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Re: Hot Water Recirculating system?

Ed,

As was sitting in the bathroom! I had the thought of a switch!

I ne er let time go to waste!

Cyclist77

2

Re: Viessman Vitodens 200

The heat exchanger rating plate doesn't give the correct info to identify the unit. If you have an E8 you should start by checking the gas supply, gas pressure static and dynamic, checked at the unit, , not manifold pressure you need supply pressure and you need to know the max drop in gas pressure. record 4 values Static, ignition, high fire, and shutdown. check the fuel type is selected both in the programming, and on the gas valve(if applicable to your unit) correctly. then check the gaps on the igniter and flame sensor per the manual, or replace them. if your unit is shutting down with no fault code there are 2 things I know of that can do this, on the regular and large water tube unit, the flow switch safety will shut the boiler down if it has low flow, the largest commercial wall mount units make use of 2 very expensive flow sensors, they are very accurate and typically don't fail, but can be damaged (though unlikely) on the larger commercial units you will also see gas pressure safeties attached to the gas valves, these are normally OPEN safeties that will shut off the burner with a hidden error code if they are closed. One thing that can happen is condensation dripping on these will close the contacts and lock the boiler out. these use an external blocking demand signal instead of a standard safety which is why they do not trigger a fault.

If you actually have an EB error the issues are going to be similar, and with either one might as well do a full service on the boilers burner etc

GGross

2

Re: Pneumatic Thermostat System

Honeywell Pneumatic.pdf

National Energy Controls in PA. (you can google them) is a source for all things pneumatic.

Pneumatic systems are good but fewer and fewer know how to work on them. They are fairly simple.

If the system isn't working, I would think it would overheat like crazy. Most heating valves go wide open on loss of air pressure. I attached a Honeywell Pneumatic catalog.

If your system is Johnson all the parts are basically interchangeable (not an exact fit but will work) Johnson, Honeywell, Powers, Barber Coleman, Robert Shaw

The catalog attached has a lot of good information

EBEBRATT-Ed

1

Re: I'm getting solar panels. I'll let you know how it goes in this discussion thread.

well your getting close to the shortest day lowest sun, so soon you should know.

Did the the installer run a simulation program, those are pretty accurate, telling you what to expect throughout the year.

You can find your usage history at the providers website, probably?

hot_rod

1

Re: Pressuretrols and Gauges

In a pinch you can make a water manometer from some vinyl tubing and a hose barb. Attach the barb to your low drain hose (get a hose if you don't have one) then suspend a sufficient length of vinyl from a high point (preferably near the sight glass) and connect the two pieces of hose with the barb. Careful open the drain valve (preferably with the boiler cold initially) and the water level should fill the vinyl right up to the waterline in the sight glass. During boiler operation you can watch the pressure gradually climb as the level in the vinyl moves above that in the sight glass.

Voila! You now have a very sensitive pressure measurement in inches of WC. Just close off the boiler drain when you're done watching or if the boiler pressure is going to exceed the headspace you have. For most gravity systems this shouldn't be the case but you never know. You will also see clearly if you system is pushing water up in dry returns.

You can tap on that 30# gauge all day long and register nothing.

dandub1960

1

Re: Triangle Tube Ceasing Operations

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1870875#Comment_1870875

People involved with the original iteration of IBC designed the firetube heat exchanger. They weren't able to get manufacturing to scale up and so the manufacturer they had re-tool all their equipment to make the firetube sought out new customers so their investment wasn't wasted. Triangle Tube was the biggest customer that bought them and ran the design through the tests (this is the first iteration of TT) The manufcaturer of the heat exchanger had some weird family drama that resulted in a split, and one of the manufacturers underbid the other to steal business but wasn't able to weld the stainless steel correctly, that resulted in about 6 months of defective heat exchangers that just about put TT out of business. The firetube design was still solid and now cost less money due to lack of trust, that is when you saw every other boiler manufacturer jump on the wagon. Triangle tube never fully recovered from those 6 months of defective heat exchangers, my customers still talk about it. This is the abridged version there is a lot more to the story of the 2 heat exchanger manufacturers but it really isn't important in the long run and I would probably get details wrong, basically just drama and business mixed with family.

GGross

2

Re: Need new boiler

There's a lot more to it than that.

First, "burning poorly" is a service and adjustment problem. Something a competent tech should be able to remedy. A brand new boiler can burn poorly. A 50 year old boiler can burn very well.

Second, rust — without a leak — is not necessarily a problem. Is it leaking? If not, it ain't broke.

Now let's suppose that it is in fact leaking.

To replace it you first need to know what the actual heat loss or power demand of the system is. With hot water heat, there's no point in putting in a boiler which can make more heat than the building can use. Also with hot water, it helps to know what temperature the system needs to run it — which is determined partly by the heat loss and partly by the radiators or baseboards or whatever that are in there..

Then you need to choose a fuel.

Then you can begin to wonder what boilers to look at.

Oh and just one more thing. We don't quote prices on The Wall.