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Re: Heating and Cooling Options for 1850s Greek Revival New York
A home as old as yours will most likely have horse hair laid plaster and you do not want to ruin it by breaking it. I agree with ethicalpaul as blown in cellulose is what you want for insulation. You can purchase 3M window insulating kits for seasonal use. Upgrading single pane windows is best left for the summer months to replace caulking and putty to improve window sealing against drafts and replacing sash weight ropes.
leonz
Re: Heating and Cooling Options for 1850s Greek Revival New York
For plaster and lath and old windows, Jamie here is familiar with that.
He may be busy with Christmas now.
I did not see a laundry room in the plan?
JUGHNE
Re: Heating and Cooling Options for 1850s Greek Revival New York
Blown in Havelock wool is also a good breathable option that’s nontoxic.
Waher
Re: Heating and Cooling Options for 1850s Greek Revival New York
I have sent you a PM, @lchamb .
Re: Understanding Hydronics
@RayWohlfarth 's videos are good too. i watch pretty much every instructional video at around 2x.
mattmia2
Re: Complex System Needs a Simple Solution
How about the guy that installed the original controls can't he help you out?
Best thing would be to draw out everything that needs to be controlled and figure out how to wire it on paper first.
Re: Pressuretrol Type Question
If you take the cover off the control you will see a white wheel under the switch with #s on it. That is the differential adjustment.
The adjustment on the cover is the cutout pressure where the burner shuts off. It should be set to 1 1/2-2psi. The differential should be set about 1 psi.
Those settings on the scale are usually somewhat innacurate so you should install a 0-5 psi pressure gauge (leave the 0-30 on the boiler) to check the accuracy of your adjustments.
I would recommend taking the pressure control and pig tail off the boiler at some point and cleaning them as they collect sludge. Clean the opening into the boiler as well. A brass pigtail and fittings are better than black pipe. You can add a 1/4" tee and the 0-5 psi gauge on the pigtail
Re: Heating and Cooling Options for 1850s Greek Revival New York
I would keep the CI rads.
Not a mod con guy but with CI rads and starting from scratch you have the ability to condense and modulate. If I had an installer I could trust who could service it I would be tempted to go mod con.
That being said if I was in a remote location where service is difficult it would be a CI boiler.
2 boilers would be a good idea and give you some back up. You could pipe 1 boiler to each system and have a couple of "emergency cross over valves" if one boiler fails.
And if you decide to leave it as two units you could have 2 gas meters..
Lots of options.
Re: Williamson GSA-100 Steam Boiler Tappings
so i just put in a GSA 125 and it had left and right return (2.5" on the 125) but only left steam outlet (3" on the 125). IIRC the WM is tapped for a right steam outlet as well and that is another point of differentiation.
Re: Heating and Cooling Options for 1850s Greek Revival New York
From a relatively educated homeowner's point of view, I would do the following:
- Definitely convert to natural gas if you can, as you have stated is your plan. This is for me a no-brainer regardless of the boiler or furnace technology you choose. Yank out those oil tanks before they fail and cause an environmental disaster in your basement.
- Keep the hot water radiators. Hot water radiant is a great heating technology. You will be able to re-use the existing piping to the radiators, or if any needs to be replaced, it can be done cheaply and simply with oxygen-barrier pex piping
- Avoid a "high efficiency" boiler. The higher up-front cost, greatly increased maintenance requirements, and shorter lifetime do not make up for the slightly higher efficiency
- Install a cast-iron atmospheric gas boiler. It is dead simple, everyone knows how to keep it running, it requires nearly no maintenance, and it will last for 30 years
- Get a new standalone water heater. Do not fall for suggestions that would use the boiler to heat your domestic hot water. These are complex and require a lot of up-front material and labor cost for no measurable gain, and they "tie" your hot water to your boiler so that if the boiler fails you also lose hot water. You can choose a natural gas one, or my advice is to strongly consider a heat pump water heater which will likely come with attractive incentives from the state and/or utility company
- Check your chimney, you may need a stainless steel liner but it should be an easy install for a chimney professional
Additional edit: You can make your AC unit be a heat pump for marginally more $$ and then you can use it for cost-efficient heating in the autumn and switch over to hot water boiler when it gets cold. This will give you a great backup as well.
