Best Of
Re: Cost to clean a heat exchanger?
What type of heat emitters? How many?
Running the boiler at low return temperatures for extended periods in another cause of sooting. Did he look up inside with a mirror? Or remove the top?
hot_rod
Re: Cost to clean a heat exchanger?
Did the tech leave behind a printout of the combustion test? At 3 years old, that boiler should be spotless inside. At 20 years it should be spotless. If there's soot, then the tech needs to find out why, not just clean it.
HVACNUT
Re: Cost to clean a heat exchanger?
Natural gas shouldn't be sooty unless something else is wrong. I've cleaned mine myself. You'd need flueway brushes but honestly a long cleaning brush for fridge coils works fine and lasts longer. Be sure to cover the burner tubes with a piece of cardboard to keep falling crud from plugging the gas ports. It'll be easier to vacuum up too.
Re: BACKFLOW PREVENTER ON HYDRONIC BOILER, NOT SURE IF THIS IS FAILING OR NOT
If the main shutoff up stream is not sealing 100% and there is not enough flow or pressure to slide the spool over the vent, AND something is stuck in the first check, then you would see a drip coming out the vent. It's actually doing it's job protecting the system against a failed check.
Rust, sand, teflon tape, etc in a check valve can cause a check to not seal.
Generally there is a small strainer in those small dual checks, but it does not catch all the small particles.
They are fairly simple to disassemble and check/ clean, to large nuts remove all the guts.
However if it is old, 10 years or more the o-rings and seals could be deteriorated or nicked. Time to replace it, it is an inexpensive safety device that protects you homes water supply.
Do you have a backflow on your water main into the home? That protects the city water and users from getting your water back :). The BFD on the boiler protects the water inside your home. Pretty much all plbg codes require both protection, appliances and entire building main.
Many jurisdictions are now requiring an RPZ type dual check on boiler feeds, a higher hazard listed valve, since they don't know if any chemicals may be in the boiler water. Those will require a yearly inspection by a licensed backflow technicians however.
Another option is to disconnect from the water line and add a fill tank, like an Axiom.
hot_rod
Re: Thermal break for new radiant heat slab in older attached garage?
Yes you need a thermal break.
BUT
The foundation does not, or should not, support the slab. They need to be structurally decoupled from each other, or you will get serious cracking at the edge of the slab.
Re: Need some advice for a vintage Peerless radiator valve hookup
IMHO if the new radiator was on site for measurements and he was allowed to open up the floor to alter the pipe connections then he has no excuse for not making it right.
Re: Small baseboard zones
how long did you run the system?
It needs to get to a steady state condition, then observe the temperatures, the delta t.
Steady state is when the s&r temperature has stabilized, not going up or down
Delta t will constantly change as the building load changes.
You design a system around a certain delta, but in reality it may never run at that exact number. Nor does it need to if it heats adequately and doesn’t cause short cycling, etc.
Low mass emitters and light heat load conditions, steady state condition could happen in minutes. A design day may take much longer, of course.
hot_rod
Re: Pricing on refurbished cast iron radiators
It's a very small market in most areas. Here in the Detroit area I refer my customers to a powder coating company so they can go look at the samples and drop it off. I will usually just uninstall and reinstall the rads once they are done.
