Best Of
Re: Booster pump system
You live in a beautiful area. Done well for yourself.
Re: Netherlands expansion tank replacement source
What are the actual dimensions? Diameter and length.
Zilmet has an office in the US now, maybe they could get you a metric dimension tank. Or Amazon UK. There are other UK hydronic suppliers that ship to the US.
Could you mount the tank outside the box?
metric adapters are easy to find. Or just file the end of a 3/4 X 1/2 bushing and a 3/4" G thread nut fits. With a fiber washer for the seal. Pex to a remote tank location.
hot_rod
Re: Under Slab Insulation Foam Board Size 1" or 2"
I would go with a 2" board like Dow BlueBoard or the Owens pink.
The heat load calc for the space would tell you loop spacing and lengths.
Anymore I suggest slabs get a 6" spacing to allow for the lowest operating cost, quick recovery, even floor temperature. Well suited for heat pumps and condensing boilers.
I think LoopCAD has a free demo at their site?
How many square feet are you looking at? The Big Box stores seem to be the lowest cost for foam around here unless you are buying a semi trailer load. Many lumber yards and insulation suppliers have it also.
Spray foam on the ground is common around here also, for under radiant slab insulation. You get the vapor/ radon seal with spray foam.
hot_rod
Re: Learning from the 1930s
There is a large contingent that makes the assumption that a mod-con is superior to a fixed output boiler strictly due to the fact that it will condense at suitably low temperatures.
What is normally forgotten in this assumption is the "mod" part of the mod-con. Modulating the firing rate is also a serious variable that gives the mod-con significantly better efficiency.
The contingent compares the fixed output boiler at 85% efficiency to a mod-con that will condense at 93% efficiency. The different is 7%. However, every contractor who installs a mod-con and removes a fixed output boiler finds the increase in efficiency is a minimum of 20% and sometimes as much as 35%.
You either condemn every old boiler that is being replaced as having an efficiency of not more than 65% because nobody serviced it in 20 years or you must reflect on the fact that the improved efficiency of the mod-con has as much to do with the "mod" as it does with the "con".
LRCCBJ
Re: turbo torch tip sizes
For a time back in the 70s my old boss switched our big oxy acetylene rig to oxygen and Mapp gas as the welding supply house talked him into it. The Mapp which is just revved up propane was ok but I found it didn't cut rusty steel as good as oxy acetylene…or maybe at that time I just didn't cut so well but we went back to acetylene.
Acetylene is expensive now so Mapp and propane are good alternatives. Propane and Mapp hold a lot more gas in the cylinder than acetylene and the tanks are lighter. Especially if you get an aluminum propane cyl. I used to use my gas grill cylinder but it was too heavy to lug around but propane is grate for soft solder you just have to use a larger tip.
I usually use Silvabrite I don't think there is any difference between that and Staybrite #8.
Never got used to 95/5 always hated it.
You can get adapters to put a regulator on any size tank you want. MC-B or B-MC
Re: turbo torch tip sizes
In Ye Olden Days, Dad used oxypropane at the scrapyard. He said it was the same as oxyacetylene, just a little slower heating up. I'd have to imagine that it'd work fine for silphos.
I use a kit like the one @hot_rod showed above (except with a nice metal carrier and a replacement O₂ regulator from when I was going up the roof ladder a smidge too fast…), IIRC it comes with a #1 & #2 tip. Forget which one I use, they're about the same to me. For larger sizes I have a rosebud or a . I had to use a B tank with a #32 tip once, to unsolder a 2⅛ king valve, it was like 4-5 lbs of brass. Even with that, I had to get pissed at it before it came loose!
ratio
Re: The Green Knob
we discontinued the repair cartridge for the small Caleffi thermostatic valves as it didn’t always solve the problem. The problem was the scaled bodies.
So we offer the valve body and cartridge without the fittings as an option to buying a complete valve. It saves a few bucks,
hot_rod
Re: Taco 5000 issue?
is the expansion tank waterlogged? That would cause the high pressure spike and weakest link in your system O-ring failed. Have you inspected the old valve to see what caused the O-ring to fail?
If the new tempering valve is not working properly and the system has been working flawlessly for years, it’s pretty not the tempering valve.
You can call Taco tech support for additional support at 401-942-8000 and ask for tech support. Piqued my curiosity as to what the issue was; keep us posted.
Re: Taco 5000 issue?
thermostatic valves need the hot inlet to be 15-25 degrees hotter than the mixed outlet or the valves will hunt around like that. There is usually a minimum flow requirement also. So if you set for 120f, supply 140 to be sure. Crank down the valve or increase the hot supply temperature to check that.
That might be a Cash valve, they show a 1 gpm minimum. Same symptom if the flow is too low, the valve will hunt around and not provide a stable outlet temperature. Open a tub valve or another couple lav valves and see if temperature stabilizes. You may need to keep the recirc moving 1 gpm to meet that minimum gpm.
hot_rod