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Re: Oil burner turns on for less than a second
If this is a hot water system, the aquastat is still functional (as you have found out) — it controls how hot the hot water heat water is.
On that smushed wire. It may look fine, but if it were mine I'd replace it…
Re: Mod-Con Combis with full documentation and controls for DIY
Combis are usually the worst option. They need to be drastically oversized for the space heating load in order to make hot water on demand. This leads to increased cycling and higher costs of maintenance and repair. I would never recommend installing one especially if you have room for an indirect.
The brand of the boiler doesn't matter as much as the quality of the installation. Who is doing the job is more important than what brand is being installed, however I would recommend staying away from Navien.
Re: Cold bathroom, replace small radiator?
Lets just say that the radiator is working properly and the vent is working properly (and there is no more odor from that vent LOL) That would make it to be putting out all the heat that it possibly can. Now lets look at the location in the room. when that system was originally installed, I'll bet that the room did not look like that. I'm guessing that the original tub had claw legs and there was no wall between the tub and the radiator. Finally that washing machine wn not in that bathroom when that radiator heated that room so many years ago.
Now you have a couple of walls from floor to ceiling and a machine that goes almost up to the ceiling that is cutting down on the movement of convection air currents in that room. So I will ask this: Is the room around the radiator any hotter than the room away from the radiator?
Just an idea!
Re: Cold bathroom, replace small radiator?
The output of that radiator would give you 57 btu's per sq ft. I don't think the size is the issue, I think it's the venting. I don't live there, so there is some speculation.
Does the radiator get fully hot on the coldest days? If it does not, then venting is what you should be looking at.
Assuming it doesn't heat all the way on the coldest day. If you replace with a larger radiator and keep the same vent, it will heat at virtually the same rate as it currently does, in other words no more heat. If you leave that radiator and put a bigger vent, you will get more heat, but that assumes all the venting on the system (including mains) is proper and balanced.
You need to have good main venting such that the mains fully fill with steam before the radiators start heating. Then you can look at the radiator venting and size it for what is needed. Bigger radiator, bigger vent, unless it's a big radiator in a small room and you want less heat.
Was your odor issue ever resolved? Did they re pipe the boiler to minimum spec from what was there? That could factor in to the ability of this radiator to heat properly as it could contribute to difficulty balancing the system.
KC_Jones
Re: Lochinvar / Knight Boiler 80-285 Issues
@articpenguin, what I had in mind is more than new sensors which could have been cleaned. I meant a thorough combustion chamber cleaning. I set the service lite at about 2 years in the programing. I do a thorough combustion cleaning on this boiler every 2-3 years. The dirtiest boiler that I ever cleaned was this boiler and it took me 4hrs to do the job.
Re: 99-year-old reliable (?) boiler - what would you do?
love old gravity beasts. That being said, stand back from boiler and take photo so we can see bottom to 2 ft above boiler in one photo. Want to see what ancillary components there are, also back of boiler flue to chimney connection.
In my estimation, I would get a seasoned boiler tech with good combustion tuning skills in there and do a good once over clean and adjust of boiler/burner. You should 1st have asbestos properly sealed and repaired by certified asbestos abatement company. At same time have them clean few feet of supply and return piping and around flue connection for emergency replacement in future if room adjacent to old boiler. The pilot line and thermocouple should be relocated to proper location through burner housing. There is no way to get pilot out right now for cleaning or repair. without disturbing asbestos (pretty sure it is asbestos). After pilot removed burner packing could be sealed up where hole was made in it.
This all would provide you with a serviced, tuned up boiler and hopefully a prepped piping system for replacement in the event of quick replacement needed. I normally see a 20 to 30% savings with high efficiency boiler replacement on these systems, about 10%-15% less savings with cast iron conventional boiler. With high efficiency your maintenance goes up, I have done 10 yr historical maintenance/ repair studies on our systems and the maintenance repair costs often wipe out the savings over your old gravity beast. Substantially less maintenance/repair on cast iron.
These old boilers were what our company was started for. Started delivering coal & sawdust in the 30s, then worked on oil burners and when gas was introduced started doing gas conversions for the gas company. A very long history with these elegant workhorses. Up till this year still maintaining and sometimes (if we had to) replacing these wonderful creatures.
Hope some of this helps or at least a fun read.
Good luck
Tim
Re: Lochinvar / Knight Boiler 80-285 Issues
I message our mfr rep for your area and he might have a solid recommendation for servicer in Anchorage as they rep Lochinvar in Ak, Wa, Or & Idaho.
Re: Electrical Heating Option for Toddler's Room
A1500 watt plug in oil filled heater should be fine. Less chance of a fire if something falls on it.
pecmsg
Re: Electrical Heating Option for Toddler's Room
Easier than hard wiring. Probably the 700 watt option suffices. I retired many 1500 watt oil filled radiators with 400 watt models.
jumper
Re: Electrical Heating Option for Toddler's Room
» High mount so the wire can come down thru ceiling to top of heater. Heater could be on inside wall but exterior wall recommended.«
Yes about high mount. Regarding recommendation; wall opposite exterior may be better for dealing with condensation on window?
jumper