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Re: I have great news..........
Congratulation!!! @mike19dc
cheers to a long prosperous career!!
cheers to a long prosperous career!!

2
Re: High Efficiency Boilers for Fan Coils?
Do some more number crunching on the coil outputs and required temperature does the boiler output match the fan coil required output?
Even if not in condensing mode all the time, the condensing boiler can run safely with lower temperature than that hair pin boiler
But the bigger win is the modulation, Id look at two boilers, maybe two 180k that would give you a 20-1 turndown
Plus the redundancy of having two boilers
Even if not in condensing mode all the time, the condensing boiler can run safely with lower temperature than that hair pin boiler
But the bigger win is the modulation, Id look at two boilers, maybe two 180k that would give you a 20-1 turndown
Plus the redundancy of having two boilers

1
Re: High Efficiency Boilers for Fan Coils?
It’s 100% possible to condense with fan coils. You might use a larger delta T than you typically do, or may consider slowing the fan speed or switch to fan coils specially designed for lower temps. Or some combination.
Re: High Efficiency Boilers for Fan Coils?
Standard practice in fan coil design when that building was constructed was to use a supply water temperature of 180° F. and a return temperature of 160° F. Typically with fancoils this cannot be reduced very much even on mild days, because occupants are likely to complain of cold drafts.
Although high-efficiency boilers will work, they will not condense much if at all, so they will operate more in the range of 85% efficiency than the 90+ percent advertised. They also have a shorter lifespan than a conventional 80% efficient boiler, need more frequent maintenance and generally use expensive proprietary parts.
Bottom line: standard efficiency boilers will almost certainly have lower lifecycle costs. They will also last longer and be easier to maintain and repair. You can still use several boilers to make up the necessary capacity. They have to be piped carefully, primary/secondary is probably the best way.
Although high-efficiency boilers will work, they will not condense much if at all, so they will operate more in the range of 85% efficiency than the 90+ percent advertised. They also have a shorter lifespan than a conventional 80% efficient boiler, need more frequent maintenance and generally use expensive proprietary parts.
Bottom line: standard efficiency boilers will almost certainly have lower lifecycle costs. They will also last longer and be easier to maintain and repair. You can still use several boilers to make up the necessary capacity. They have to be piped carefully, primary/secondary is probably the best way.

1
Re: High Efficiency Boilers for Fan Coils?
It's really the typical and very basic questions. How much power must the fan coils put out? And what temperature do they need to run at to achieve that power output? The first question involves doing a heat loss calculation on the space each fan coil serves, and then finding the specifications for that coil (some of the guys here can probably help) to determine what water temperature is needed.
Once you have the water temperature and to9tal power output you need, you can select the boilers. The temperature is the key question on whether you can go to high efficiency boilers, which only achieve those efficiencies at lower return water temperatures.
Once you have the water temperature and to9tal power output you need, you can select the boilers. The temperature is the key question on whether you can go to high efficiency boilers, which only achieve those efficiencies at lower return water temperatures.
Re: I have great news..........
Thank you Mag dog, thank you for all your help and insight Time to celebrate this weekend. But then it’s time for business. 🔧👍

7
I have great news..........
Congratulations Michael Carilli...The Town of Babylon's (Suffolk Co. Long Island 🏝) newly minted Licensed Master Plumber!!!!! Michael is a Third Generation LMP AND......he's only 27 years old...(Beat me by 3 years!!).
He studied VERY hard and rocked the very difficult written & practical exam. What needs to be noted, is that in the last 30 years, Plumber's applying for and attaining a Master License has fallen off drastically because of Plumbers "signing off" and "covering" them. This is not a common occurrence...He deserves 👏 praise. Great job Kiddo...You did it!!! Mad Dog 🐕
He studied VERY hard and rocked the very difficult written & practical exam. What needs to be noted, is that in the last 30 years, Plumber's applying for and attaining a Master License has fallen off drastically because of Plumbers "signing off" and "covering" them. This is not a common occurrence...He deserves 👏 praise. Great job Kiddo...You did it!!! Mad Dog 🐕

13
Re: Radarondack Chair
I would be impressed
if you could plumb it into a radiant loop, nice warm seat for the winter, plus it adds to the rooms btu's...
if you could plumb it into a radiant loop, nice warm seat for the winter, plus it adds to the rooms btu's...
Re: Short cycling steam boiler with water level that rises ~3 inches during heating cycle
All thank you. I did skim the boiler for 2 hours this evening and this reduced the problem by 80% (I will skim again tomorrow evening). As of now the boiler is no longer short cycling. Thank you.

1
In Praise of Airtrol
I recently did some re-piping and properly hooked up both the B&G Inline Air Separator and the ATF-12 Airtrol fitting to my 24g compression tank.
Prior to this I only had the IAS installed and was constantly getting air in the high point of the system (radiators on the third floor). I had meant to install an ATF-12 but gave the one I had purchased to my father-in-law for his boiler.
Since the install and an initial bleed, there has been no air whatsoever in the third floor radiators.
So I am a very satisfied customer right now.
I do have a few comments on this situation:
Prior to this I only had the IAS installed and was constantly getting air in the high point of the system (radiators on the third floor). I had meant to install an ATF-12 but gave the one I had purchased to my father-in-law for his boiler.
Since the install and an initial bleed, there has been no air whatsoever in the third floor radiators.
So I am a very satisfied customer right now.
I do have a few comments on this situation:
- Somewhere I read that there is an requirement of 18" of straight pipe leading to the IAS. But I cannot find this anywhere in the B&G documentation. I could only manage 13" and that seems to be working well enough.
- Another thing that is very hard to find is an explanation of how this setup works to prevent air in the system. The only explanation I could find is on page 26 of this Technical Manual. This manual does contain a lot of useful technical information. I also know that DanH talked about this vaguely in one of his books.
- In general I find the B&G information scattered through different documents, you have to piece it all together.
- The install and maintenance instructions are wanting in my opinion. I use the Airtrol fitting to verify that I have the right amount of water in the tank. I added a fitting on the compression tank drain so that I can quickly charge the system with the desired air pressure - bringing it up to pressure using the fill valve is a laborious and time-consuming activity.
- If you want some light reading material to put you to sleep, read the original patent (attached). I couldn't really make out the principle of operation from the patent either.