Heating Help

Duct Insulation:

@ March 21, 2013 5:57 PM in Questions after new furnace installation

Im Massachusetts, I think that all new heating duct must be insulated.
There must have been a sale on 50# boxes of 1" screws.

CSST Tube & Fittings:

@ March 21, 2013 5:53 PM in gastite fittings

You know that you need the manufacturers certification for each type.brand to purchase and install it?
You know that you can't swap fittings with fittings?
WardFlex and TiteFlex tube is not interchangeable with each others fittings.
The spacings of the concentric's are unique to each manufacturer.
Leaks can occur when using the wrong fittings on the tube.
I always liked TiteFlex the best. It held on the best. The supplier I buy from went from TiteFlex to TracPipe because of the "CounterStrike" tube.
You absolutely can not interchange those two tubes. Where you can really have a problem is when you try to tie in to existing CSST systems. If you don't have the proper fittings for the existing CSST, you can't connect it.

Vents:

@ March 20, 2013 8:54 PM in Backflow preventer with vent

If there is a leak through the back-flow, like it is leaking out of the boiler, it is supposed to leak out of the vent hold. The instructions, like T&PR valves say to pipe the overflow to a safe location.
There was a discussion here of on another forum where the discussion was that you aren't supposed to leave the fill valve to a boiler open, that it should be left off. That came from B&G. That they won't be responsible for water damage if a fill valve is left open.

Sounds like a:

@ March 20, 2013 6:54 PM in Weil-McLain won't heat

Sounds like a Warm Air "Furnace" with a broken belt or motor ans no air flow.

Nuts:

@ March 20, 2013 6:51 PM in Need help with Slant/Fin input

"NUTS" equal Horse Power.
When you hit the power switch and start the engine(s) in the airplane, the engine runs until you turn it off. When you need power, you open the throttle and give it more gas to get more "Nuts" out of the motor. Consider the motor the circulator. It is always running to effect the load. You can keep the prop in the green power range but you don't always need power to do it. When you are climbing, you need more power. The hotter water in the system is the power. When you level off, you don't need the same power. You can keep the RPM's the same, but you don't use as much fuel. Close off the air and the EGT goes up but RPM's might go down. So, you adjust.
Your Mod Con does this autiomatically by changing the water temperature. Instead of a throttle, it has a high limit switch. If the power requirements need less power, but the settings don't change, you get overspeed. Bigger bite (higher load) lower RPM's.
When the OAT goes down, the load on a heating system goes up. You need more energy. When the OAT goes up, you need less energy.
Some here that aren't in the know, seem to loose it when they hear their burner stop and start. Ignore it. When you are driving your car down the highway, even if you put the throttle on cruise control, the throttle is going up and down all the time. That's normal.
Recip engines are limited in that their maxmum HP is at the top of their power band. Turbines don't have that problem. They have huge amounts of escess power throughout their power band.
Here's another example. Gas hot air baloons. They are always hitting the gas valve to keep it up The circulator is like the engine. It delivers the power. The engine (burner) keeps the power available.
I have 5 zones of FWH heat in my 2,700+ house. If only one zone is calling, the burner cycles constantly. But if all zones are calling, and it is cold out, it may run for hours without stopping.
If your circulator is coming on and off all the time, that's another issue. If the circulator keeps running and the burner is cycling, it's normal.

Just because:

@ March 20, 2013 6:18 PM in Radiators piped in series.........

Just because someone piped it like that doesn't mean that it is right or they knew what they were doing.
Hydronic hot water heating is extremely forgiving.
But like that little boy in the poem, "When he was good, he was very, very good. But when he was bad, he was AWFUL".

And:

@ March 20, 2013 6:13 PM in Standing pilot appliances........

And good riddance

Or put another way:

@ March 19, 2013 10:24 PM in Need help with Slant/Fin input

Or put another way,
You may see it that way. I've never seen that way to be true. I've never seen it to be true for me or anyone else, but it mght be true for you.
I guess all those houses that were uninsulated and had heating systems that worked, had the envelope tightened up and insulated with new windows.
Thinking about all the boilers I never saw stop working, just stuns me.
Its a good thing that they don't put them in like that anymore.

Wrong Conclusion:

@ March 19, 2013 10:20 PM in Need help with Slant/Fin input

Everything I know about aircraft, I can relate to heating. And so forth..
If you have ODR, the water temperature can be made to go down. Even if you don't, you can still make it go down.
As far as aircraft, old Helicopters had Recip engines. More than 60% of engine power went to counter-rotate the fan with the tail rotor. They were limited in what they could do by the HP of a recip. The development of gas turbines and their excessive HP made it so that you could get better performance with the excess HO. The tail rotor needs didn't go up significantly, but that excess HP could be used by the fan. The Kaman design of twin counter rotating fans eliminated the need for the excess power. The turbines  made the Kaman obsolete.
Your excess nuts in boiler HP isn't causing your problem. Its excessive high heat and short burns. If the thermostat is calling, the circulator shouldn't stop running. If it does, you have another issue.

Raise The Pressure:

@ March 19, 2013 9:59 PM in Slower taco pump?

Raise the pressure to 16# and see what happens.
18# if the 007 motor is mounted with the can on the top.

Old Radiators:

@ March 19, 2013 7:21 PM in Help dating my old gas steam radiator

Old radiators like coins are a poor source for proving when something was built. Like the coin that only shows that it was dropped at some time after it was dated when minted and could have been dropped yesterday, a old radiator tells you that it is only as young or as old as a patent date. They didn't have serial numbers on them and the old timers excelled at recycling. Especially in the country after tornado's.
Where I work, the oldsters moved houses around with no thought in it or deconstructed them to get the worthwhile lumber and create new ones.
There are better ways to figure it out. The radiator can help but you sound like you are on your way.

I agree:

@ March 19, 2013 7:11 PM in Need help with Slant/Fin input

I agree with JeffGuy. Your conclusions are erroneous. The opposite would be true if the kitchen wasn't warm.
The installer must have changed something that caused your problems.
The one thing about over-sized systems, is that you will not have DHW supply problems.
And the hole in your supposition is that the only time a properly sized boiler is properly sized, is on the few says per year that it is correct. The rest of the time, it is WAY OVER SIZED.
The vehicle you drive around in is grossly overpowered. Until you are trying to get on to a limited access highway and someone won't let you into traffic.

Weird Tube:

@ March 19, 2013 8:55 AM in IS THIS ENTRAN PIPING

HR,
I looked at that tube again and I think that what is first shown isn't what the rest of it is.
Someone made some parallel flow rubber tube for radiant use but there was so little water in it that you needed a ton of it. That tube has THREE tubes in the roll. What would you do with the third tube? The pictures of the three tube pieces and rolls show a solid plastic tube. The pictures of one of the split didn't seem to show the same tube. I wonder if the poster has found something that appears to be what they think is there but it is something else.
The tube may still be OK if the only failures are in the boiler room. I think it would take an inquisitive eye to properly decide where this problem came from. I think that more information is needed.
All may not appear to what it appears to be.

Entran Tube:

@ March 19, 2013 8:46 AM in IS THIS ENTRAN PIPING

HR,
What you say may be true. But I have never seen any type of rubber or EPDM hold a new shape after "exploding" like that. The fact that it shows what appears to be a "Burst Open" leads me to believe that it is some form of flexible plastic tubing that was heated and took a new shape while cooling. I don't think that any rubber, flexible hose has that ability.
I'll bet that the only breaks in the system are where these splits are.
IMO (and usually worthless)

Liner Lengths:

@ March 18, 2013 7:23 PM in New Chimney liner

There's a length limit that determines how much pipe can go into a box.

Pyramids:

@ March 18, 2013 7:20 PM in I've always found better musicians here!

I've
always said that learning is like a pyramid. There's a lot available at the bottom. But, the higher up you get, the harder it is to find the pearls. Or, "Pearls of Wisdom".
Much of what I know or figured out came to me in the form of a question or a discussion and the words were coming out of my mouth. And you never know where an answer will come from.
You can know anything you want. Just not everything you want.
As far as music, I can't play an instrument. But I have a very large and eclectic collection of music and I go to a lot of live concerts. Acoustic being my favorite.

Lack of hot water:

@ March 18, 2013 7:05 PM in Burnham Rev4 luke warm hot water

It sounds to me like you have a wiring and control issue.
If you have always had problems getting enough hot water out of the indirect storage tank, you probably don't have a hot water extender valve or a thermostatic mixer.
Raising the temperature in a water storage tank is the same as theoretically, the same as having a larger tank. But you must use a mixer for safety and to extend the hot water available.
There can be other issues. Such as hot/cold cross connections and broken shower valves. If you have hot water in a bathroom sink but it isn't as hot in a shower, you may have a broken valve part of a stuck balancing spool.
What kind of shower valve, single lever?
I'd start with the wiring/control first.

Quality Installers:

@ March 17, 2013 11:12 PM in Ferrous nipple used after a backflow preventer

Quality installers use brass as far as necessary. And it comes apart easier.

Percentage Solutions:

@ March 17, 2013 11:08 PM in gaseous cavitation and glycol solutions....

I'm glad you read that carefully and picked up that fact.

Cold Mixing

@ March 17, 2013 1:55 PM in mixing valve issues

You could have already had the element fail if the valve is installed (incorrectly) over the top of the boiler or above the cold water inlet of the coil. It is spelled out emphatically in the provided instructions that no one ever reads. But on a Massachusetts Journeymans exam, if you don't show the heat trap, you get the question wrong.
When they get cold right away, the element is usually gone. If you slow the hot water down to a very low flow and you still have hot water, you need a flow restrictor. If it is a new boiler, the installation manual will tell you what size for your particular boiler. If it is old, it may need the coil cleaned.

Commercial Buildings:

@ March 17, 2013 1:42 PM in Need help with Slant/Fin input

And that is a whole other subject for doing heat loss in commercial buildings.
Not to ever be discounted except at your own peril and potentially bad results.

Good Reasons

@ March 17, 2013 1:39 PM in gaseous cavitation and glycol solutions....

She probably has good reasons for doing so.
When I make Kale Soup, my wife eats it too so she can't blame me for excess gaseous cavitation. She is just as bad.