Best Of
Re: Seeking Engineer for Off-Grid Religious Facility Heating in the Mountain States
The beauty of gravity hot water is the energy density of the heating medium, so in theory you could heat an entire 11,000 sf building with just one properly-sized boiler and distribution system consisting mainly of water pipes of reasonable size.
By contrast, air has much less energy density, so your distribution system needs much larger cross-sectional area vs. water pipes. Very large ducts, especially since you're relying on gravity, with no blower systems. So now your ductwork is taking up quite a large amount of your interior space.
To put it in numbers, you would need over 3000 cubic feet of air to carry the same number of BTU's as 1 cubic foot of water, assuming the same delta T. That is a massive difference that has major implications for the entire interior design of the building. Assuming the same flow rate in linear feet per second, that means an air duct would need to be over 25 feet by 25 feet square , or the size of a large living room, to carry the same number of BTU's as the water in one 6-inch pipe.
And the low energy density of air also means you have very little buffering effect. As soon as you stop heating the air, interior temperature falls quickly. Whereas the thermal mass of the water holds the heat and releases it slowly, so the stored energy in the water continues heating the building for hours after the boiler stops firing.
And then you add the compexity of having to manage the firing of multiple air heating units distributed throughout the building, vs having just one boiler to manage in the case of hot water heating.
jesmed1
Re: ProFlo Press Fittings & Ridgid Press Tool
zoom lock and RLS have been making refrigeration press fittings for over 10 years.
pecmsg
Re: New Steam Boiler Installed, Water Hammer, Prematurely Turns Off, Frustrated
I will keep an eye on it, if it happens again, could this be a bad pressuretrol?
Unfortunately, this is a common failure case, but I think your adjustment is a good fix. In summary, all pressuretrols are bad, even when they do work.
The boiler will definitely need more skimming with that new piping. You can see the oil above the water in the gauge glass. It is highly likely to surge, IMO. Sounds like you are watching it, nice.
You have done the near impossible, getting a company to repair their own piping. From what I can see it is looking good.
Re: Loud radiators - first “shoulder season” night
Don't worry about the pitch, it doesn't matter as long as it's reasonable level.
But since you hear gurgling, there is likely a "settling" that has occurred in your house that has changed the pitch of the pipe under the floor that supplies that radiator. You replaced the valves which rules out another cause which is the valve's seal plate thing rusting and dropping from the valve's vertical screw.
If you hear a radiator gurgling try raising the radiator (both sides) a small amount every few days, like 1/4"-1/2" and see if the behavior is affected. If you are lucky, you will correct the pitch enough to let the condensate drain out of that section of pipe.
As it seems like you know, the reason it does this in the shoulder seasons is the trapped pool of water has time to cool off enough that it causes the steam to collapse when they come into contact. When the water is warm/hot the steam can co-exist with the water.
You can use a two-by-four and a block of wood to make a lever and you can use 1/4" pieces of plywood or whatever under the legs.
Re: One pipe steam boiler pressure too high
Main vent sizing is dictated by the amount of air in the main and the steaming rate of your boiler. A boiler that takes ten minutes to produce steam for a main doesn't need that main vented in two minutes. A 40-foot 2" main can usually quite effectively be vented with one or two Gorton #1 vents.
A properly sized boiler will only turn off on pressure on the coldest "design day" days, hardly justifying the added expense of a Vaporstat. Here in New York that's perhaps once or twice a year.
Unless the entire system is evaluated, and each repair assessed and prioritized, throwing parts at it often wastes money that could be better spent correcting the worst deficiencies. Amateur assessments often default to the easy stuff and miss the true problems.
Re: Seeking Engineer for Off-Grid Religious Facility Heating in the Mountain States
Time for a mental reset.
Gravity hot water, once installed PROPERLY , is elegant.
It is ideal for a solid fuel heating system. The simpler am more old timey the better , including the open system design.
One of the elegant features is that because it is temperature difference that drives the system the coldest room draws the most water from the system until that room is warm, then the preference moves to the next coldest radiator.
Another elegant feature is that the large thermal mass in water and radiation makes for very slow and flat bounces in the temperature.
The only disadvantages come with sudden need for more heat and having to tend the fire.
Re: Experience I had with a boiler tech and what I learned along the way.
Adding the safty devices is a good idea.
mo8414
Re: New Steam Boiler Installed, Water Hammer, Prematurely Turns Off, Frustrated
this is 2 pipe
ideally there should be drips but I don't think just the condensate from the main and runnouts is going to cause a problem if everything else is working right
mattmia2
Re: ProFlo Press Fittings & Ridgid Press Tool
The only other thing to consider on Milwaukee vs Ridgid would be the batteries. I have Milwaukee tools so it was a no brainer having the one charger and batteries than work in multiple tools. Between the tools and pack outs I have done my part for the Milwaukee stockholders lol
