Best Of
Re: Is this normal for a brand new Lochinvar NCF150L
They probably connected the wrong pipes tell them to come fix it, nasty work with that foam too lol. That vent goes up pretty far ideally something would support it. Exhaust always goes above intake, or same level, never below
Re: Looking for advice on balancing the system in my house to to help with heat and clanging
The return is dry until it comes down to level with the water line and will warm up much more quickly as it is empty. Below the level of the water line the return line is full of water, and the hot condensate drips are diluted. By the time it gets near the Hartford loop it could be cooled off. Warm condensate is a trickle. The water filled return piping is gallons, therefore any temperature change in the return piping is very slow and gradual. Can not use temp. variation to diagnose a clogged return. Most steam water line issues are due to contaminated water. Skimming is often the answer.
Re: Burner technicians -what’s going on in this industry?
I agree with @GroundUp to an extent. There are plenty of losers in the union and out of the union. I ran a job with 8-10 pipe fitters and 4 sheet metal guys and one of the pipefitters feel asleep outside in the blazing sun. Probably had too much liquid lunch so I fired him on the spot. And he had just come back to work after being laid off for two years…….I wonder why!!!!!! And he complained no one would hire him!!! Guess riding the bench didn't teach him anything. And he complained that "black pipe is too hard" & "why wern't we using copper" It was a steam job!! We were an out of town contractor so the other local tried to stick us with him.
But you learn who the good ones are and there were a lot of them at least in my local. I learned a lot from them when I was young. Most of them did a good job and a decent days work.
Re: Return/Condensate pump questions
»someone installed it trying to fix some other problem«
over the years; well designed properly working go astray…..
pumps are sold by well meaning hungry folk.

Re: Lochinvar WB80 not lighting, many new parts already. SOLVED
Saturday update. Once again thank you to 109A_5 for your help and time on this problem! I have to admit to being confused by the schematic, it seems a lot of those paths are on the circuit board and I'm reluctant to fool with a $1000 board.
HOWEVER, I'm getting intermittent firing again. I believe this is either low voltage due to several factors, or just plain electrical wiring faults. I'm wary of trying to trace any voltage on the control board itself, but I did replace a wire to the DHW tank temp sensor that was so tightly bound to the pipes the heat had melted the casing. However the wire was still good when I checked it with meter. I also pulled a couple connectors off and cleaned with contact cleaner. But, when I hit reset it fired! Ran for about 10 minutes and died.
As it tried to re-ignite I started juggling wires, starting with the connector at the top left that seemed to help the other night:
While I was jiggling this connector it started to fire and I heard a clicking sound coming from this device on the side of the heat exchanger:
Boiler fired as long as I held that top connector with pressure to one side, died when I left off - so, bad connector! But can you please tell me what that device is on the side and why it's clicking? Should I pull it out and inspect? Could it be dirty?
Can it also be I'm chasing a bunch of old connections that are accumulating in low voltage? That 4 pin connector on top (it's either inlet or outlet temp sender) is part of the whole cabinet harness which sells for about $400 (if I can find one) so best bet is to try and find just the connector or jury rig a replacement.
I'm really hoping this is the culprit. We contacted Lochinvar for recommendation on a service provider up here and they referred us to AquaTech which is the outfit handling Lochinvar in Canada. Their rep put us in contact with a guy about 20 miles away, but when we talked to him it was obvious he really didn't know Lochinvars and admitted he was "just a plumber"! Went through all the same basic stuff we've already done. He did suggest we go ahead and try changing the "throttle" on the gas valve, giving it a bit less, or a bit more. Only (really) big problem is that adjustment screw is extremely difficult to get a screwdriver on. It's hidden on the backside of the gas valve, shrouded inside a tube, and the condensate trap blocks access to getting a tool on it. Argh. I can barely get a tool (1/4" drive on extension - no handle) on it. Not even sure if I've turned the screw and if so how much - it's gonna make things worse; I'm leaving it for the original service provider who installed the gas valve to try and adjust when he comes Monday (we contacted them to come do the combustion test when I thought I had the boiler working last Wendsday). Hopefully I can rig something for that 4 pin connector before he gets here.
Good grief, what a **** show.
Re: Replace B&G 100 or use Taco 007 monoflo
Now, of course we size it correctly. In the '90's, at 3:37 am Sunday, with a leaking bearing assembly (not a B&G 100. We carried parts for those.), a 007 always did just fine. There were other circulators that were taller flange to flange. We carried spacer blocks and longer bolts to pipe in a 007. I do not miss those days/nights at all. Using a hack saw to cut rusted bolts. 3 bolt flanges. No isolation valves anywhere. Close the feed and the expansion tank. Drop the pressure and pray you don't have to drain down the whole system and bleed EVERY radiator. Then pray the bleeders haven't been painted over 14 times.

Re: Installing Lynn 1032 "wet blanket"
May have been easier to get the proper chamber kit with the prefab rear target wall.
Re: Burner technicians -what’s going on in this industry?
Unfortunately this is what we've become as a society, after decades of "you have to go to college or you'll end up like him" rhetoric. These white collar "educators" don't understand that the majority of blue collar workers make a better living than they do, and still look down on them with disdain. My high school experience made me feel like I would end up under an overpass if I didn't get some sort of college degree and even after a 5 year union pipefitter apprenticeship, was still meant to feel like I was somehow ruining my life by being a lowly construction worker. It still happens today, if I'm being honest. I actually took a lot of pride in my work and learning what makes things tick, so I was a foreman as a 21 year old apprentice with guys triple my age working under me who still couldn't sweat a joint or cut a thread- those same guys refusing to take orders from "the stupid kid". I was the youngest guy on site by a decade for a long time before younger guys started coming in again, and honestly I felt like the younger guys coming in were better at their job than the older guys for the most part. Maybe it was the whole "old dogs and new tricks" thing, but there were countless retirement age guys who'd been pipefitter for 40+ years and barely knew which end of a wrench to grab and that still hasn't changed. I'm 36 now and run my own business, but am still met pretty regularly with the vibe that I couldn't possibly know what I'm doing because I'm just a dumb kid. Obviously we always have more learning to do but I think a large portion of tradespeople are too arrogant, lazy, or dumb to learn anything new and that's why we're seeing this incompetence. It may not always be the technician's fault, but their employers who send out a new hire who's never even seen an oil boiler before to a job where they're required to service an oil boiler. By themselves. A few weeks ago I was installing a boiler and the plumbers from a big name company showed up, both of them under 21, to connect a 4 port gas manifold to 4 runs of CSST hanging in the room. It took 2 guys 3 hours to do a job that I could do alone in 10 minutes, but it was apparent that nobody had ever taught either of them how to do what they were sent there to do. I tried to help at one point and the arrogant punk got snotty with me so I let them do it their way.

Re: What do you use and why?
I bet you wish that AAA still provided those flip book maps with all the turns highlighted in Red.
We traveled from Philadelphia to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (Before DisneyWorld was built) with one of those map flip books. I don't ever think that I-95 was completed yet, But I was only 8 years old at the time!
Re: Loop seals vs. F&T traps on 2 pipe mains
It will fill as soon as it runs. No need for a tee.