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Re: Do sharkbite fittings work OK for radiant HW heating? Plastic pex A fittings?
I had planned on only using sharkbite fittings for the elbows under where the radiator pipes come down. That is to allow easier removal for badly needed new flooring or radiator painting some day. If they leak it will be obvious and they can be replaced. BTW i managed to screw up the sharkbite fittings. One pex pipe was scuffed and also one copper pipe.
Re: What is this?
Looks like an anti-surge tank which dries the steam. Last time I looked, a few small places still made these.
Re: Boiler running at high PSI
@JUGHNE, below are some pictures as requested.
This is going to show what a newbie I am to all of...how do I know which pipes are the steam mains?
This is going to show what a newbie I am to all of...how do I know which pipes are the steam mains?
tambli
1
Re: Boiler running at high PSI
Are there any air vents in the basement at the end of the steam mains?
If so what size/type....pictures.
If so what size/type....pictures.
This is the only vent in the basement coming off the main. It says it's a #5. I'm honestly not sure it works.
tambli
1
Re: Boiler running at high PSI
Are there any air vents in the basement at the end of the steam mains?
If so what size/type....pictures.
If none look for a fitting near the end of the main with a plug installed.
Or if you have return pipes coming to the boiler room, those may be the vent location.
If so what size/type....pictures.
If none look for a fitting near the end of the main with a plug installed.
Or if you have return pipes coming to the boiler room, those may be the vent location.
JUGHNE
1
Re: Replaced thermopile, voltage still too low
What else is in the circuit that may be creating resistance?
Re: Summer job stories
Yep..once they eat something bad...they are screwed! Asbestos...turned my favorite Thoroughbred Gelding El Bombay's face permanently white...took the pigment right out in two days after ingesting it in the stall when another horse 🐎 exposed it with a kick through the wall. (Few people realize how deadly and dangerous it is working around ALL horses, but Thoroughbreds are the most wild and unpredictable. Eating too much grain...My pop taught me all this. He said you MUST keep the barrel tops on of grain to keep rats 🐀 and mice out, but even more important was so that a loose, wandering horse wouldn't get in to it. A
Horse left to his own druthers will eat, and eat, and eat (thus the expression 😆 eating like a horse!) Till he keels over in pain. If you can't get him to pass it quickly, he will burst his intestines with the dry grain swelling and die! The last thing a Horseman will do is TRY to get him up, string his head up high over a barn beam, almost totally vertically (kissing the sky) and force gallons of mineral down his gullet, usually 😄 with some Scotch, Bourbon, even Rum water was left over from the night before.. They fought you less and got them tipsy 🤣 which relaxed them. This was no joke and the whole barn would gather around watch & help. If this morphed in to Twisted Gut, the last resort was invasive surgery. They didn't stand still for this or take it lying down, flipping out every few minutes and launching themselves airborne to try to get their tied up head free...1200lbs of Horse exerted tremendous force, thrust and torque as the broke halters and heavy ropes...what a seen. I miss my 🐎 Horses mad Dog
Horse left to his own druthers will eat, and eat, and eat (thus the expression 😆 eating like a horse!) Till he keels over in pain. If you can't get him to pass it quickly, he will burst his intestines with the dry grain swelling and die! The last thing a Horseman will do is TRY to get him up, string his head up high over a barn beam, almost totally vertically (kissing the sky) and force gallons of mineral down his gullet, usually 😄 with some Scotch, Bourbon, even Rum water was left over from the night before.. They fought you less and got them tipsy 🤣 which relaxed them. This was no joke and the whole barn would gather around watch & help. If this morphed in to Twisted Gut, the last resort was invasive surgery. They didn't stand still for this or take it lying down, flipping out every few minutes and launching themselves airborne to try to get their tied up head free...1200lbs of Horse exerted tremendous force, thrust and torque as the broke halters and heavy ropes...what a seen. I miss my 🐎 Horses mad Dog
Re: Draining sediment from my indirect fire tank
Mine is piped the same way, cold inlet at the drain valve. At least you have another fitting with a valve on the other side down low. You will never get any sediment out of the valve on the inlet, all the water you get will be coming from the cold supply.
If the fitting on the other side at the bottom on the other side is not the boiler coil try it and see what comes out
I am in the same boat with my Bradford indirect, the only way I can get a good back flush is to shut the cold supply off to the tank and back feed the hot side by putting a jumper hose from cold to hot at the washing machine connection
If the fitting on the other side at the bottom on the other side is not the boiler coil try it and see what comes out
I am in the same boat with my Bradford indirect, the only way I can get a good back flush is to shut the cold supply off to the tank and back feed the hot side by putting a jumper hose from cold to hot at the washing machine connection
Re: Draining sediment from my indirect fire tank
There was a product called a muck vac to clean out scaled water heaters. It was about the only way to get ALL the sediment out IMO.
With Indirects, as the coils scale on the outside it takes gallons of acid in the tank to descale them.
There were some tricks to shock the coils, empty the tank, get the coil hot and hit it with cold water. I’m not convinced it did much good.
Smooth coils tend to do better than finned coils in hard water.
Softening helps a lot. Or maybe some of the magnetic or TAC type treatment devices that allegedly keep minerals in suspension.
The two options are remove the minerals before the water enters the tank, or deal with them inside.
A few thousands of an inch of mineral build up really hammers heat exchange. Being a slow gradual decline it often goes unnoticed and homeowners unknowingly adjust their DHW habits to the lower production is my experience.
With Indirects, as the coils scale on the outside it takes gallons of acid in the tank to descale them.
There were some tricks to shock the coils, empty the tank, get the coil hot and hit it with cold water. I’m not convinced it did much good.
Smooth coils tend to do better than finned coils in hard water.
Softening helps a lot. Or maybe some of the magnetic or TAC type treatment devices that allegedly keep minerals in suspension.
The two options are remove the minerals before the water enters the tank, or deal with them inside.
A few thousands of an inch of mineral build up really hammers heat exchange. Being a slow gradual decline it often goes unnoticed and homeowners unknowingly adjust their DHW habits to the lower production is my experience.
hot_rod
1
Re: Summer job stories
@EBEBRATT-Ed
Back in the late 70's PPE wasn't as available as today. A face mask was a dish towel tied in the back. Safety glasses were the kind worn in high school chemistry labs and the elastic was always stretched out, the plastic lens clouded.
Formal LOTO protocols wasn't heard of back then, or at least not to us, but the old man taught me my first safety lesson.
He walked into the boiler room while I was scraping the walls of the combustion chamber- a tight fit, had to belly crawl in.
The combustion blower came on and it was instant blackout. I couldnt belly crawl backwards fast enough and banged my head a dozen times trying. Coughing and spitting. Then the burner was turned off.
When I got out, my father was standing there with fuses in his hand. He said, " Don't make it easy for one of us to kill you. It would give us nightmares for the rest of our lives. Keep these in your pocket when you're in a boiler. "
Back in the late 70's PPE wasn't as available as today. A face mask was a dish towel tied in the back. Safety glasses were the kind worn in high school chemistry labs and the elastic was always stretched out, the plastic lens clouded.
Formal LOTO protocols wasn't heard of back then, or at least not to us, but the old man taught me my first safety lesson.
He walked into the boiler room while I was scraping the walls of the combustion chamber- a tight fit, had to belly crawl in.
The combustion blower came on and it was instant blackout. I couldnt belly crawl backwards fast enough and banged my head a dozen times trying. Coughing and spitting. Then the burner was turned off.
When I got out, my father was standing there with fuses in his hand. He said, " Don't make it easy for one of us to kill you. It would give us nightmares for the rest of our lives. Keep these in your pocket when you're in a boiler. "
SlamDunk
1