Heating Help

A SS liner

@ May 4, 2013 11:54 PM in Power Gas Conversion Burners

is the only thing to use in a chimney that used to serve a coal- or oil-fired unit. Residual sulfur will eat up an aluminum liner quickly, no matter how well the chimney is cleaned. 

On a snowman

@ May 4, 2013 11:51 PM in Power Gas Conversion Burners

a.k.a. an old round coal-converted boiler, 70% is pretty good. Obviously it would be much better on a newer model.

Gotta wonder

@ May 4, 2013 4:04 PM in Power Gas Conversion Burners

who is spreading these rumors.......

And if you get any calls for the Baltimore area, you know where to send them ;-)

The solution:

@ May 3, 2013 12:25 AM in Lesson learned NEVER let the wife tag along to the home show

"Yes, dear".

Good man for the job

@ May 3, 2013 12:24 AM in Mark Eatherton to lead RPA

of leading the "Radiant Panel Association".

Here are two sources

@ May 3, 2013 12:16 AM in E.D.R. of convector

which you can find right here in the Library. Yes, it really does pay to wander off the Wall:

http://www.heatinghelp.com/article/158/Radiators/1269/Herman-Nelson-Invisible-Radiators

http://www.heatinghelp.com/article/158/Radiators/1280/Trane-Heat-Cabinets

Now, how did I know these could be found there?  ;-)

Most people in that situation

@ April 30, 2013 2:03 PM in Changing from direct vent to chimney vent

would stay with direct vent and get rid of the oil. But I suspect that burner is out of tune, if so it's easily fixed.

And is there enough clearance between the vent and the windows?

With issues like this

@ April 30, 2013 2:01 PM in Taking out a 3 yr old Navian..

I would have to disagree. If the units aren't holding up why do we want to put our customers thru this?

True, in Europe they don't fix anything older than about five years, they completely replace it. But that's Europe, not America. Things are different here, including customer expectations.

We'll never "see it all"......

@ April 29, 2013 11:03 PM in Name this radiator!

that's a new one on me. If the dimensions are similar, use any standard 2-column chart.  

Or you could

@ April 29, 2013 4:00 PM in separate boiler/system pump required?

fix whatever is wrong with the steam system and get close to the same results without spending all that time and effort on a complete replacement.

They're all over the place

@ April 28, 2013 6:41 PM in COMBO PLUMBING & HEATING INQUIRY

but it sounds like that customer has the right contractor now. 

Can you say

@ April 28, 2013 5:26 PM in COMBO PLUMBING & HEATING INQUIRY

"Legionella"?

What I'd do

@ April 28, 2013 1:09 PM in Burnham MST Oil to Gas

is give them the thermal efficiency of each boiler possibility- gross (DOE) output as a percentage of input. That way they'd know where the numbers come from.

They'll hear it running

@ April 28, 2013 11:31 AM in Burnham MST Oil to Gas

but it shouldn't be that much louder.

Or, you could wait till the Midco radial-flame low-NOx burner goes mainstream. It's much quieter than a flame-retention burner.

For an example of this

@ April 26, 2013 4:33 PM in heat pumps and old apartment buildings

quote "Often condo/coop owners fear an increase in consumption if the system is to be made even for all, however that is ironically not the case."

go here:
http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-thread/142217/The-King-Of-All-Crossover-Traps

In this case, the fuel consumption stayed the same, but the building now heats evenly with no open windows.

The Burnham Independence boilers

@ April 26, 2013 4:29 PM in Automatic Water Feeder shuts off power at low water? Plumber says it's the thermostat

have a relay which the thermostat operates to energize the 24V circuit that operates the gas valve. it should not affect the LWCO or water feeder. I think someone has some wires crossed.

Every job is different

@ April 26, 2013 4:25 PM in The King Of All Crossover Traps!

so it's hard to predict how the savings will work out.

Dave, yes the units do have individual gas and electric meters. I didn't recall seeing space heaters though.

What boilers

@ April 26, 2013 4:22 PM in Burnham MST Oil to Gas

are you talking about- make, model etc?

Yes we did

@ April 25, 2013 10:38 PM in The King Of All Crossover Traps!

it ran between 13.5-13.8 therms per degree day. This did not include the average 700 therms per month used for the domestic hot-water system.

Ran the numbers today

@ April 25, 2013 8:41 PM in The King Of All Crossover Traps!

fuel consumption didn't change from last season, but the heat distributed much better. In other words, the fuel wasted thru open windows now goes to the far end of the building where it's needed. They did pay less for gas this year, but that was due to a 14% rate decrease.

There is still work to be done on this system- in particular the boiler pressure controls, activating lo-hi-lo and tuning the burners. Presently another company services the boilers but we're working on that. We'll keep tracking this system.

CycleGuard

@ April 21, 2013 11:07 PM in EZ-Gas Stays, Boiler is Upgraded

like on most new steamers.

We installed a Columbia 4-section

@ April 21, 2013 8:32 PM in EZ-Gas Stays, Boiler is Upgraded

and changed the burner air tube, etc. to match the new boiler. Oh, and the new one has a probe-type LWCO so we won't have this problem again. Also a proper drop header.

We had upgraded the main vents before we converted the old boiler. This solved a long-standing steam distribution problem.

We'll see how much more fuel they save with the new boiler. This should be interesting.