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Re: Snowmelt PEX loop max length
There are a lot of things to consider.
Snowmelt most often operates between 15-35 deg. This is the temp range in which snow falls.
What % age of snow times and clearance do you want melting to occur. Class 1-2-or 3
There is very little difference in heat delivery between tube size 1/2" to 5/8" or 5/8" to 3'4" foot for foot. Heat delivered (BTUs) is dependent on Supply Water Temp and flow. Pex size has more to do with pumping power and tube length. Are you using Pex A-B-C? Use Pex A with an O2 barrier. I use 3/4" tube for increased flow and low pumping power.
You are going to use Anti-freeze, what % age? Anti-freeze increases the need for more pumping power at a given flow.
How is it to be installed? Sand Bed, Concrete, Asphalt, etc. Pavers going to be the finish?
How is the Pex laid out? Serpentine, Counter-flow. I always use a Counter-flow pattern. What about Pex spacing? Too long a loop length—too long and you could run out heat energy before hot water reached the end of the loop. 250' , I would think is the max.
What are you going to use (insulation) to prevent back and side heat loss?
Is it going to be an automatic of manual sys?
Re: Snowmelt PEX loop max length
As with anything have a proper heatloss. done.
Uponor's C-dam manual has all that included. Shorter lengths are better.
The contractor should have all that done.
kcopp
Re: U.S. Radiator Corp 20-4 Steam Boiler
OMG, I remember pulling the tankless coil off of one of those. I think it took two of us to lift the dam thing. The customer wasn't getting HW so we pulled it off to clean the muck out of the coil. About 1/2 the bolts broke so we spent the day drilling and tapping. Not fun. This was back in the 70s when we tried to fix things. You couldn't find anyone to try that now
Re: Just wanted to thanks the good men of this forum for helping me thru my 1st winter
I was wondering when Paul would chime in. 😂
HH is a awesome team all around.
PC7060
Re: U.S. Radiator Corp 20-4 Steam Boiler
Also @mattmia2 has the best idea for selecting the proper size. DO NOT USE THE OLD BOILER's RATING to select the replacement boiler. Have someone with experience count the EDR of the connected radiation. The reason I recommend having someone with experience count the radiator’s dimensions and number of sections in each radiator. I have seen too many DIY installers make a mistake in selecting the correct EDR number for their radiators because they have not actually looked at any other radiators to compare the drawings to. Columns v. tubes v. thin tube… can be deceiving if you have not actually experienced the multitudes of radiators that are available.
Then there are those that try to do extra math only to make the mistake bigger. Once you have the EDR of your connected radiators total Square Foot, you select a boiler that will match that number in Square Foot of steam. So… forget steps 8 and 9 in the guide above because they really have a Square Foot of steam rating for every steam boiler made for heating homes. there is no need to convert anything to Gallons per hour of oil or BTU per hour for gas. Just match the Square Foot of steam rating of the boiler to the Square Foot of EDR in your home. It is that simple.
Re: Just wanted to thanks the good men of this forum for helping me thru my 1st winter
Just wanted to thanks the good men of this forum for helping me thru my 1st winter
And thanks to the good woman who runs the thing, and the good women who are in this field and who might enter this field some day. Maybe not using so much gender-specific language might help, just a suggestion.
Re: Slant Fin Concept 21 Boiler Ignitor replacement
Looks like they are now obsolete since Slant/Fin went out of business. That HSI looks like it has a physically unique mounting, if your boiler is in good condition, and if you have a source for them, I'd buy spares. Hot Surface igniters are fragile.
109A_5
Re: Just wanted to thanks the good men of this forum for helping me thru my 1st winter
@CoachBoilermaker said: " Also, got the original service guy in. He only changed filter, nozzle, strainer. No brushing/vacuuming, and I've let that go. He said my 1945 boiler does not have the heat exchanger nipples that need brushing, b/c the gap is wider (or something like that)".
Wrong. Even a boiler of that vintage can get dirty. How would he know if he didn't even open it up 😡 ?
Re: t VHE ^ cold start flame back out the tubes
i don't know what a vhe 6 is but look for the boiler being scooted and for burners that are damaged or clogged. Some burners have designs that rust out and collapse or are damaged of they aren't set up right. make sure you have enough combustion air, that you don't have a sealed off room around the boiler or an attic fan or something. if it is soot or you don't find either of those things, you need someone that understands combustion.
mattmia2
Re: U.S. Radiator Corp 20-4 Steam Boiler
measure the edr of the steam emitters connected to the boiler.
I wouldn't worry about the hot water loops unless it is over 30% of the output if the boiler and even then it won't be an issue unless the edr just matches the heat loss of the building. you could do some comparison of the output of the boiler to the heat loss of the building, as long as the boiler is bigger shouldn't be a problem.
mattmia2