Best Of
Re: How to Install a Toilet? Step-by-Step Advice
@Long Beach Ed, time sure does fly. And now our kid is almost in high school.
Re: Do you trust the “pros” in your area?
I don't see the lack of government funding as diminishing the supply of qualified mechanics in the industry any more than I see the reduction in illegal immigration reducing the supply of qualified mechanics.
The private market and its finances dictates the supply and quality of a profession, not the government's supply of cash.
When disposable income, qualified contractors reap the rewards. When customers can't afford to eat, handymen get more work.
Re: How to Install a Toilet? Step-by-Step Advice
Thanks for asking @pjc_2! Andrew has been working behind the scenes at Heating Help since 2019. He and I started taking turns moderating the forum this year under the HeatingHelp.com username. He's also my husband of 18 years and we're continuing the family business tradition of Dan Holohan and The Lovely Marianne.
Re: Started smelling "sulfur-ey" odor in the house.
That's in my area. I promise you I can figure this out and resolve it for you in one service call, if you are still having problems PM me.
Re: Do you trust the “pros” in your area?
Hi, I'd like to add that self employment is an option. For the tech that knows their technical stuff, there will always be work. But to work for yourself, you'll want some financial know-how. Ellen Rohr's books, along with many others will give the understanding needed to actually make the business work. I prefer the stability and responsibility of self employment. I've been teaching financial literacy at a local high school. The education is sorely needed!
Yours, Larry
Re: Started smelling "sulfur-ey" odor in the house.
No changes have been made to the unit other than the ignition module, filters and nozzles, going back, ten years or so. I think I have some of those cheap "bore scope" cameras around, when I remove the stack pipe to clean, I can poke on up the chimney to see what I can see.
Something has changed from the last ten years of flawless operation to today. That change is recent and is the cause of your soot condition. It may not be related to your heater at all. I remember one customer that I installed a new mobil home furnace with a new Roof Jack. The Roof Jack is the mobil home version of a chimney thru the roof.
After 2 days I started to get a call from this customer about a peculiar tapping noise from the heater. It never happened when I was there, and I was there at least 6 times to try top solve the problem. We decided that he should look at the clock and record what time of day the noise happened. turns out that the noise happened about 6:05 AM on the day that the customer heard it the following day. The next day it happened at 6:08 AM. and this went on for one week with the time changing a few minutes later each day. Looking at the time of sunrise each day, it was clear to me that it had something to do with wildlife, and nothing top do with the heater.
So one morning I went to the home at that early hour and videotaped on my phone camera a woodpecker tapping at the brand new Roof Jack. When I showed the customer that I found the problem but I could not resolve the problem, he was satisfied that the problem was not related to anything I could fix.
I did suggest that he get a plastic Owl and perch it about 15 feet from the new exhaust vent and that solved the tapping noise. Woodpeckers don't like Owls
Another problem happened when a long time customer has new vinyl replacement windows installed in their home and the basement window that has a broken glass in it was replaces with a new window that was sealed tight. How could new windows cause the boiler to soot up? By cutting off the combustion air and converting that old leaky basement into a confined space.
There are many cases where something unrelated to the heater caused the heater to have a problem.
So you need to put on your thinking cap and go with Mr Peabody into the wayback machine and think about all the unrelated stuff you did to your home, and see if it can have a side effect that causes soot. Sometimes it is as simple as a tree growing over the chimney top that is causing an occasional down draft to start the first small sooting issue, and once the soot starts, over time… a second coating… then a third coating will end up become a self perpetuating blockage that will happen all of a sudden overnight. Today no problem perceived tomorrow a plugged boiler.
"BTU meter" results for WGO-5 boiler
After more fiddling around, I was able to get my new ultrasonic flow meter working to try to measure the BTU output of one of my Weil McLain WGO-5 boilers. It turns out I ordered the wrong size transducers, which only work on pipe sizes 2" and up, and I had wanted to measure the flow through the 1-1/4" copper supply pipe coming out of the boiler.
But because the 1-1/4" copper enventually transitions into three larger-diameter gravity conversion pipes, I was able to get the meter working on the three larger pipes. So by measuring the flow rates on the three larger pipes, I was able to get a total flow rate.
One interesting thing I found was that the flow rates were not steady through those three larger pipes. The flow tended to fluctuate slowly by +/- 10% or more in all three pipes, never settling down on a fixed rate. But by observing the rates for several minutes on each pipe, I was able to get a range and then take a center "average" flow rate for each. Adding those average together then gets a total average flow rate through the boiler, which turns out to be 10.1 gpm.
I also had temperature data loggers on the supply and return of the boiler, and took a 20-minute steady-state time average delta T, which turned out to be 20.2 degrees.
The combination of the flow meter and the temperature data loggers is, in effect, a BTU meter. Because of the flow fluctuations, these are not highly accurate numbers, but I think the results are ballpark reasonable.
So, multiplying through to get BTU's hour:
10.1 gpm x 20.2 F x 8.3 lb/gal x 60 min/hr = 102,000 BTU/hr (rounded up)
Then this is the measured boiler BTU output rate in the water supply. At a known oil input rate of 165,000 BTU/hr, that's a net output into water of 102,000/165,000 = 62 %.
So here's the breakdown of where the 165,000 BTU total input goes. 25% is lost in combustion (18% measured dry gas loss, plus 7% assumed latent heat of vapor loss. 62% goes into heating the water. The remaining 13% is absorbed by the boiler thermal mass as it heats up (I figure this is about 10%) and radiated as jacket loss into the basement (I figure this is about 3%).
I have a thermal post-purge set up to keep the circulator running until the water temp drops back to 90 degrees, so we should be getting some or most of that 10% absorbed by the boiler thermal mass back. Also, the basement is useful space (my shop plus laundry area) so I count the 3% jacket loss as useful heat.
So if we recover half of the 10% boiler BTU absorption in post-purge, that's 5% recovered, plus the 3% jacket loss which I count as useful heat for my shop. Adding those to the 62% measured BTU's leaving the boiler as hot water, that puts us right at 70% system efficiency.
Now, at @EdTheHeaterMan 's advice, I'm going to take this new information plus $4.50 to Starbucks and buy myself a cup of coffee. 😀
jesmed1
Re: When to NOT use sharkbite? A question
That's my complaint about the breaker . The mfgs have been shoving this stuff down our throat for years and it doesn't work.
I heard someone made a code proposal to have them taken out of the code…not likely that would ever pass.
The MFGs make big money on this stuff. Not properly tested. Its a joke.
Re: When to NOT use sharkbite? A question
LRCC...Bro...how did I get it done??? The A-1 Mini torch tip...Ive used tiny Butane model torches to keep flame very focused. Till this day, I've never used a Sharkbite for a repair...I've prefabbed pieces, used a brass compression fitting at times...never used the "bread trick" either. Have I blackened a few floor joists? Sure, I always get it done, Professionally and safe. Never used a Fernco Clamp either. I've never lit a house on fire either..never had an insurance claim through my businesses..
Priorities to me:
- Do the highest qaulity, Professional repair/installation possible. No half assing it or DIYer, Rube Goldberg gimmicks. Anyone can do mickey.mouse repairs...
- Making a profit.
Not the wisest businesses model, but it ain't about $$$ to me...I do.alright..and I get tremendous gratification out of holding to these extremely high standards I set for myself. Mad Dog
Re: Wrestit wrench
I see lots of great innovations in tools. "Hey, that looks like it would be great!," I say. But more often than not, I search for the maker and find the thing is made in China. Just more junk that's gonna break, hurt me, slip or bend and not gonna last.
Why don't some of these great idea people spend a couple of extra bucks making a quality tool that won't break, round out fittings or hurt a real mechanic who tries to use it? They might even sell some.
Most of these new ideas are just workers' comp claims if you give them to the men to use.