Heating Help

Mom's

@ July 27, 2009 9:44 AM in Mothers (Dan H.)

So sorry to hear about your loss Dan. Mom's are irreplaceable. I'm so pleased to hear your spending your energies and emotions on remembering the good times. I have no doubt Mom would have wanted it that way. God bless you and yours. Rich L

This old steam trap

@ July 7, 2009 11:07 AM in Old Steam Trap

Here's a shot of an interesting old steam trap I ran across the other day. I've never seen one like this before. What's the "tube" sticking out the top of it? It's leaking steam out the top of that tube. Anyone know how it operates?

Thanks HR

@ June 23, 2009 12:04 PM in Best angle for unglazed solar pool heater

Thank you Hot Rod, I've printed off the link you gave and I'm Going to buy Tom's book. I've heard it referenced on here several times before by guys in the know (probably you!) so I'm sure there's a wealth of info in there too. Best regards, Rich L

Congrats

@ April 29, 2009 2:44 PM in Dan Foley!

to Dan and Papa! Beautiful job guys!

Length of pipe

@ April 23, 2009 4:51 PM in what is easiest way to loosen galvanized dielectric union?

Put your length of pipe on each wrench. Make em long enough and it'll break loose. Caution: If they're aluminum they may not be perfectly straight after you do this! Another caution: what ever trick you try, wear safety glasses while you're doing this. Anytime you start smacking fittings or anything else for that matter be sure and protect your eyes. Good Luck

I've never had

@ April 23, 2009 10:00 AM in Ruthe Jubinville - Alan R. Mercurio

the pleasure of meeting you in person, but from your delightful and positive posts, and from the wonderful things others write about I'm sure you're a great lady. Happy birthday Ruthie, hope you have a wonderful day.

@ April 14, 2009 2:23 PM in Faces with posts.

Thanks Bert!

@ April 14, 2009 1:38 PM in Looking for Kewanee Boiler Info

Another Quote

@ April 13, 2009 5:39 PM in Looking for Kewanee Boiler Info

my customer received called for 3" OD x 12 guage SA178A tubes. My boss won't let me run with that, what if they were wrong? Once we re-tube it we own it, if anything were to go wrong anyway. Standard "Carbon Steel" won't cut it either. We've got to use the same materials spec'd by the manufacturer, even though they're not around any more. If I'm wrong on this please feel free to correct me. You'd save me a lot of work! But tell me where I can find the documents to back it up. Yes, our shop has an "R" stamp. Thanks again for the help.

Name Plate

@ April 13, 2009 5:30 PM in Looking for Kewanee Boiler Info

This is all the information I have off of the name plate on the jacket and under the cover right above that there's another plate directly on the boiler shell itself. Manufacturer - Kewanee Boiler Year built - 12/73 Model - 7L287 ("H" Stamp) Serial # P-0526 WAS7l285KG0 Date 3-28-73 53462IA Max steam 15 psi Max water 30 psi I429HS VCII432LB I973 9800 Thanks for all the responses and any help. Rich L

Explains that!

@ April 13, 2009 5:27 PM in Looking for Kewanee Boiler Info

Burnham's busy

@ April 13, 2009 3:35 PM in Looking for Kewanee Boiler Info

Wow, on hold for over half an hour. I can't get through to them.

Re-tube job

@ April 13, 2009 10:20 AM in Looking for Kewanee Boiler Info

I have a customer that wants a price on completely re-tubing an older Kewanee boiler. I'm having trouble finding information about what tube material to use with Kewanee out of business. I have all of the info off of the plates. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Rich L

\"Used\" LP furnace

@ March 26, 2009 8:54 AM in Need advice on choosing the least expensive heating system

If it's for temporary use how about a used furnace? Talk to a few local contractors and let them know what ypu're looking for. Ask them to keep an eye out for a decent used furnace when they do a change out for a newer, higher efficency unit. We have people around here that will do that to get a cheap heater for their garage or workshop. You could put it in your root cellar, cut a few holes in the floor for registers and run some flex duct. While most people run their furnaces until they are no longer usable a few will change out to gain efficiency or to upgrade to geo-thermal. I have two like this sitting in my shop right now.

We've sold

@ March 25, 2009 3:42 PM in ClimateMaster Geo?..........................(Starch)

and installed many ClimateMaster HP's over the years and had very good luck with them. I believe they have quite a few performance options available. In fact I think they make the Tranquility series which is one of the highest (efficiency) performing lines out there. I think they manufactur the heat pumps that get the Carrier and Bryant stickers on them as well. I think everyone I installed when I was in the field was a simple: complete installation, start-up unit, do performance checks, and button it up. They've proven themselves (to me) to be high quality, reliable units. Disclaimer: I have NO affiliation with ClimateMaster and nothing to gain or loose by the units you choose! Good Luck, Rich L

Re-reading the post

@ March 25, 2009 3:07 PM in shutting down steam to a commercial building

Tony I don't see anything mentioned about the shut off point being inside or outside the building. I'm just relating my experiences, same as you. :) Edit: That is why I made it clear I was shutting the steam off inside. If Curious's shut off point is different he can disregard my shared example. Your point is very well taken, expensive repairs can quickly outweigh energy dollars saved.

My Customer Does It

@ March 25, 2009 1:00 PM in shutting down steam to a commercial building

I have a customer that does it every summer, has for years, in his 5 story office building. We put in a couple of electric water heaters for summer use only. He say's he saves a fortune in steam costs. We haven't seen any ill effects of it to this point. The steam gets shut off in the basement at the point of entry. These pipes are all inside the building.

Less oil

@ February 26, 2009 12:00 PM in radiant adjustment

You COULD wind up using less oil because you're not putting as much heat/ energy into the water to get the higher temps.

Minimum temp to heat the space

@ February 26, 2009 11:58 AM in radiant adjustment

I disagree with KPC. I set up all my radiant jobs with the lowest possible water temps that will heat the space to the desired temperature. I ALWAYS recommend outdoor reset to automatically accomplish this. Radiant is not like forced air. You don't want to see temperature swings with the unit cycling on and off. The general philosophy with radiant that I use is lowest water temps that will allow the circ pumps to operate for the longest periods possible. Think of it this way. If you run higher water temps, you heat up the space and the floor cycles off. Now the floor cools off even though the space temp is ok. Now we have a cool floor and that generally is acompanied by an unhappy customer that thought this radiant stuff was always going to mean "toasty warm floors". It's the opposite of what you usually want. Lower water temps, longer cycle times, more comfortable floors.

Do you need

@ February 26, 2009 11:25 AM in Geo Storage

120 gal total or per tank?

Flow

@ February 23, 2009 10:24 AM in Radiant Floor Heating Troubleshoot

2.7 GPM through 5/8" pex is no problem.

Here's hoping for a quick and comfortable

@ February 20, 2009 12:58 PM in Thoughts appreciated

recoup for your Mom Ruthe.