Best Of
Re: Riello 40 F5 issue
Former Riello Burner Area Manager here.
Draft, draft and draft! I cannot count how many jobs I went on that DRAFT was the issue. Guys first line of defense was always "that's the draft regulator that came with the boiler". That's fine…but if you read the instructions, it says something like it's good for 25 ft high chimney. So, if your chimney is 60 ft high - then you need to go up (2) sizes on the regulator - so that 6" regulator needs to be an 8" draft regulator. I went on a RIELLO commercial burner call 20 years ago in a Weil McLain 94 Series, (2) boilers and the other boiler had an old Kewanee burner in it lol. PLUS, (2) commercial AO Smith water heaters, all (4) appliances going into approximately 3x8 ductwork breaching - NO DRAFT Regulators. Chimney was approximately 125 ft high. I opened the flue cleanout and almost got sucked up the chimney ;-D. The contactor ended up putting (2) 20" barometric dampers in that breaching ductwork to get the draft right. See, big or small boilers/burners work off the same principle!
Now FYI that 530 control is not digital - it's completely analog with a bi-metal heater for the reset. The more times you reset the control - the shorter the TFI is. So if you hit the reset button 5 times in a row - you'll be down to about 1-2 second TFI. Nothing wrong with that control - just the way its designed.
Next thing I would check is vacuum on the pump. Everyone always makes in fun of that little pump, but I've seen those pumps do the unthinkable, and I've seen them do nothing out of a 5-gallon bucket. At this point if you're grasping at straws, put a vacuum gauge on the pump. Check the pressure while you're there, if someone turned down the pump pressure - now you're probably grossly over-aired. Just reviewing basic burner set up is key on problem jobs like this. I went out to help a local contractor two weeks ago that had a problem gas burner with nuisance lockouts for 2 years straight. Carlin EZ Gas burner. The contractor had replaced (3) 60200 FR controls and (1) ignitor over the two-year period. I simply found that the burner was NEVER set up with a combustion analyzer. It was running at 100% excess air, waaay too much draft and the wrong gas orifice size. Once we dialed everything in - burner is now purring like a kitten ;-)
So, whether its oil, gas or dual fuel - big or small - same principles apply.
jmhajoca
Re: [urgent] Is there a way to limit maximum firing rate for Lochinvar Knight boiler?
From the manual, the ramp delay allows you to limit the 6th final ramp output.
So maybe start with 5 minutes on each step, put the last one to 50% or whatever you want to limit the max firing rate to.step 1 10%, step 2 20, step 3 30, step 4 40, step 5 50% and whatever you need on step 6, maybe 60%
hot_rod
Re: Help with recommendation of Gorton steam cast iron radiator vents sizes?
Remember that in one pipe steam systems, the size of the vent on a radiator really controls how much heat the radiator will produce, within a remarkably broad range.
Therefore… I would start by determining whether there are some spaces which are warmer than you would like, or some that are cooler. If you find that in general the balance isn't too bad, simply replace the existing vent with a Gorton of roughly the same size. @gerry gill produced a remarkably useful document to help with that — it compares the venting capacity of quite a range of vents.
( @gerry gill I hope you don't mind my uploading my copy here!)
Check the vent you have on a radiator to find its capacity, then select the nearest Gorton.
Now. Having done that, go back and think about what rooms are too warm — if any. On those, try dropping the vent one size. But do this only one room at a time, and let at least a day go by, as any change in one vent will affect all the others in the house!
Re: Radiant Heat. Should I raise the temp?
Water will take the path of least resistance. For the boiler pump and loop, that path is across those tees back to the boiler. The pressure drop thru the 3 way is much higher. I predict some, maybe most of the boiler flow crosses those tees and makes a "primary loop".
But the bigger issue with that tight H connection is the pumps are not completely isolated from one another in a hydraulic sense. So a % of the boiler pump is probably going to the zones with the zone pump.
This just isn't the correct way to pipe it no matter how many ways you look at it :)
As mentioned you could get two birds with one stone here. Get rid of the unnecessary mix valve and get the piping corrected to a workable P/S
Hack saw the H assemble out move the spiro back and make one of the two loops I have shown above.
Is that the correct pump on the boiler loop? What size Nobel? the manual will tell what the correct pump options are.
A stick of copper tube, a handful of press fittings and this is a days job or less.
hot_rod
Re: First New install
Zoning is one of the selling features of hydronics, but there are pros and cons.
If the goal of individual zones is to keep rooms at different temperature there are some limitations on how much temperature difference is obtainable. This graphic helps explain the concept of inter zone heat transfer.
Your boiler control can maybe help cover some of the issues that may crop up with micro zones.
I have a Lochinvar Knight and it has some control options that help lessen short cycling
Gradient Limiting if the boiler temperature is rising too quickly the control reduces the firing rate to the lowest setting
Ramp Delay, you can program the boiler to stay at the various firing rates, for a programmed time period. So I keep mine at the lowest turndown, 15% for 10 minutes, next step for 10 minutes, etc. 6 limit intervals can be set with any desired time.
Anti Cycling, this keeps the boiler from re-firing for the time period you set. So you could force the boiler to stay off for 15- 20 minutes. However the tradeoff for that is you are not heating the space if the boiler is being held off😯
See what options the control on your boiler has to fine tune it to your system.
I like adding buffer tanks to completely eliminating any short cycling, but it adds cost and complexity. Here is the formula.
hot_rod
Re: Losing confidence in Uponor. How often do you find defects like this in rolls of Uponor PEX?
Rehau is far superior IMO.
If you take a two foot length of each one and intentionally keep bending it in the middle, the Uponor will break long before the Rehau.
I’ve also seen demonstrations of several different types/brands tested under pressure and the Uponor blew out before some of the cheaper type B pex.
Ironman
Re: Can a new steam system be installed in a new residential house?
I was hired to remove a steam heating system from a 3,000 square foot, 2-level apartment in Manhattan a couple years ago and repipe it independently from the rest of the 8-story building’s central steam system. It was, by any measure, a new downfeed steam heating system with two new overhead mains, new decorative radiators and hardware, and steam valve controller. It’s a little different from what you’re asking but I think it qualifies.
JohnNY
Re: Toe Kick Space Heater
The unit is working, I checked the boiler pressure and it was below 8 lbs of pressure. , bumped it up to 15 and after 10 minutes it kicked on and started blowing warm air.
Thanks for your help
Re: Leaking Valve on 1/2 Cooper
Never knew they made a 1/4 impact screw driver like this before. I have the larger version. Thanks for this tool suggestion. I could see how I will use this in the future and could have used it in the past. Consider it purchased. Also the client just wanted it to stop leaking and forget about the shut off functionality for now.
Love your tool suggestions @mattmia2 .
lindylex
Re: Near-boiler piping : what do you think ?
Measure the diameter of the pipe, the risers. I am guessing they are 2" which will be undersized. The outside diameter of 2" pipe is 2 3/8"
2 1/2" pipe is 2 7/8" OD.
measure the OD not the circumference
