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Re: Utilizing a Heat Pump Water Heater as a cold weather backup for an Air to Water Heat Pump
The HPWH takes heat from inside the building to warm hot water. So asking it to do space heating is basically asking it to be a perpetual motion machine.
Re: Steam heat vs others
Some of steams benefits.
The system isn't full of water and can easily be worked on / repaired without draining it or bleeding it.
No pumps.
No expansion tanks.
Very easy to drain to stop it from freezing.
Smaller radiation than hot water and smaller piping than gravity hot water, but that's really stretching it in modern times.
No, it's not necessarily "better heat" than any other form of heat but it's not worse either. For what it's worth, forced air heat doesn't dry the air any more than any other form of heat, drafty buildings do. Forced air's biggest issue is the constant hot / cold / hot / cold feeling as the system cycles.
As far as why are people afraid of it, I think it's just because they don't understand it and have no interest in learning it.
If you want to stick with steam and oil, and there's really no reason not to, find a contractor that will work with you. Get your self an appropriate sized Burnham Megasteam and have them install it exactly as shown in the manual for the boiler. If you have any questions, or need help sizing it there's plenty on this forum that will gladly help you.
ChrisJ
Re: Most reliable heating system for a home unattended for up to 3 months in winter.
Newsflash from today! We dropped in at one of the daily properties we monitor this morning. No hot water pressure. That's odd. Quick trip to basement. Water heater had sprung a nice leak… No big deal. Turn off the water feed, turn off the power. Nothing got soaked except the floor.
Let it go a week or two… would have been a lot worse.
So. What do you have monitoring the basement? Which fancy widget picks that sort of thing up?
Re: mpy04 air handler Humidifier
Aprilaire model 800 steam humidifier with the fan pack can be stand alone. It'll need electric, water, drainage, and some closet space. But considering the real estate, it shouldn't be a problem.
HVACNUT
Re: Snowman boiler help
I would stick a new modern burner in it if you want to keep it going for a while but re insulating and messing with the flue will be putting good money after bad. It does look in good shape but after 120 years it could lats ten years or quit tomorrow. I wouldn't door fire a burner that old.
Unless the asbestos is friable, cracked or broken leave it alone
Re: Help Choosing Propane Heater valve
There were some retrofit gas valve kits that added spark ignition, as wind, downdraft can some times cause standing pilot issues on ceiling unit heaters. Anything changed in the shop, exhaust system added that could pull a negative?
If it worked in the past, and the venting has not changed, it should be a solvable problem.
hot_rod
Re: Help Choosing Propane Heater valve
Hi, This sounds like an ignition problem which might be fixable with tweaks around the pilot assembly. I'd certainly start there.
Things I'd consider:
Cleaning burner assembly
Checking size of pilot
Checking pilot flame/ thermocouple contact
Checking thermocouple electrical connection and output
Checking placement of pilot flame re main burner
Checking thermocouple when main burner is running to see if overheated
No doubt there are other things, but this is a start. It wouldn't be much fun to replace the gas valve and still have the problem. 👹
Yours, Larry
Re: Help Choosing Propane Heater valve
All those mini explosions can't be good for an old heat exchanger. $2K is a good chunk of a brand new heater.
HVACNUT