Heating Help

similar problem

@ May 3, 2013 12:44 AM in weil mclain gv gold lockout problems

My WM HE II model gas boiler had a similar trouble years ago. Just after I bought the control board replacement for it, we managed to solve the problem.
It turned out it was the more expansive silicone nitride igniter that we thought it would be better to our boiler. After changing out a number of parts without much luck, we figured this fancy igniter was something we put in instead of the original part.
So we removed that and put in a new cheapo compatible igniter, our intermittent lockout problem had disappeared.

how did Earl know?

@ January 25, 2013 1:59 PM in High delta T, how to adjust it?

Congrats, Earl!
So glad you didn't give up (or I didn't give up in following up all these many informative postings!!)
I probably missed it from your postings, how did you know exactly where to cut to find this amazing clog to solve your delta T issue?

Good point

@ March 22, 2011 10:45 PM in HW Aquatrol

Thanks Alan for this expert opinion!

Indeed, my 7 zone valves are all HW V8043C1041, but it says 6W on them. I don't know what the difference is between W and VA.

Would 7x6W exceed the 38VA this Aquatrol can provide? I'm hoping to do 3x2zones + 1 zone on it..... If not, can I add an extra transformer to it?

Thanks again.

good to know

@ March 21, 2011 11:41 PM in HW Aquatrol

..because I'm worried it may damage the control if I am to have 2 zones wired up into one on the Aquatrol...

HW Aquatrol

@ March 20, 2011 5:34 PM in HW Aquatrol

Good day,
Got this Honeywell Aquatrol zone/ODR control as recommended by one of the posters here.

To avoid investing a zone expansion module, just wonder if we can combine 2 zones into one on this control by piggy-back onto one and controlled by one thermostat. Any reservation here?

Thanks in advance.

My controller

@ February 28, 2011 7:08 PM in Post-fire purge

is merely a zone valve control with DHW priority built-in (jpeg attached in original post#1). It doesn't really regulate temperature. So max. DHW temp will be whatever high-limit boiler aquastat set at.

ME is right. Either I bite the bullet to buy a boiler control or move on and wait until this old monster dies......
  

post-fire purge

@ February 27, 2011 10:45 PM in Post-fire purge

indeed, our existing valve controllers have DHW priority. but I'd think it still needs 180F min. for hot water recovery
No, the boiler is Weil-Mclain and there's nothing we can do about the low temp return situation without investing some money in that now.

It'd be nice to know an easy way to do purge.

Great points

@ February 27, 2011 5:31 PM in Post-fire purge

taken from all of you. I totally agree with you that, at this point, I shouldn't spend more than I can save particularly this on/off type of cast iron boiler is 14 yr-old already.

While the temp range is rarely at this extreme, it is very common to see a delta-T of 30-50F on the zone heating side at the end of a cycle, (this cast iron boiler's temp keeps on shooting up another 10-15F after heat call ends), but never for DHW heating (15F max). Can never understand that. Just thought there's an easy way to purge some of the residual heat to the zone.

The only reason I keep it at 180F high-limit, with 15F differential, is for the indirect although our under-joist suspends do require fairly high temp as well.

I will play with the high-limit thermostat as suggested by Icesailor to see how far I can set it down without bothering anything or anybody. Just worry about DHW recovery...

Attached is a couple of our set-ups in our crawl space if anyone's interested.

Post-fire purge

@ February 27, 2011 1:23 PM in Post-fire purge

Good day,
Find this site really helpful and interesting for even naive homeowners like myself. And hook on it ever since I discover it.

We have a 14-yr old Weil-Mclain gas-fired 82% efficiency 100,000 btu output cast iron boiler to run our alum.plate suspended under-joist radiant system and DHW to heat our 2700 sq-ft 2-story 14 yr-old house with 7 zones.

No fancy control (basically just with zone valves and 2x4-zone controller as per attached).

Since at the end of the cycle, a lot of heat remains in the boiler (eg supply temp at 180 & in temp at 110, it's not uncommon for us to see high delt-t for our system especially if the zone is small), my question is how or what simplest way for us to get some of the residual heat out in the boiler to the zone(s)?

It is an one-pump system.

ME is great!

@ February 26, 2011 12:22 PM in Expansion tank replacement - 3 questions

Indeed, he is. That's why ME is our leader!

I mistakenly presumed your basement is your first floor.... got it now!

14 ft

@ February 24, 2011 11:53 PM in Expansion tank replacement - 3 questions

I don't quite get where we got 10 for the second floor height as BBR would sit no more than 2 ft off the ground..... I am thinking more like (4+2=6) and not (4+10=14).

I am in the midst of figuring out what my requirement is for the in-floor system in our 2-story house with a crawl space where the boiler locates as per rough sketch attached. Does  (4+10)=14 ft sound about right?

wonder what over/under-pressurized the expansion tank would do to the system?

Thanks for the feedback!

thanks

@ February 11, 2011 9:20 PM in weil mclain gv gold lockout problems

Thanks for the confirmation! Hopefully, this will fix the prior version of 1013-100 which is what we currently have installed in the HE boiler

UT

@ February 10, 2011 9:44 PM in weil mclain gv gold lockout problems

oh. hope they have improved this and fixed all the glitches.
Anyway, here's what shown on the site where I bought it.

igniter

@ February 10, 2011 9:08 PM in weil mclain gv gold lockout problems

Thanks Tim, I have ordered the replacement control module, this one is labeled as WeilMclain product and not United Technology which is the original one.

We'll see. I also ordered the original 511-330-188 WM brand HSI along with the harness. I notice the Norton 271Y that is there now just has two nuts connecting with the other end.

Yes, this will be our third igniter attempts.

Congrats!

@ February 9, 2011 11:13 PM in weil mclain gv gold lockout problems

Similar problem to our 12 year-old WM HE II boiler (gas-fired, induced draft, hot surface ignition).

In the last 2 years, at no prior warning or sign, it just locks itself out randomly whenever it wanted to.

I can see igniter all glowed up, but just no flame came on. After 3 trials, it gave up. Then all I had to do was flip the boiler power off, waited a minute or two, and then switched it on. It would then be sure work for a day, days, a week, or sometimes weeks... then it failed again for me to do my magic to flip the switch.

So far, we replaced the gas valve, HSI prematurely twice, zone valves without any luck, and now we are down to try to change the control module board (UT 1013-100) which is $200 a piece plus labor.

Anyway, congratulations to your happy conclusion to your misery. wish us luck.(I guess we need more than luck here)

zone syn.

@ February 3, 2011 8:41 PM in Synchronized thermostats?

Thanks a lot, Chris!

We got the manual downloaded and have been browsing on this product online, but never know how zone syn works and how it is zone.

Will continue to see where we can get the info/

zone syn. on Aquatrol

@ February 2, 2011 10:26 PM in Synchronized thermostats?

Interesting, Chris!
I couldn't find any info. about zone syn. on this gadget. Where can I read up on this?

Similar thinking..

@ February 1, 2011 12:10 AM in Synchronized thermostats?

I have a similar concern in this same subject.

Originally, for seek of control and efficiency, we have 7 zones in our 2700sq ft 2-storey house.

However, while each zone does not short cycle, these different 7 zones tend to call for heat one after another which makes the boiler on/off all the time.

I combine some zones together down to 3 zones now. And almost want to make it into one big one now. Zoning would be good if we can shut some down in a longer duration of period, but we occupy the whole house pretty much.