Boiler pressure

tkrasniqi

I set my boiler to modulate at 1/2 psig and cut out at 1 1/2 psig. This seems sufficient pressure to get steam to the last radiator. The building seems warm. My boiler control operates my boiler according to an average indoor temperature. My boiler technician states that this will prolong my on-cycle causing me to waste fuel. He recommends 3 psig. Any input on this would be much appreciated.

BobC

The lower the stem pressure, the more efficient the system becomes. There is almost no reason to operate a residential steam system above 1.5psi, mine is set to 12 oz and it works fine.

Bob

Abracadabra

Your boiler technician doesn't know what he's talking about. Empire state building runs on 1.5-2psi. I doubt you have anywhere near the length of pipe that the empire state building has. I would recommend keeping the pressure under 1psi. What do you mean your boiler modulates at 1.2psi?

Fred

My boiler pressure is set at 12 Ounces also and it rarely gets above about 2 ounces. The lower the pressure, the faster steam moves. Tell you boiler technician to read up on the subject or lead him to this site (to the "Strictly Steam") section.

nicholas bonham-carter

When the system has inadequate main (not rad) venting, many misinformed techs will want to increase the pressure settings, so as to push the air out of the pipes through the constipated little opennings of the radiator vents.
The solution is to increase the number of main vents (Gorton #2's) This will save a lot of fuel, as the air can easily escape at a back-pressure of an ounce or so. System pressure of a few ounces are able to deliver the steam to the radiators more quickly than if the pressure were much higher.
If this is the same tech who installed the boiler, he may have put in a larger boiler than neccessary, and so there may be short-cycling. There are some ways to prevent this, and so let us know, when you have increased the venting, and lowered the pressuretrol settings to 1.5 psi max, if there is any sign of this.--NBC

unclejohn

I think he means goes on at .5 off at 1.5 which is fine. As far as running longer on a lower pressure setting then a high, well that will require me to drink many more beers then I'm capable of too figure that out.

j a_2

LOL Do the so called tech a big favor, send him an application to McDonalds….In you op I was not clear on whats the issue…was/is there a problem?…Curious, post some pics…Oil, gas, size vs load…mains insulated,,,any and the more info you post gets you a more defined answer…

Paul48

What's sad, is that this guy is passing himself off as a steam tech, and has no idea of how the technology works. Any housewife can spend a few hours reading one of Dan's books and have more knowledge than this, so-called "professional".

j a_2

Paul48 said:

What's sad, is that this guy is passing himself off as a steam tech, and has no idea of how the technology works. Any housewife can spend a few hours reading one of Dan's books and have more knowledge than this, so-called "professional".

I was a half time plumbing/heating teacher at the local high school,with a brand new state of the art shop….it was awesome…But due to lack if interest it cut back and I was laid off…There was a science teacher who told my 11 grade plumbing students they were crazy to waste there time on plumbing, its a terrible job…..When we got to the theory,on plumbing and heating the kids had no clue about basic science…I know that science teacher was never the same after I gave him a very verbal lesson in front of the other staff….There are some basic things we should all know from our science days at high school….Sorry for going on and not sticking to the op subject

ChrisJ

My system typically runs 0.02 to 0.04 PSI even on a -8f night. I can assure you 0.5 to 1.5 PSI is plenty to heat your house.

I would never run a system over 1.5 PSI.

Paul48

ja........Just wait a few years, to see what starts coming out of the public school systems. The kids are being dumbed down in this country to keep them down.We have a friend that is a teachers aide, and she showed us a card she got from a 10 yr old girl for Christmas. In it, the girl had attempted to spell "Merry", 5 different times, and spelled it differently each time, and wrong each time. The stories she tells are frightening, and she says the last 3 yrs have gotten worse.

icesailor

j a said:

Paul48 said:

What's sad, is that this guy is passing himself off as a steam tech, and has no idea of how the technology works. Any housewife can spend a few hours reading one of Dan's books and have more knowledge than this, so-called "professional".

I was a half time plumbing/heating teacher at the local high school,with a brand new state of the art shop….it was awesome…But due to lack if interest it cut back and I was laid off…There was a science teacher who told my 11 grade plumbing students they were crazy to waste there time on plumbing, its a terrible job…..When we got to the theory,on plumbing and heating the kids had no clue about basic science…I know that science teacher was never the same after I gave him a very verbal lesson in front of the other staff….There are some basic things we should all know from our science days at high school….Sorry for going on and not sticking to the op subject

If some/more science persons spent time on teaching how science is applied and less on BS theory, they might have more interested students. What a waste of a good education.

What you should have done was go into his classroom and go head to head with what YOU know about science and how important YOUR science is. And how almost irrelevant his brand of science is.

I saw a piece on TV. Women don't do well in Physics. The have no interest. I had no interest in Physics. But a husband and wife physics teachers started a special class for girls only, with lots of demonstrations on how physics worked. The girls excelled. They did better than the boys. I watched the show and how the demonstrations show how things worked. I thought to myself that if I had been taught Physics like they taught those girls, I would have excelled in it. I would have loved it.

Its all in how it is taught and how the understanding is taught.

Any of my children that had problems in school, we spent the money to get them tutored. Cheap money well spent.

My youngest daughter was straight A but couldn't get Chemistry. The teacher had been teaching forever. Some got it, some didn't. I had a customer that taught at an exclusive Connecticut day school. I asked him about tutoring her. He said he couldn't but would "test" her to find out how she was. He said that she was exceptional but he couldn't figure out what the teacher was trying to teach. He had shown her how to do some problems and she picked it up right away. We looked around and put an ad on the paper. The person who answered it was a just retired chair of the Chemistry department at a very large Midwestern University. The teacher was Pissed. But she got an A in the class. She has a Master's from Harvard and works at MIT.

Its not what you teach, its how you teach it.

Paul48

My grand-daughter attends an exclusive CT day school. There is no comparing her education with public school. In fairness to the public school teachers, they are not allowed to teach the way they choose. It is predefined curriculum, taught in a predefined way, period.

ChrisJ

From what I've heard from several PhDs at work who have younger kids the common core stuff is superior to older ways because it teaches kids how to think rather than just solve problems a certain way.

"Intentionally dumbing kids down" sounds like a way to start a political war to me.

Curious why threads keep getting hijacked like this time and time again. Did this used to happen this much on here?

icesailor

I personally consider it all relative. Sometimes you have to use an example to make a point.

Sometimes "a point" needs affirmation to make it a stronger point.

There's a point made here over and over on steam systems, That you don't need 10# steam to heat your house 1 1/2# or less is more than adequate.

I was thumbing through the February issue of P&M before I threw it out. Someone said that it only takes 1 1/2# of steam pressure to get to the top of the Empire State Building. That same Empire State Building over 1,000' tall, would need 435# PSI to push water up as high as steam can do with 1 1/2# Pressure.

It may be "Hijacked", but it is relevant.

Paul48

Just one more statement......Were those the same PHD's that said that NAFTA was a good thing, because we needed to become part of the "world economy". When your trade policies have given all the jobs away, how smart can you make the population? Rant Over

ChrisJ

Paul48 said:

Just one more statement......Were those the same PHD's that said that NAFTA was a good thing, because we needed to become part of the "world economy". When your trade policies have given all the jobs away, how smart can you make the population? Rant Over

Can't comment.
But what I do know is they are not someone sitting on the internet ranting that common core is to blame for some 40-50 year old plumber not understanding how steam heat works.

Paul48

Sorry....I took the chatting with friends thing...literally. The OP was answered, early on. Would you like to talk about steam pressure some more?

tkrasniqi

Thank you all for clearing this up. I'm looking forward to showing my tech these comments and setting him straight