Best Of
Re: Difference between brewery and space heating steam systems, this Friday's video
Here is the link to this weeks video, The difference between space heating and a brewery steam system. While they are both steam systems, they are much different I hope you enjoy this one.
Re: Heating my floor with my DHW recirculation line.
Just trying to clear this up a little. I expressed doubt in a story where someone supposedly contracted and immediately began showing symptoms of Legionnaires disease. The disease takes a few days to exhibit symptoms, that's why I expressed doubt that the shower in question was the cause of it.
Sal responded sarcastically to me somewhat unfairly because I never said that the teller of the story was suspect, just that the story with that particular shower causing the disease was suspect. But I recognized Sal's response being critical of me, not of Mark. Fair enough.
Anyway, let's just all agree that I'm the **** in this story, and I bet that John and everyone else would be happy if Erin would close this thread :)
Re: American Standard Gravity System
It is running rich or not drafting right or running short cycles that don't keep the hx hot enough or some combination of all 3. It looks like it has rollout. This is dangerous for both you and the life of the boiler. Fixing it isn't a diy problem, you need a professional that understands combustion. See if you can find someone trained in combustion by the national comfort institute or @Tim McElwain .
A side note, is that copper sweated to the old black iron main?
mattmia2
Re: American Standard Gravity System
Need to get a burner tech, it looks like it is running rick, by the soot marking. The air shutters are closed off?
Lots of debris under the burners, possibly from running cold water temperatures.
hot_rod
Re: American Standard Gravity System
That big tank hanging from the basement overhead is a compression tank — and may (or more likelu may not!) be original. Whether it is or is not doesn't matter — unless they leak or someone messes up the plumbing, they work forever.
Now you can mess up the plumbing — do NOT put any other air removal widget on there. The whole principal is that any air which does get into the system eventually gets to that tank, and provides the expansion space which a hot water system needs.
Now it is possible, if you note that the system pressure fluctuates too much, that it will need to be drained — they can get waterlogged — but I see a handy drain valve, so that probably won't be a problem — if and when you have to do it.
Chances are that that valve you played with which now leaks needs to be repacked. That's not difficult.
Re: Older Weil McLain boiler; fire box corrosion
I pretty much came to the same assessment as Chris when my boiler died. I also wasn't getting warm feelings about the local contractors so I did it myself. I got mine running on 10/19/2014, which was also my 40th birthday, so that was a nice present. System still purring along nicely 10 years later.
It is a fair amount of work for sure, can be back breaking, but also mentally therapeutic.
If one is a beer drinker, I've always liked this line from Shawshank Redemption:
" I think a man working outdoors feels more like a man if he can have a bottle of suds. That's only my opinion, sir."
For me it doesn't necessarily have to be outdoor work, but any work qualifies.
Several of us have done our own installs, this site has been invaluable for guidance. I've lost track of who all has done their own steam install from this site. I have done it, @ChrisJ and @ethicalpaul are 3 that I know of, and I'm proud to call them good friends too, thanks to this website. @Erin Holohan Haskell @DanHolohan thanks for that BTW.
KC_Jones
Re: In honor of our forefathers of engineering
@Teemok , You hit so many nails on the head with this post! A few of us (not many!) on The Wall are getting older, and this is the sort of research we need to act on to be able to keep going. I've been studying health for years now, and what I've found lines up nicely with what you've written. The Standard American Diet is SAD and we need to do better. Finding good info still takes work, but thinking about and gaining "healthspan" rather than simply lifespan makes it worthwhile. Anything by Joel Fuhrman is worth paying attention to. He's good at bringing interesting perspectives to the conversation.
Yours, Larry
Re: Are air heat pumps effective on very cold or very hot days
You can look up the heating and cooling design temperatures for your county here:
There is a non-profit called NEEP.org — the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership — that performs testing of the cold weather performance of heat pumps. At their website, https://ashp.neep.org/, they have a database of the cold-weather performance of over 100,000 tested configurations.
"Upstate New York" is a huge geographic area. If you're in Erie County, the heating design temperature is 7F. At 5F, a Mitsubishi M-Series produces 94% of its production at 47F. So it should have no problem keeping up if it's properly sized. If you're in Essex County where the design temperature is -11F you might have a little more trouble.
At 5F, the COP is 1.93.
Here's the NEEP page for the M-series.
https://ashp.neep.org/#!/product/34583/7/25000/95/7500/0///0
Re: Are air heat pumps effective on very cold or very hot days
I'm in the Hudson Valley. What I have found is that when relying solely on a heat pump all year long without a boiler or furnace, the heat pump needs to be sized to cover the entire heating load on the coldest days of the year. But then it ends up being so oversized for cooling that dehumidification suffers, even with fully variable speed equipment.
And the variable speed inverter equipment is a royal pain to repair and service. If a heat pump is installed I prefer to see it installed for a dual fuel system, that works with a boiler or furnace.
Re: Are air heat pumps effective on very cold or very hot days
Can you clarify if you were trying to keep your house at 68 to 72F with an outside temperature approaching 100°?
If that is the case, it can be a challenge for your HVAC system depending on the size of the unit and tightness of envelope
On hot days it’s not essential to hit a specific number to achieve comfort. Lowering the inside temperature by 15-20 degrees and lowering relative humidity to 45-55% range will often yield a comfortable environment without over taxing your HVAC.
PC7060