Heating Help

Henry, that's a Canadian standard

@ May 11, 2012 9:13 AM in Is PVC an acceptable vent material for flue gases?

which does not have any force in the States.

Currently, there is no standard here, and the various PVC pipe makers specifically state their pipe is not intended for use in venting combustion products, and is not listed for this use. 

For now, the pipe manufacturers probably won't seek to have their product listed for combustion venting. Why should they? They get to sell the stuff, without incurring any liability.

Curved Radiators on eBay

@ May 10, 2012 7:18 PM in Curved Radiators on eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Curved-Under-window-Cast-Iron-Radiators-/170837059205?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27c6aea685

Looks like a Webster system

@ May 10, 2012 6:55 PM in Cell Block Heating

that trap is probably a 702 or 712.

Agreed

@ May 9, 2012 11:25 PM in BOILER LEAK

Gerry and his partner Steve Pajek are two of the best.

So we need to know

@ May 9, 2012 2:32 PM in BOILER LEAK

is this a steam or hot-water boiler? Oil or gas-fired? What model?

It's here:

@ May 8, 2012 10:51 PM in Gravity System to pump circulated system.

Thanks for the kind words, ME.

http://www.heatinghelp.com/article/343/Circulators/238/Sizing-Circulators-for-Hot-Water-Heating-Systems

Basically, you size the circ to the installed radiation while sizing the boiler to the building's heat loss. The circ is sized to mimic the gravity flow rates. I tried this on my own system first, then some other systems before writing the article ;-)

Dan's method did essentially the same thing before small wet-rotor circs became common. The smallest ones available at that time were the B&G 100, Taco 110 and similar 3-piece units, so he told us how to make the best of what we had then.

You might also be interested in this thread, which shows how water flows thru over-pumped rads as opposed to properly-pumped ones:

http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-thread/140472/Seeing-Inside-an-Over-pumped-Radiator

In this case

@ May 8, 2012 8:14 PM in gas gun on existing oil burner or new gas boiler

"venting" refers to exhausting products of combustion. 

Again, you're assuming

@ May 8, 2012 10:22 AM in gas gun on existing oil burner or new gas boiler

that there is a proper, safe place to install a sidewall vent, or that using the chimney would not exceed the maximum developed length the manufacturer specifies for the venting system. 

For example, in Baltimore we have been known to get up to three feet of snow. Yet some knuckleheads stub out their intake and exhaust pipes a foot above grade. What happens in the next blizzard? The unit will either shut down or release products of combustion into the house. If we see something like this, we don't touch it since that would make us "the last ones to work on it" in a court case.

I ask everyone that question

@ May 8, 2012 10:12 AM in conversion burners

when burners or combustion come up- if you don't test, you're guessing, and taking unnecessary risks with people's lives. Enough said.

Conversion burners will probably become a significant part of our business in the next few years, especially since they offer better efficiency than atmospherics when properly installed in good wet-base boilers. We've done plenty and have a few more in the pipeline. I doubt the Carlin, Midco and Riello people would offer these burners for sale as upgrade/conversion burners if there were Code or listing issues with them.

And as to cost- are the utilities giving boilers away in your area?

The I&O manual is here

@ May 8, 2012 9:58 AM in Installation Plan - dual steam

http://www.peerlessboilers.com/DesktopModules/Bring2mind/DMX/Download.aspx?EntryId=113&PortalId=0&DownloadMethod=attachment

but it doesn't cover multiple-boiler installations. Your best bet would be to contact Peerless.

Those are either

@ May 7, 2012 11:33 PM in Unique Steam Radiators

Nason, Reed or Bundy radiators. Did you see any name on them? 

Look at Chapter 15

@ May 7, 2012 11:28 PM in Trane Vapor System?

of "The Lost Art of Steam Heating". I bet you find that Trane Vapor system on pages 257 and 258.

The Dole vent is almost certainly too small for this system. Use a Gorton #2- it's the biggest vent made today.

Use

@ May 7, 2012 4:18 AM in EDR Ratings for Thin Tube Radiators

the Burnham Slenderized charts in E.D.R. By the time this type of rad came out the ratings were pretty much standardized.

If you have to bury it

@ May 6, 2012 11:13 PM in How do I properly bury the condendate return

I'd surround the pipe with pea gravel, so if any water gets into that area it can drain away. Also cover and insulate it to keep heat in. The gravel will also let the pipe move a bit as it expands and contracts, which will help keep soldered joints from breaking under expansion stress.

But running it along the wall is a much better way to go, as Rod suggests.

No need to increase the pipe size.

AGREED!

@ May 6, 2012 11:05 PM in oil fired hot water run with out water

You were EXTREMELY lucky something did not explode. Plugging the relief valve is dangerous. Shut that boiler down NOW and have a REAL PRO fix it!

There are several good contractors on Long Island. One of them is in this thread- Bob O'Brien. His company is Technical Heating,  631-473-1597.

Try Charlie from WMass

@ May 6, 2012 10:53 PM in convert W-M SGO to gas?

not sure if he comes that far, but it can't hurt to ask, and if not maybe he knows someone. Tell him we sent you.

http://www.heatinghelp.com/professional/221/Charles-Garrity-and-Son-Plumbing-and-Heating

If it's a dry-base unit

@ May 6, 2012 8:41 PM in gas gun on existing oil burner or new gas boiler

as many steel boilers are, it might not do quite as well as a wet-base one. The reason is, the wet-base models almost completely surround the flame with water-backed metal, but the dry-base ones do not. But a dry-base of that type will not lose as much heat from the base as an atmospheric gas boiler would.

If there is no safe way to vent a mod-con, a wet-base cast-iron boiler with power gas burner is a good choice. Here's one we did, a small Solaia with a HeatWise gas burner. HeatWise recently folded, so the same boiler is now available with the Carlin EZ-Gas burner.

Sell him

@ May 6, 2012 8:35 PM in Why Is the US Always Last

some steam TRVs!

Answers

@ May 6, 2012 8:21 PM in conversion burners

1. Buderus, Slant/Fin, Smith and Solaia are four manufacturers that officially do. For the rest, look at the experience Tim McElwain has had: not one warranty issue in 40 years of conversions. Since power gas burners are used in commercial boilers all the time, there's no reason we can't use them on residential units.

2. If you are already licensed and insured for installing and servicing gas equipment, you should be OK, but check with your agent to be sure.

3. They should, since many gas units require that much inlet pressure. But this is a bit less of an issue with a power burner, since the mixing of gas and air is done by a fan blowing thru small openings in the head, rather than the force of the gas coming out of an orifice as on atmospheric burners.

However, since a power burner won't usually be the only gas unit in the house, you still need to maintain that level of inlet pressure.

4. It's a good idea to reline a chimney no matter which fuel you're using. Modern boilers don't exhaust nearly as much heat up the chimney as older ones did, so there is more risk of condensation in the flue.

5. That depends. If the boiler was not set up properly for oil, it will soot up and waste fuel. Switching to gas will eliminate this problem, but so will proper setup on oil.

When comparing the thermal efficiency of atmospheric boilers to wet-base power-burner boilers, the latter wins every time. The power burner, when properly installed and tuned, can produce a clean flame- no CO- with a lot less excess air than the atmospheric. Also, the wet-base can pick up more heat from the flame, rather than losing it from the wide-open base of an atmospheric.

6. Gas conversion burners are listed for installation into existing appliances. This is no different from, say, removing a non-flame-retention oil burner that came with the boiler and installing a flame-retention unit. In both cases the new burner is listed for use as an upgrade or conversion unit.

If the burner manufacturer has tested their burner in a specific boiler and published a specification for that boiler-burner combination, so much the better.

7. Not sure what you mean here. A new boiler is always more expensive than a conversion, unless the gas company is giving the boiler away for free. National Greed was doing this for a while.

8. This is one instance where replacing the boiler with a properly-sized one would probably be a better way to go.

9. Sure- but a booster tank or indirect would produce more hot water at less operating cost.

10. If that tank has been there for several decades, as many have, it should be removed since its condition is questionable. If you then want to go back to oil, install a double-wall tank. But you won't need to replace the boiler each time.

And you do test all your equipment with a digital combustion analyzer, don't you?

Hope this helps.

I know Charlie from WMass does this

@ May 6, 2012 12:58 AM in Is it true?

anyone else? 

We do a lot of them

@ May 5, 2012 8:42 PM in Is it true?

and they are definitely profitable. Customers like giving the oil companies the heave-ho, without buying a new boiler. 

The pic at the lower left

@ May 5, 2012 6:21 PM in Field trip to Boyertown foundry and Peerless factory

looks like the sections for a Smith Mills boiler- does Smith use this foundry too?