ferrous nipple used after a backflow preventer

,,,"and a pressure reducer has to be non ferrous ? Considering the prv we use is ferrous , I'm not so sure .........  Backflow is always upstream of the prv . Thanks in advance . ",,,

Where are you getting Ferrous PRV's?
I haven't seen any Watts ones that are new for quite a few years. I surmise that there was a problem with Ferrous PRV's were clogging internal screens and lunching boilers when they wouldn't pass water. When I see a bronze colored ferrous PRV's, they usually won't pass water or they won't stop and the only replacements I can buy are all brass. non-ferrous ones.

Cross Connection Contamination:

@ March 31, 2013 9:33 AM in Backflow preventer with vent

Just because no one appears ill, doesn't mean that someone isn't exposed.
Where I work, the wealthiest needed to have trophy landscaping to go with their trophy homes. Irrigation companies started up to provide water to make this happen. They decided that it was legal for them to connect to the potable water systems for their water. No code, permits or inspections. Some had heads above the C/L of the backflow's  but at least they had backflows. They would install a boiler drain so they could winterize the systems by blowing compressed air into the systems. Some of their installers put the drain BEFORE the backflow. On more than one occasion, the blow out crew connected the air hose to one of these wrongly placed connections, shut off the backflow and turned off the air. After a 1/2 hour or so with no pressure in the irrigation system, someone discovered that they had pumped hundreds of cubic feet of high pressure air into the municipal water system. You should see what can happen in a house next door.

Checks in PRV's:

@ March 31, 2013 9:17 AM in Backflow preventer with vent

Because I always replace them, and a RPZ Backflow is required, I have changed more PRV's with defective checks than I can remember or count.
But I have also seen more improperly installed RPZ backflows than I can count. That was before Watts started selling Combi units, 9-11S's. "Heaters" that connected the potable water to boilers would usually install the backflow AFTER the PRV/1156F there it belongs BEFORE the PRV/1156. In Massachusetts, the code stops at the backflow. What ever happens after the Backflow is of no consequence. After the backflow, it isn't a plumbing code issue. If you don't like backflows, present it to code writing officials and AHJ's. Until then, install LWCO's and shut off the fills.
I remember a huge discussion here back a while ago about leaving fill valves open or closed. B&G said to absolutely leave them closed because they would not be legally liable  for a failed back flow and subsequent damage.
You still need a backflow.
Also, you can't buy Cast Iron Watts S1156F's any more. Especially as 9-11F Combi's. The cast iron would crud up the SS screen and block the flow. I'm convinced  that Watts quietly eliminated them because of the clogging problem. I saw quite a few boiler failures because of PRV's not filling a leaking boiler and them turning into a steam pot. Brass ones used to be very expensive and suddenly, you couldn't get the cast iron ones, there was no change in number, and brass was the only ones you can get. At the same price as the old cast iron ones.
With the new "No-Lead.Brass" rules, will we now have plastic backflows? Remember, the plumbing code stops at the backflow.

Price/Cost

@ March 31, 2013 8:44 AM in US shale gas to heat British homes within five years

It will go high enough to equal oil.
Gas will be slightly less but the profits to the crime syndicate will be higher because they totally control the distribution system. Look at the consolidation of LPG/Propane in the USA. The Mom & Pop fuel companies that deliver both are giving up on heating oil, then being bought up by the national Corporations who only want to sell product and have us service the equipment. Americans always go for the product price and crab about the price to service the equipment.
"Drill Baby, Drill"!!
So the product that comes from the USA, ends up on the world market while we subsidize the product. Its the American Way. A few get the goods, the rest of us get the screw and the shaft.

Old rusty bolts:

@ March 30, 2013 10:06 AM in Burnham V14 tankless heater cover leak

If you choose to change it yourself, buy a complete new coil. It comes with the plate and is one unit. Hopefully, it will come with a black rubber gasket instead of a red one. They become as hard as a tar road and will leak in time.
If you do decide to change it. get a can of Kroil. Spray the bolts every day for some period of time and try to work them loose before you do the swap. I find that nothing I have ever used for bolt rust removing approaches Kroil and I have tried everything made. If you don't have any, or don't know where to get it, you can but it direct from . It is for professional use only and not sold in retail stores.
I have changed faucets where no part of the install was greased. Years later, I needed to change the faucet and a basin wrench under the sink would not budge a nut. I spray the whole mess with Kroil and come back the next day. The whole thing comes apart.
Brute Strength breaks things. Finesse gets them apart.

Pipe Pitch:

@ March 30, 2013 9:45 AM in 275 gallon tank piping question

It sounds like the vent and fill will have different horizontal pitches?
That would look to me like some hack dubber piped it.
Swing joints are convenient for going from horizontal pitched pipes to vertical plumb pipes. I always make "crooked threads" so I can switch back to plumb.
The fact that someone pipes a lot of oil tanks for a plumber tells me that the "plumber" doesn't like to pipe oil tanks or he doesn't own a power drive and doesn't intend on acquiring one.
The only way I would not pipe an oil tank on a job of mine would be if it was already there and existing. If it is a crappy install, I wouldn't want anyone to think I installed a mess.

Jamie's Correct:

@ March 30, 2013 9:16 AM in Backflow preventer with vent

Jamie's correct.
And you guys better get over it whether you like it or not.
EPA now requires check valves on all new water systems to stop potable water from an unknown source from backing out of dwellings and into municipal potable water systems.
During times of storms or flooding, when power is lost, there may not be enough pressure  to keep the pressure up in a public water system. When the Government started funding sewer treatment plants, they funded water supply systems too because it was cheaper to run sewer and water at the same time in the same trenches. Some of these areas were prone to flooding and other natural disasters.
History then showed that with a lack of pumping power, potable water system couldn't be maintained and cross connections developed thereby contaminating the systems through sewerage that couldn't removed.
Now you need expansion devices on water services inside buildings. I find heating system on occasion that have ethylene glycol inside. A small amount of that will kill a person.
The house could have had no BFD, the fill valve on and a flooded house from a stuck relief valve.

Construction Sooting:

@ March 30, 2013 8:54 AM in Sandy Boiler Replacements and the Sooting Phenomenon???

It happens more often than the "contractors" know. Usually after they have left.
I know of a very large $ kazillion home that had a big orange European boiler in it. They were using the boiler for heat while the finish was being done. The woodpeckers has set up their nest in the cellar near the orange thing. All that sawing, sanding, milling and whatever. One Monday morning, the crews came in to find that the mostly white house had turned into a black spotted house.
What a mess.
Burner tubes were especially vulnerable.

High Pumping:

@ March 30, 2013 8:44 AM in Pump for Washing machine

The only problem you may find when pumping that high is that the water pumps out slower out of the machine. On some machines, the times cycle may not get all the water out on some cycles. But I haven't found any customers to notice or complain.
If it was draining into a laundry tray, you can add a pump to that and still use the sink/tray. The pumps aren't all that expensive. They are designed for this application.

Old Green Products:

@ March 30, 2013 8:36 AM in hogsfer max 14 multi fuel

Its amazing how bad a lot of this old "green" stuff was and is. You can bet it never saw an old Bachrach  "Wet Kit". Now that it has been "seen" by a Digital one, you can begin to see how dangerous and inefficient this stuff is.
And dangerous.

Salt Water

@ March 28, 2013 9:53 PM in snow melt boilers damaged by flood

Salt Water flooding is a gift that gives forever. I have customers who had flooding in The No Name Storm of  October, 1991. They cheated and cut corners. They still have problems with the salt water. Salt water went less than 2" up on the sheetrock on the first floor. They ended up covering the entire first floor with 1/4" wainscoting to cover the peeling paint. The salt migrates up the sheetrock. Today, over 20 years later, the paint is starting to peel at the top of the wainscoting.

Good Luck:

@ March 28, 2013 9:36 PM in I hate some subs...

Good Luck with Sparky. He sounds like one of those that are smart and you're not. Until nothing in the heating end works and it's your fault. You should have run the wire if it was that difficult.
Some of them couldn't wire a 4 way switch with the book open to the page.
I usually tell them to run the wires and I'll fix them if (when) they don't work.

Munchkin Piping:

@ March 28, 2013 6:57 PM in Help identifying what I've got

I don't think I've ever seen a Munchkin piped quite that way.
It certainly doesn't follow the installation guidelines. Or the ones I have followed.
There's an Indirect there. It should have been piped using a Vision Pro. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.
Hydronic heating is extremely forgiving.
Your estimation on the cost or running fractional HP electric motors on the toe kick heaters is way too high. Not even close. They use about the same electricity as a 40 watt light bulb.

Tools:

@ March 28, 2013 5:19 AM in T-drill t-55 vs t-60

You get what you pay for.
If you buy a used tool from me, it hasn't been beaten.
If I bought a used tool from you (I wouldn't), it would have already been beaten into submission by someone else.
I once bought a new Hole Hawg. It broke in the first hole with a 1 1/8" auger bit. They gave me a new drill. If the used drill breaks right after you buy it, you are out the drill. It would have to be a really good deal for me to buy a used drill. And I still would probably pass on it.
Cutting down bits is making my head hurt. If you charge $100.00, what is the total time it takes you to pick up a used drill and modify it before you v=can use it. And how much would that add to the theoretical cost of the tool?
If you have to ask, you want to buy the used one. You get what you pay for. 

New Line:

@ March 25, 2013 9:35 PM in Air in Oil Line

First, get a new service provider/oil company. If in fact it is a compression fitting, it doesn't belong there and it has been illegal to use compression fittings for at least 40 years on oil.
Then, put a Tigerloop on the pump and connect to ONE line.
Is this an underground tank (UST)?

I completely

@ March 25, 2013 9:16 PM in Dear Homeowner1

I completely agree. But that's not worth much.
A little knowledge can go a long, wrong way.
Another argument that can never be resolved.

Something to remember:

@ March 25, 2013 8:59 PM in Water service freezing

Something to remember about freezing water pipes. If they are buried and the ground freezes, the freeze pressure is equal around the entire perimeter of the pipe. It should not ever split because the pressure is equal on the outside circumference of the pipe.
If the service is freezing from a shaded spot, get some mulch and cover it as deep as you can. In the spring, mulch your gardens with it. Also, if the ground is cold, and the service might be getting ready to freeze, you can often tell in the AM when you run cold water. If the water is so cold that it hurts, it is probably getting ready to freeze. Or if the water comes out discolored.
Another thing about split pipes. It's the full pipe that splits because the water doesn't have a place to go. But I found that by blowing out systems with air, there may be water still in the pipe, but it doesn't fill the whole pipe. The water freezes like in an ice tray and rises up. With the ends open, there is a place for expansion.
I don't know if anyone was living in the CO house with the 4" DI Service, but if there was or wasn't, it takes a lot to finally block a 4" service. If you use a test thermometer on the water coming out of the service, and it is close to 32 degrees, it is time to let it run somewhere, The municipal water company had some places where they have bleed offs to keep the water fresh. The downstream water will always be way over 32 degrees And if it is from a well, the ground water can be quite warm, in the 40's and close to 50 degrees.
It would be a fun project to circulate that service. I have it all thought out.