Best Of
Re: Deviating from specification on head position.
On a fixed head like most Becketts, you pretty much can't do anything except that in some cases different size heads may be used with the same nozzle as the firing rate for the heads overlaps.
On a Carling most heads are adjustable. Start with the MFG recommended settings but do not be afraid to deviate if it doesn't work.
On a Carlin moving the head changes the static pressure the burner fan works against. Moving the head changes this pressure higher or lower and also changes the air flow through the burner and changes the flame retention.
In general, pulling the head back will give a more intense flame, maybe noisier, maybe a shorter flame. Moving the head foreword will make the flame less intense and quieter and maybe longer.
Re: Low water cutoff not working after cleaning pigtail
LWCO is a pretty important control to protect the boiler from failure due to low water. It needs to be 100% reliable as there is no other back up for a low water condition.
If it was me, I would remove the sight glass, sight glass valves and low water cutoff and put everything on the bench dissemble and clean it up.
If you called a heating contractor, they would probably replace it due to the liability of repairing an old control…..and they would not be wrong.
If you choose to clean it yourself that's up to you but also make sure the boiler sight glass tapping's are clean,
I for one do not agree with poking the float to get it to work or trying to poke the sludge out while it is on the boiler. If its not entirely clean it is libel to fail.
Either take it all apart and clean it right or replace it. JMHO
Re: Groundwater (possibly high) and adding thin radiant slab over existing uninsulated slab, below grade
Once you fix the basement air leaks and foundation insulation, the heat load drops low enough that the heated floors are not worth it. I'm in cold climate and I generally find that basement floor with something like LVL with a thicker pad is good enough.
If you still want floor heat, you can do partial heat in section with high traffic. There you can do one of the pipe track systems over a layer of rigid which will be thinner than any concrete overpour. For the rest, go with rigid on the slab with OSB over it.
This now gets you an overall warmer floor for much less money plus the heated areas will be extra toasty for that warm toes feel.
Kaos
Re: HVAC in New Construction in 2024
@Kaos said:
"Heat pump is currently the lowest cost option to do that, thus that is what builders will install."
I rest my case.
Re: Groundwater (possibly high) and adding thin radiant slab over existing uninsulated slab, below grade
Usually the biggest issue with raising the floor is stairs, you want all the risers to be the same height and all of a sudden the bottom step is a couple inches less than the others. You then need to either cut new stringers or split the extra height over the stairs and pad each one a variable amount.
Often, cold floors are caused by poor insulation and air sealing in the walls, cold air leaks in and settle down. Well-sealed spaces are much less stratified. That doesn't mean that insulation under the floor isn't important too, but if I'm experiencing cold toes I'd be checking the air sealing of the joist bays and the portion of the wall above ground. That will make the whole house more comfortable.
Re: Pick Up Factor- AGAIN
7 section is good for 758 sq feet rads are 772. Your within 3280 over on btus. It will be fine.
I wouldn't give it a second thought.
Re: Simple low-tech (and cost) in-line "residential" water meter?
There might be legal hurdles to using a meter for billing purposes.
ratio
Re: Am I blind? Not seeing the gas shut-off valve.
Shutting the gas off is not necessary to work on a circulator. In fact, it may cause the boiler to lock out on an error code. Just turn the boiler off.
Ironman
Re: Am I blind? Not seeing the gas shut-off valve.
They do have the dirt leg, you can see it in the pictures although it is largely a holdover from manufactured gas which sometimes had a lot of moisture in it. the valve is definitely required in the instructions as well as by most codes.
mattmia2
Re: HVAC in New Construction in 2024
Yes it is, that is total seasonal COP when the heat pump was running:
It also doesn't make sense that they would only look at non EVI units and none were big enough to handle 100% design load. Strange. It also makes the energy use higher as it relies on aux heat too much. Undersized also means a lot more time in defrost which further drops COP.
Please show me the calculation of $1000 hybrid fuel use savings. Short of firing a wood boiler on self harvested wood, I don't see that.
For me, since my operating costs have gone down since switching to heat pump, adding in a fuel burner would only add cost.
Kaos