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Re: Water to Water Geothermal heat pump replacement with lp boiler
geo should be much cheaper operating then straight electric.
pecmsg
Re: Water to Water Geothermal heat pump replacement with lp boiler
what’s the cost of Electric
What’s the cost of Propane
https://coalpail.com/fuel-comparison-calculator-home-heating
pecmsg
Re: Steam kettle trap
You will not get the perfect answer to your question, here. What you need is to have a commercial boiler service tech come to your job to look at the overall system, how the whole steam system is piped and controlled. There a lot of very knowledgeable steam people here but none have seen your system, the boilers, or the delivery system. What you need to correct your problem is anybody's guess and it just a guess. Call for a service tech and get the right answers
Re: F&T oddity
Collum of water 28" tall is 1 psi. So, if you had to lift the condensate 1 foot you would need the steam pressure to be .42psi" higher than the return pressure (if any).
In reality you need a little more to open the check valve and overcome any trap resistance which is minor.
Re: F&T oddity
Tough to see the return line. You can lift condensate with a trap as long as you have enough steam pressure to overcome the rise in the return. Thats why they used a check valve to avoid backwards flow.
Seems like a lot of mud in the trap but if it has been 50 years I guess that is normal.
With the two unions you could easily remove the trap to flush and clean it.
Re: Replacing pressure reducing valve
I like the combo units also. They come with a union fitting so you don't need to cut pipes to replace the parts in the future. If you pipe it near the expansion tank and include an isolation valve on both sides of the setup, you can service the expansion tank, back flow preventer and auto feed PRV without draining the boiler or shutting off the house’s potable water supply. This Expansion Tank Fitting on one end and that ball valve on the other end will accomplish this nicely.
Re: Water to Water Geothermal heat pump replacement with lp boiler
Maybe @hot_rod will chime in but this it what I think.
Recommended pressure drop is 6.2 psi. At 6.2 psi pd the flow should be 16.5 gpm per the mfg.
you say that you have a 2.0psi PD and that the mfg says 2.9pd is minimum and that at 2.9 you flow would be 11 gpm.
At 2.0pd you flow is only 9.53 gpm (thats what I came up with) Cv of the unit is 6.74.
so at 9.53 gpm your flow is only 86% of the mfg MINIMUM
and 57% of the recommended MFG flow.
No surprise to me why the unit short cycles and has no capacity.
You need someone who can size the correct circulator for you to get the proper flow. Too many installers guess. That doesn't work for me.
Sometimes they get away with that approach but more often they fail. Heat pumps need the right flow
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