Best Of
Re: What I think
Shady companies wouldn't be able to make it if consumers didn't buy what they were selling.
Thinking just isn't very popular right now.
ratio
Re: What I think
I've been a repairing /diagnostic tech for decades regardless of who I worked for. The modern company modus operendi puts a proper tech continuously in the conflict between good ethics and the maximum profit seeking of the company. Technical and diagnostic skills are valued well bellow a predatory company loyalty. Many companies are little more than wealth extraction rackets in service costumes. The managers are Fagin like and the top techs Art-full Dodgers in one form or another. I found myself forced into a 50% warranty role, cleaning up the repeated messes created by our own operations with no means of correcting the root causes of the problems.
I used to be more sure that I could run profitable company on a foundation of excellent diagnostic skills and honesty. Customers are more and more unfamiliar with the repair ethic and sometime react suspiciously to it. What's this guys angle, they ask themselves. They are somewhat convinced the flashy spoils of exploitation are real signs of excellence. Like the jewelry of the con man. The sad truth is, replacement, if done well, is often a better option for the customer than dealing with the poor results and multiple invoices of crap techs. Lowered customer expectations and the normalization of ill feeds the cycle to lower places. The more people move around the less value a good reputation has. I wounder how long before the venture capital firms just own their own techs to service their ownership of the bulk of the housing market.
Teemok
What I think
Seems like in a lot of posts recently I notice a common theme or maybe it's just me.
Customer calls for service and the "Tech" shows up. I use that term loosely.
He looks at the boiler/furnace/air conditioner/heat pump/water heater and says:
"You need a new one"
and then leaves the job
It's no wonder that homeowners hate contractors. Can't blame them
EBEBRATT-Ed
Re: CH System Overhaul with Cast Iron to PEX Conversion
I believe Taco makes a ODR mixing valve! You set the ODR from the boiler to operate the high temperature zone and you set the Taco mixing valve ODR for the low temperature zone. Basically you’re resetting the low temperature zone off of the already reset high temperature zone.
Re: CH System Overhaul with Cast Iron to PEX Conversion
A mod con is probably a better boiler for that system, you can run odr on it set for the ci radiators then mix it down for the other loads but the mass of the system is likely something you'd need some protection from low return water temps on a ci boiler. Might want to use a control to do the low temp zones that can do odr too.
Do you really need 170 to the CI ever? It is possible you might but is likely you don't.
mattmia2
Re: Noise complaint: can I lower the pressure on my system?
Just from your boiler size I can be pretty sure that vent would be well undersized. To properly know what you need you would need to get an estimate of the total length of your main and its nominal pipe size(s).
Re: Am I being dense?
What’s on the other side of that creepy looking door? Is that where you hide all the trolls?
No you can’t. Water will take the path of least resistance and run in the pump outlet up to the purge valve. A centrifugal pump is unlike a positive displacement pump. There is a path for the water to travel backwards through the pump. Closing those valves above the purge valves will prevent water from going from the feed that enters the system just under the circulator pumps from going the long way around thru the radiators and purging the loops.
The only thing those valves are good for is for swapping out a bad calculator pump. The flo-check on the supply and that valve on the return will keep the water in the radiators when you drain the boiler to replace anything between the flo-check and the return. Boiler gauge, relief valve, circulator pumps, and the like can all be serviced with the water in the radiators staying put. Not a fan of that design. Looks more like a mistake than an intentional design.
Re: How to increase my delta T
you can operate your boiler at 210° safely. When you start to get above 215° there is the possibility of flashing to steam whenever the pressure in the boiler drops to zero on the gauge. Personally, I would use 200° as a maximum for undersized radiators. But that’s just me.
That way, if the control is off by 10°, then you’re not really getting any higher than 210°. And if there is a temperature overrun once it reaches the high limit, you still have a pretty good cushion because water at 12 PSI will not boil until it above 240°F
Re: Mod Con Boilers Ranking
When i was starting my training, some one asked the instructor what the best furnace was to install. His response i still use to this day. They are all crap, some crap is a little better than others but still crap that breaks. After 15years in the trade, parts availability is key, they all break. Also watch for established companies (looking at you lennox) that "obsolete" parts after so many years. Also, consider external controls better than all in one. Easy to source and change a pump or valve when its not part of the unit. Not so much when "we dont make that part or unit any more". Just my thoughts on 15years of hvacr.
