Best Of
On a Happy Note
I received this message this morning from someone who got help from this site:
mustela12:27AMit’s 20°f. It’s 10pm. I spent the day at the hospital 2 hrs away w my 85 yr old mom in the ER. I get home and it’s 50° inside and dropping.I try a couple things w the boiler that worked the last time. Nuthin. Called two different 24 hr service companies. No one returns my call. I google some more.I find a brief message you posted in Nov ‘23 in response to a guy having problem similar to mine. Check the condensate trap for blockage.I don’t even know how or why this would affect the pressure switch (and I found the manual pdf so I have a lot of reading to do!) but IT WORKED.Thank you thank you thank you!!!
Two hrs later no one’s returned my calls (yeah I bet it’s that kind of night) but that’s OK cuz we’re good!Did I say Thank You?
Ironman
Re: Hoffman 75 failing?
Hello delcrossv,
Here are the pictures. Basically an experiment, so far so good. The dime was just for size reference, it was not left inside. I never took a picture of the improperly seated 'O' ring, but that was why I took it apart in the first place.
109A_5
Re: Ice cold fuel - like bad as I’ve ever seen - pics attached
I will make a bet that you have less than 1/3 tank of fuel.
What you are observing is the fuel making the round trip and getting warmer each time it does that. The warmer fuel warms the line and you are observing condensation (in the form of frost) on the exterior of the line.
It's not the extreme cold you are observing………..it's simply an uninsulated two pipe system. I happen to like the two pipe system in the cold. Less need to treat the fuel. More velocity to prevent gelling. Of course, you can get additional benefit by insulating the lines.
Going to one pipe and a tiger loop is a waste of money. It may perform worse than the setup you have now. Just spend a few pennies on insulation.
LRCCBJ
Ice cold fuel - like bad as I’ve ever seen - pics attached
so, some of you may have seen other posts where I have dealt with cold fuel oil in several diff creative ways. Depending on the circumstance. This one really takes the cake. Why they went with two pipe is beyond me - tank is above ground, about 10’ away, outdoors. Two pipe is def not needed. But man to me this is Awsome 😂😂😂
I mean HECK yea - other great news is guys they been having service it says “you never work on them or tune them when it’s winter and risk it going down cause you touched it and it’s 20 below zero out” so he comes mid summer and tunes and sets it up, so that’s great let’s tune it when the fuel is 70 degrees hitting the nozzle and air intake / more humid / etc… then surely it’ll run fine when the fuel hits it at -25 or -30 and the air is so dry face shrivels in 10 minutes outdoors etc - lol
Heck yea - I love this plan - I mean I never seen a line that cold and I’ve seen some cold ones, I’ve seen them frosted for some distance but never the entire filter looking like it’s a fake made of snow one. 😂😂😳😳😳😳
tiger loop here we come, with 1 gallon inline resivor for additional pre-heated fuel. Great old unit though.
gator
Re: Help over filled boiler
Steam systems are very forgiving, because they are so simple. It's just a pot of water with some pipes coming out of it after all 😃 Glad it worked out!
Re: F&T trap or/on Hartford Loop
you know what’s really funny? Is that joker left his name and phone number on the boiler hahah!
we repiped it.
went with some 50” 3” risers x 2, left the existing header, got rid of the F&T on the equalizer, got rid of the boiler feed pump, got rid of some random F&T under the water line , and replaced all the wet return we could with copper.
Funny story, the helper on the job and the other plumber (I’m not a plumber but had a plumber helping me tighten pipe) were removing the F&T and the helper dropped the trap because the thing weighs a ton and he was the only one holding it. When he dropped the trap, it took out every single control on the side of the boiler and snapped the nipples off at the block. So they spent a few minutes extracting all of the nipples and my boss had to eat some control replacement (manual reset LWCO and pressuretrol)
but the customer is happy, it’s cold here in Denver lately and the thing purrs along with no more banging. It was banging to the point he would shut it off because he thought it would explode.
Re: Underperforming system in cold temps
Fellas, as of right now it appears that the problem is solved. I’m embarrassed about it - I knew the filters would get partially blocked, but I never suspected it was the main issue based on having the same problem so quickly after cleaning the filters. Maybe the filters themselves are too restrictive…
That being said, since the system was installed I’ve never seen temps over 100 at the manifold with .6gpm being allowed to flow through every loop.
With a partially clogged filter I was getting hot temps at the manifold, but it seems apparent that I wasn’t getting enough volume of hot water through the filters for the pump to push through each loop. This explains why when I manually adjusted the valve to allow more cold return water to the pump, I’d see much improved flow at the manifold.
Hopefully this water isn’t so bad that it will damage the components. I think I’ll hope that it will be okay for awhile until I have time to flush, clean it out with a hydronic cleaner, fill with clean water (not from the well) and add Fernox F1.
If any of you are ever driving through northern Illinois north of Rockford along the Wisconsin border, drinks are on me. Thank you all for your help this forum is a great resource.
-Dan
Sukhoi29SU @ gmail
Re: Oil tank safety valve
New plastic lined double wall galvanized tanks (Roth, Granby’s better models) don’t have a shorter lifespan. The only ones that do are the cheap import single wall steel ones.
Waher
Re: 2 risers compared to 1 on steam boiler?
Decades ago when I first discovered Dans books I remember seeing a picture like this and or other similar pics. The discussions with this type of picture mentioned that the two upper steam chambers helped to allow for the driest steam possible. See the two upper steam chambers.
With the shrinking of the modern day steam boiler, a near boiler piping set of directions evolved to help with providing the driest steam in a modern steam boiler possible. Look at the original post Fig.44, two pipe risers. The two pipe example, and it is an example, is considered a drier near boiler steam piping arrangement by many. And is considered by many to be the better install.
When I supervised a large crew and they started to second guess themselves, I reminded them that at the end of the day all you have is your reputation. Do the best job that you can and your good reputation will follow.
And when I replace an old steamer with a new one, I remind myself of my own quote and I remember this picture.
Intplm.