Best Of
Re: Most reliable heating system for a home unattended for up to 3 months in winter.
You can get ones that don't require any power, very common for off grid folks. There are also plenty of propane fireplaces that will run off a couple of AA batteries.
Kaos
Re: Most reliable heating system for a home unattended for up to 3 months in winter.
A wall furnace that operates on LP Gas that has a 750 MV Pilot generator needs no electrical connection. Cozy Wall Furnace This model is one of that type of furnace. Set the thermostat to 50° and set the oil fired boiler to to 55°. If the oil burner ever fails to light, the Cozy will take over. They have several models that can be installed in several different configurations.
Re: Most reliable heating system for a home unattended for up to 3 months in winter.
Pretty much what @EdTheHeaterMan said… with an addition. There are other things which can go amiss with an unattended house in the winter. Such as damage to a window. A prolonged power outage (your fancy thermostat won't tell you about that). And so on. I highly recommend hiring someone reliable and local — NOTE HIRING someone — who is tasked with — and paid for — going by the place at a mutually agreed interval (perhaps not daily, but at least weekly and after any major storm) and check on it. They would have a key — and not just drive by, but actually go in and poke around…
Re: Most reliable heating system for a home unattended for up to 3 months in winter.
You could also install a couple wall furnaces or console heaters or even a floor furnace with millivolt systems that is big enough to keep the place above freezing if the boiler fails.
Re: Steam Boiler Gauge Always Not Working
what kind of gauge is it? a 0-30 psig gauge won't typically register the minute pressure of a properly sized boiler.
Re: Most reliable heating system for a home unattended for up to 3 months in winter.
what needs to be reset? most of the controls that lock out try a couple times before locking out, if they get to the point that they lock out, something isn't right.
Re: Antique steam heat boiler/radiators
Steam boilers get sized to the total size of radiation plus a pickup factor of the piping. You need someone who knows what they are doing when installing a steam boiler. The fact that he said he wouldn't know what size boiler to put in is a huge red flag on there capability to do the job.
Re: Primary secondary secondary
Not really. I have done this with as little as 5 feet of 1" copper. 2 ft out 1 ft for the U-turn and 2 foot back The closely spaced tees were installed on one of the 2 ft sides.
You will have 2 sets of closely spaced tees and will probably use the higher temperature zone take off first. The lower temperature radiant heat will be the second take off. Just use enough pipe so you have enough room to get to all the parts that need service. It's not a contest to see how little pipe you can use.
The pump needs to be able to move the proper GPM thru the short piping systen and the pressure drop of the boiler. If you are moving less that 19 GPM a Taco 007 should work unless the boiler requires a higher head.
Re: Triangle Tube Ceasing Operations
i think it would be a liability that has to be covered in the bankruptcy case.
Re: Static Plate confusion (firing down Utica SFH3100).
I not sure I understand why you say a trace is unacceptable. I cut the air back until I get at least a 1 Smoke, then I increase air to get down to a trace which to me is barely perceptible. Then I knock the CO2 percent off and then retest smoke and confirm its Zero. As I have read in many instructions.

