Best Of
Re: Need to replace corroded supply to radiator
Yep. That would be a excellent place to put the valve as long as its between the tank and both pickups from the supplies. A good quality full port ball valve would be fine. The valve would be normally open during operation and only closed to drain the tank.
This one:
Make sure you have a wrench on the fitting and the pipe with a helper so as to not put torque on the ell going into the tank. Some penetraiting oil on the threads would help too. Id leave the long length toward the tank alone and make the changes on the short side.
Seems whoever did the system originally as a gravity system wanted to connect to the tank at the point of highest water temperature to try to direct air coming out of solution into the tank. Pretty smart.
Do it in threaded black pipe with a new union. Buy domestic (Ward or Anvil) for the union, you'll be glad you did.
Re: I heard a drip. . . EK System 2000
I would not worry sbout the expansion tank mounting. Amtrol and Zilmet show horizontal as acceptable, vertical as preferred
You might csp the two vslves, see if that stoos the water. Jeep as n eye on the pressure gauge, it may go up when you cap off the valves
Next close off the fill valve to prevent water from entering and raising the pressure
I wonder if a failed plate HX would cause a pressure increase?
hot_rod
Re: I heard a drip. . . EK System 2000
@Juggatweet , you’re in good hands with @SuperTech and @mattmia2 - great analysis and comments for both the quick fix and longer term corrective actions. During service, also check the pH and consider adding 8 Way or a comparable boiler additive which may help if the current boiler water chemistry contributed to the leaking boiler drains.
Roger
Roger
Re: I heard a drip. . . EK System 2000
Leaking boiler drain valves? As a band aid you can get some brass caps from your local hardware store or big box store and screw them on. Have your service provider replace them next time you have the annual maintenance performed.
I would also change how the gray expansion tank is installed. Sidewards tanks are more prone to failure. As someone who works on dozens of EK boilers I have to say that the way that one is installed is quite unusual.
Re: Cleaning/Descaling Indirect Water Heater-Or is it too rusty?
Any time water sits in a steel or stainless steel tank for a long time undisturbed there is going to be some corrosion ("rusting"). Can't help it. This is what, I expect, you are seeing. Due to natural convection in the tank the colouration will spread through the entire volume of water. Can't help that, either.
Now… how to get rid of it. Well, multiple drain and fill cycles will certainly help to reduce the problem. However, if you have access, a pressure washer with a nozzle set at right angles, slowly rotated around the entire wall of the tank (with the tank empty) and even more slowly lowered to the bottom will speed up the cleaning. A lot…
Re: Difficulty in Properly Sizing Equipment - 2140 Sq Ft New Construction Spray Foam House
I apologize in advance for contributing to a fully hijacked thread…
There's real joy in a quiet, warm home, with nearly endless hot water and affordable energy bills in cold climates. There are different ways to achieve these results and cold climates present unique challenges. Hybrid solutions are exceptional for the state of today's technology as there are not many passive houses out there.
In the meta analysis I cited earlier in this thread, there are a few important points to help clarify comparisons between technologies.
- Cold climate heat pump utilization: "Some home homeowners indeed used their heat pumps dutifully even during the coldest days of winter, but most dropped out at some point as the weather got colder, or never even turned on the systems at all for heating purposes." … "The data curves for the three field studies show that actual electricity consumption was only a small fraction of what would be expected with full heat pump utilization. Note that the actual electrical demand curves are relatively flat below 30 deg F. This indicates very low heat pump utilization below 30°F. Since heat pump power demand increases dramatically as the outdoor temperature drops further, due to increasing heat load plus decreasing heat pump COP, this means further that the homeowner percentage drop-out rate is increasing as the temperature drops."
- The field achieved COP of heat pumps is 2.0 to 2.5 near freezing (30°F); this actual field performance is substantially below manufacturer ratings which have been referenced elsewhere in this thread.
- EVI heat pump output is published to be between 73°F and 91°F for this top performing 26.3 SEER model (see p. 230). This is running at high speed with leaving air velocity of 8.9 ft/sec, so it may not feel cozy and it may not be perceived as quiet. Possibly this and item 2 contributes to item 1; the studies confirm the high rate of homeowner heat pump drop out in cold weather, but they do not positively identify the root cause.
- The most common heat pump refrigerant today, R-410A, will be prohibited on January 1, 2025. A2L (slightly flammable) replacements like R-32 and R-454B (70% R-32) are not currently code compliant unless a state law exempting them has been passed, but they do have the advantage of lower GWP than R-410A.
These issues need to be resolved to greatly increase broad voluntary homeowner use of cold climate heat pumps during freezing temperatures.
Roger
Re: Weil McClain Natural Gas Hot Water Boiler
The most important thing is figuring out why it sooted up. They can do the best cleaning possible and it will be a waste of time if the boiler soots up again. Combustion air supply needs to be checked, the chimney/venting checked, gas pressures checked and a full combustion analysis performed. Hopefully you can find a tech who is trained in combustion analysis and equipped with a digital combustion analyzer.
Re: pro press on baseboard
it is too thin to press to without the reinforcement. you could also solder a fitting to it then press to that. probably could even solder on a npt adapter and screw a press fitting on to it.
mattmia2