Best Of
Re: Cast Iron to Mod Con Boiler-Regrets??
I remember the first time I needed to replace a boiler that I installed when I was younger. It was a Columbian Emerald and I took good care of it until I went out of business. Several Years later I went back into business and when many of my old customers heard that I was back in business, they came back to me. Mrs. Flounders has a basement you can't get to without moving a piece of furniture and opening up a basement door hatch in the floor. As a result there were several years that the maintenance was not done properly while others were doing the service. Eventually she needed a new boiler and I installed a wall hung ModCon since the natural gas line went past har home on the way to a new development down the street from her home. I felt Old seeing something that I installed years ago needing to be replaced. I was still in my late 40s at the time.
I like the ModCon with the cast iron radiators. I also installed ModCon with baseboard radiators and that also saved the homeowner in Avalon, NJ $$$ compared to the CI boiler that I removed. Of course the CI boiler on the floor got flooded on occasion and the ModCon was hung on the wall so high that I needed a step stool to work on it. but it never got flooded while I was working on it.
Re: Faucet brands
Just as an fyi. Most of the faucets I have been around are set up so you can use it single hole, or three hole. When going three hole, they come with a plate that just covers the additional holes. Might want to look at that.
Rick
Re: Well McClain GV90+4 Takes To Long To Heat Up Rooms
on GV boilers, there is a thermostatic mixing valve that can fail. When this happens it doesn't open to allow heated water into the supply. It is a means of protecting the boiler from thermal shock. Its located under the jacket. The fix is to open the top and remove the element. Weil-Mclain had a bulletin about this instructing the repairer to use a 1/2" copper cap to seal the bottom opening of the mixing valve. I never found this to be a good method. Leaving the thermostatic element out never (in my experience) caused any problems. Also, I don't believe the part is still available. On the attached parts list the mixing valve is shown on top of the block. Now, it is not an easy task to remove the plug. In the past. I've used large pipe wrenches with cheater pipes; usually a two man operation. The short cycling on and off is your strongest hint. The other possibility, as was mentioned, is your internal circulator has failed. That is an easier fix. This also occurs on some Burnham and Peerless boilers.
AJCimino
Re: drain baseboard heat
A second purge point at the boiler. Close the large ball valve, connect hose to yellow handled valve. This will purge the loops through the boiler also
Looks like the middle zone has been balanced with that thumb valve above the zone valve, so return it to that position if you purge there.
hot_rod
Re: How well is my heating working at lower water temps?
As was mentioned earlier, it is difficult to dial in the fan coils with modulating input boilers. Especiall;y with the outdoor reset feature. The fact that you have a boiler that will modulate supply water temperature based on the outdoor temperature should eliminate any on off cycling of the boiler once the outdoor temperature drops below the boiler’s turndown ratio minimum input requirement. As the outdoor temperature drops the boiler should increase in temperature to the fan coil that runs constantly. Best if there is an air handler with a variable speed fan to adjust the fan speed as the outdoor temperature changes. Thus it will have a fan that never stops (just changes speed) and a boiler input that constantly adjusts the water temperature to the fan coils based on the outdoor temperature.
Since there are no controls for that particular combination of equipment currently on the market for general use, You will probably never get the efficiency you might expect from a radiant floor system or cast iron radiator system. That said, the combi has resulted in lower fuel usage from the original “on/off” boiler system from years ago. I have a feeling that you are going to keep adjusting for some time, Until you have a real issue to resolve like a daughter getting married or a parent going to the nursing home. That usually takes focus away from heating systems. Even for the engineer types.
Re: How well is my heating working at lower water temps?
Quick heads up, the 15-20F design day temp you mentioned is incorrect. The 99% design day temp for Connecticut is 0F-2F
PC7060
Re: Transistor on taco zone valve head.
The Taco 570 series motor has a unique internal wiring design that causes the circuit from the transformer to the thermostat to the heater in the heat motor back to the transformer to open and close several times a minute during the call for heat. (look at short answer below)
This is because the wax in the hydraulic piston chamber that expands to open the valve and closes the end switch does not overheat and expand past the cylinder. There is a heat motor switch that opens to stop the heater so the wax stops expanding and starts to contract. When the piston closes slightly the switch closes and the heater is activated and the wax expands. This on/off/on/off action will sometimes cause an error message to be generated to smart thermostats that reads “loss of power”. On less sophisticated thermostats the same problem occurs (but no error message is available) and the thermostat just stops working after the first time the circuit opens (which is usually within the first 2 minutes of the call for heat). The fix for that problem is to use the resistor to complete the circuit between #1 and #2 terminal on the zone valve with a small enough amount of resistance to fool the thermostat to “see” a completed circuit. But not cause any problem with the zone valve operation.
Short answer: to solve a problem with some digital thermostats
Re: Cast Iron to Mod Con Boiler-Regrets??
KISS plain and simple ,long haul long life span any fool can fix just about cast iron .Mod con the best you will do is 10 to 15 years w yearly cleaning ,combustion anz and a tech or company who will be honest and be there a extreme good luck on that one .lol .
Be smart get your chimney lined and stick to a properly sized cast iron boiler .The more fancier you go the more every different contractor will tell you some else . If zoning use a multi either circ or zone valve to neat things up no one likes having to re check a bird nest of wiring on a simple no heat call only adds to the nonsense and increases the bill .
The only place a mod con makes any sense is on a system that is suited for it mid to low temp system meaning radiant or panel rads trying to do low temp w baseboard it's hog wash and would only be done in the usa that way again hog wash the rest of the planet uses panel rads plain and simple
Cast iron can operate for ion usually without much being done if you try that w a mod con it wont be service call it will be replacement ,
proceed carefully . peace and good luck clammy
clammy
Re: Identify this radiator valve
So there is a bypass in the valve so if the system is piped such that it needs the bypass there is not direct replacement. you would have to replace it with a valve with a lance and a bypass or take the plug out of the other end of the radiator and pipe the return to the other end and a bypass. you may not need the bypass if there are separate supply and return mains. Danfoss and a couple others make a valve with a lance to feed the radiator from one end.
by far your best option is to carefully rebuild the old valve.
mattmia2
Re: Identify this radiator valve
To do the same thing? I don't think there are any. That valve, however, is eminently repairable.
