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Re: Firomatic as outside shutoff?
I would put both a firomatic and a ball valve Use IPS valves threaded for pipe. You can put flare x pipe adapter in where you need them. Look for a ball valve marked "WOG" they are very common WOG is water, oil or gas. Put in the two threaded valve with a threaded nipple between them and flare adapters on the ends if you need to
Re: DEAD WRONG
I can only speak to the plumbing/heating side of things. I go into a lot of old houses. Most of the old stuff, was properly installed. Very rarely see the money business. There is a lot of monkey business/shortcuts in the newer work. More in the renovation end than in the new construction (although I do see it in the new construction as well, just not as common). I was in house today that had some renovations done. Gas dryer vent was venting into the new extension. Indoors. Washing machine drain did not have a trap. About 10 ft of flex gas line. Maybe a little more. No separate gas shut off for the dryer. Dishwasher piping was buried somewhere. Extension cords galore. This is just one example. See crazy stuff all the time. Almost never from the dead men. Obviously a small sample size. Just saying.
Re: DEAD WRONG
......... Just like now, years ago you had people that took pride in their work and did a good job. But at the same time you still had lazy people, you still had greedy people. Nothing has changed.....Back then, if you were that lazy you lost your job.
Re: DEAD WRONG
I'll take the smell of Horse Manure over Carbon Monoxide & Smog from Vehicles and trucks 🚚 any day.If you like the smell of horse poo, check out Michigan's Mackinac (pronounced MAK-ə-naw) Island. No cars or trucks allowed!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackinac_Island
Last time I was there, I sneezed the entire day. I suspect I was allergic to something in the horse's diet that went through their digestive tracks, and was then ground into a fine powder and atmospherically dispersed by hooves, bicycle tires, and touron's feet.
Green and sustainable, just like medieval Europe!
WMno57
1
Questions about heat pump water heaters?
The next Caleffi idronics, #33 does a deep dive on the topic of HPWH, pros and cons. It is in final edit, should be online in a week or so, hard copies in September.
This Thursday is the Coffee with Caleffi webinar on the topic also.
https://www.caleffi.com/usa/en-us/coffee-caleffitm-schedule
This Thursday is the Coffee with Caleffi webinar on the topic also.
https://www.caleffi.com/usa/en-us/coffee-caleffitm-schedule
hot_rod
3
Re: Sizing replacement boiler - how much over SQ FT estimate?
Unless you have tons of un-insulated pipes or mass quantities of risers running up exterior walls that aren't insulated just size to the sq. ft. rating. If you size to the sq. ft. rating, there is already a third extra boiler added in. 10 % for heating the piping and roughly 23% for coming out of a set back condition on the thermostat. Known as pick up factor.
Re: DEAD WRONG
Having just spent last weekend continuing to pipe up my new heating system for my home that I've designed to operate both as a modified minitube 2-pipe steam system, or a 2 pipe hot water system and getting the copper water lines in place, it is really clear how much easier copper piping is than threaded steel for install. 2 inch steel main with 1 1/4 to 1/2 inch branches stubbed out for the 3/8 soft copper connections gives your math and muscles both a work out. I do believe that quality work in the past required more effort than today. Our materials make it easier to do quality work, but the drive still needs to be there. I do especially believe, however, that the dead men engineers ( those prior to WW II) really knew thier fields much better than what is seen around today. Heating systems that provide exceptionally comfort and efficiency without use of any advanced electronic controls, etc. are the dead engineers legacy. The most top of mind examples for me are the large 5 story bare brick wall, single pane steel hopper windowed former manufacturing plant that Terry takes care of in Cleveland. Leaky R-1 windows, brick R-2 walls equipped with steam heating perimeter radiator system heated continuous for artist spaces that uses about the same energy per sq. foot for heating as our most efficient typical new homes. The old guys seemed to know something we haven't rediscoverd yet. The other is older Kewanee and Pacific boilers which, when reading their literature, specifically talk about the advantages of large radiant transfer surfaces in the firebox. We have taken these boilers and switched out a modern on/off gas power burner with a modulating gas radiant burner and see 30% reductions in fuel usage with similiar full fire combustion readings. Something is going on which the old engineers knew which we are missing today.
Re: Making hot water without a heat exchanger by routing combustion gas directly through water?
Have to admit that that the beauty of direct contact approaches lies in having no heat transfer problems in a heat exchanger, plus they are inherently condensing systems, so the efficiency can and indeed sould be very high. The two downsides is making sure you are getting good complete combustion --which has to be done before contact with the water -- and then the water quality which results which is likely to need tweaking.
Re: Making hot water without a heat exchanger by routing combustion gas directly through water?
There are direct fired water heaters out in the world😉One I saw had flame going down from water induced air flow. The was a heat exchanger down in the pan and directly heated water was recirculated. I forget how often recirculated water was changed. It was supposed to be super efficient at producing relatively low temperature (~100°) water.
https://www.maximizersystems.com/direct-fired-water-heaters
jumper
1
Re: Making hot water without a heat exchanger by routing combustion gas directly through water?
Hi, I seem to remember that PVI made modern day contact heaters with a 99% efficiency. It was not clear by looking on their site if they still make these contact heaters. They seem to make bigger, commercial equipment.
Yours, Larry
Yours, Larry
