Best Of
Re: Raise HW tank onto strapping?
Hot water tanks these days are insulated pretty well. I recently went on vacation for two weeks and as I always do I kill the breaker on out 50 gallon EHW htr and shut off the main water supply.
When we came home I turned on the water and the circuit breaker and put my dirty clothes in the washer on cold water only.
Within 5 min the electronic control on the water heater was up to 120 operating set point so it obviously did not lose much temp in two weeks.
I agree if the basement floor is damp or wet I would raise the heater a few inches and put a plastic sheet between the supports and the tank. Whatever you use wood or cinder blocks will wick water up from the damp floor.
Re: LGB-8 boiler w/ new sections failed hydrostatic test at old section seals and 6" plug!
It's probably best to replace all those rubber section seals.
I'd want to know why the boiler started leaking that soon. Is the system losing a lot of water?
Re: Raise HW tank onto strapping?
Best to go with manufacturers instructions for placement on a floor. Wouldn't hurt at all to raise it on solid 4 inch blocks though.
Re: Rate my work!
C+ for sloppy floor/workspace condition you loose 2 points from a B+ to a C+.
Re: Heat pump heat/ac saving $
Spend some time finding and sealing air leaks
See if your local utility offers an energy audit
An infrared scan and blower door test could show you where heat is escaping
The best way yo lower energy cost is to use it more efficiently. Or use less
hot_rod
Re: Open deck heater
Hi, If you have a restaurant supply nearby , they may have what you need also. 🙂
Yours, Larry
Re: Am I missing something here?
You have steam. Steam heat is not based on the square footage of the house or the insulation in the walls. Those have nothing to do with it.
Now I notice that all of a sudden I see a new figure for the installed radiation: 300 square feet. There is no "pickup factor" in measuring the EDR of the installed radiation. So what is the actual installed radiation? 300 square feet? 400 square feet? What is it?
The "pickup factor" also includes an allowance for the piping — that is not added in to anything, unless it is very unusual. If the piping is insulated, a smaller factor can be used (and probably should be). The pickup factor, however, is included in the boiler rating for square feet of steam. This is why you can sometimes use a boiler with a lower rating in a system, if the system is well insulated and simple — and why it is almost never necessary to use a boiler with a larger nameplate rating than the measured, real, EDR of the radiation being powered.
Re: Flushing steam boiler frequency
As for flushing or wanding the boiler out to remove mud that is usually not included in any oil burner service unless specified by the company doing the maintenance and usually this will increase the price of the service . I would say from my experience is that if your new to the home and really have no prior knowledge of the maintenance that has been performed to the system i would suggest that a water side cleaning of the boilers water passages and a flushing of wet returns if your system has wet returns . As some say this really is not necessary i see it as if you do not know if it been done then you should inquire. Not every company provides this or even have a clue as to why it might be necessary . As for yearly service removal of sight glass assembly including the valves not just the glass,removal and cleaning and or replacement of lwco probe ,removal and inspection of safety valve piping to ensure that the inlet piping is not blocked (common on steam boilers not maintained properly )Flushing of the boiler block and wet returns . Removal and clean of pressuretrol pigtail and connecting piping to the boiler , the addition of a low pressure gauge 0-3 psi should be installed aside from the 0-15 gauge that is code required . This gauge will let you know if the pressuretrol is set correctly and working properly . Pressuretrol should be tested to ensure it set correctly and operating as required
After that the low water cut off should be tested to ensure that the burner shuts off when the burner is operating. Of course if you do have the boilers water side cleaned make sure the boiler is fired after wards till its steaming to help drive out the dissolved oxygen in the fresh water help reduce fresh o2 from eating the cast iron to some degree .
Again some will say not to wash the boiler out but i have seen drastic results of removing mud in steam boilers in which by doing so has improved the quality of the steam the boiler produces and cut the time steam reaches the end of the mains due to it being dryer and being produced by clean water not producing steam by boiling mud laden water in the boiler . A clean boiler not loaded w mud certainly will increase performance and lower run times which reduces fuel use ,these are things most companies selling fuel don't concern them self w beng they make profit from the more fuel sold and used .
As a side note i would about 90 % if not more of the steam boilers in residential homes suffer from poor near boiler piping and zero proper piping to permit washing and wanding out of the bottom of the boiler or flushing of wet returns .There's more money to make replacing it every 12 to 15 years . Buy some of dans books and learn so your not a sheep and have some power, its called knowledge so u can sniff out the bull when it being served steaming hot as is usually the case .
peace and good luck clammy
clammy
Re: Vaporstat shelf life?
I believe that don't really have a shelf life. There is a chamber in them that will open and close the switch contacts at that set pressure (the pressure you select). As long as the seal on the chamber is intact, it should last forever. Where your old one failed was from use over time and perhaps the chamber ended up with a pin hole leak. Is your system short cycling? like opening and closing more that 5 times per hour?