Best Of
Re: Boiler explosion in White Marsh, MD
I may be wrong but the lack of moisture and the cast appearing intact, it looks like a gas/burner explosion. Glad he survived.
SlamDunk
Re: 1966 heating oil tank
You’d be crazy to try to clean. 1966 tank.
The sludge is probably the last thing keeping the tank from leaking.
Re: Mega press for steam question
This is another case of "just because you can, doesn't necessarily mean you should".
Re: Steam device to be identified
You might actually have it- depends on what's inside the radiator valves.
Re: Mega press for steam question
I've used 3" mega press for a few repairs on a main. With this job it was the best option to avoid a major project. You have to specify the right fittings and ensure the pipe is supported correctly. It has its place, just not fond of using it for every fitting during a changeout. 2 1/2 and 3" mega press flanges and couplings have saved the day on a few jobs to make the transition to near boiler piping where threading in place would not be practical or increase the cost for the customer by a decent amount.
Re: Mega press for steam question
Not a good idea to use MegaPress on steam, since it's too easy for the fittings to sag over time. And we know what that causes……………
Re: Dream of skimming leads to rabbit hole
1.The header has no swing joints which could possibly damage the boiler. However the length of the header is so short the amount of expansion may not be enough to cause an issue.
2.The header is pitched wrong (as you mentioned) but the amount of condensate in the header is not much so if the boiler is quiet skip that
3.Same with the indirect. If you are getting enough hot water leave it. but the indirect
4.The horizontal run on the Hartford loop is too long. Again, no noise leave it
5.I do not like the safety relief valve on the long horizontal tapping. The relief valve must be mounted upright and should be directly on the boiler
6. I have no Idea what the xtra low water cutoff are for.
The guy that installed this never reads an install manual "I have been doing this for 40 years" Yeah, 40 years of doing it wrong.
If it seems to work ok, I would leave it alone except for the two things I am most concerned about.
The location of the safety valve (which may be the skim tapping)
and the header with no swing joints.
If you read the manual, it mentions the safety valve being vertical
it shows swing joints and a 3" header (depending on the boiler size)
It shows not to do a "BULL HEAD TEE" with the steam outlet between the boiler tapping's.
I think your skim tapping is below the black switching relay on the left side of the boiler. It's an 1 1/4" tapping according to the manual
Re: Bell & Gossett Circulator
@sjh, The plastic flue access cap on the jacket looks like it saw some pretty high temperatures. Even if the insulation is gone, it shouldn't warp. There's also scorch marks around the burner door. What's the stuff around the inspection window and the air tube?
You mentioned a gas fired boiler is replacing the oil fired. But all the zones need to work first? So they're sliding out the old boiler, and sliding the new in, only to reconnect to that existing mess of piping? Please tell me I'm crazy.
HVACNUT
Re: Radiant heat with oil? Can it be done?
I come from New England, where oil is the dominant heating fuel, and there are literally millions of oil boilers in service with no buffer tank. Typically they'll have two or more zones, with thermostats controlling the zone valves and the zone valves controlling a circulator. When no thermostats are calling, all the zone valves are closed, the circulator is off, there is no flow at all. The boiler capacity is about 15 gallons, at idle the burner will cycle on and off to keep the boiler temperature up, that's the minimum short cycle.
When a zone valve opens, 20 gallons or more of room temperature water will flow into the boiler fairly quickly. None of this seems to harm the boiler, there are lots of boilers that are 50 years old or older plumbed this way.
With heated floors you're going to want to temper the water temperature with a mixing valve and another circulator. But nothing about that setup is harder on the boiler than the basic setup described above.
