Best Of
Re: Good Protocol For Keeping Water Clean in Boiler
It's a bit of a catch-22
Normally you'd have to constantly be draining and replacing the muddy water, but that action itself creates more muddy water.
the solution is to use a boiler treatment product such as 8-Way to raise the pH of your boiler water to around 10. This will dramatically DRAMATICALLY reduce corrosion and creation of brown water. Use less than the product instructions recommend, like 1/4 of what they call for.
Then drain as little as possible as rarely as possible. You are posting in Strictly Steam so I am assuming this is a steam boiler. So you must also stay vigilant about any steam or liquid water leaks in your system. You should aim for a maximum of like 1 gallon of replacement water every month during the heating season.
Here is my video about this topic:
Finally I'm not sure about your statement that clean water is easier to boil. Is this just your belief or are there facts behind it?
Re: Wiring Weil-McLain AquaPlus to a Taco SR503-5
No, the end switch is what brings the boiler on.
You wire the aquastat to the priority zone terminals “R & W”.
“AC1 & AC2” go to the “24V” terminals.
Ironman
Re: My steam boiler water got a little contaminated, so what can we learn?
you need to pour what you drained off in to a separation funnel:
mattmia2
Re: Water hammer - novice question
watch @ethicalpaul 's video. your boiler is missing the header to do the separation that his boiler has
mattmia2
Re: Replacing draft regulator or draft control on a residential fuel oil boiler
Einstein once said: “It is the art of the teacher to make the difficult appear easy, but not the easy appear difficult.”
@captainco said: Ed you are brilliant when it comes to mechanical issues but quite unskilled with combustion issues.
Thanks for the complement (I think) and I agree that I may not know as much as you about combustion. That is why I defer to you and Bob at times when I am not sure of certain points of combustion. But I believe that I am more skilled than the average technician when it comes to all things combustion. I posed the question after you contradicted manufacturers directions regarding my comment about the barometric location. Knowing your background and that you have performed more experimentation and field studies that “Testing in the field taught me that manufacturers are clueless when it comes to actual field operation“ is common. I was looking for your insight. There was no insult intended by my questioning your comment. I was just interested in learning something that I might not have direct knowledge of that you do have direct knowledge of. Thanks for the clarification. I will edit my previous comment regarding the recommended redesign.
Re: Replacing draft regulator or draft control on a residential fuel oil boiler
Nothing wrong with the present location. Have been doing that on oil and gas equipment for over 35 years. All of my customers test and verify operation with combustion analyzers and draft gauges.
Re: Boiler and DHW heating recommendations
These days Viessmann shouldn't be any more money than other reputable brands. as an ardent Viessmann supporter I would however recommend that you consider that you are purchasing a service and not just a product. Who installs your equipment IS the absolute most important thing, the overwhelming majority of issues on new installs are installation related and not product defects. Everyone makes mistakes, but a good installer will work with you to fix their mistakes. NTI and IBC are both making great boilers, if you find an installer you'd like to hire, I would go with the brand they have the best relationship with.
GGross
Re: Cool old stuff
I saw about 10 old steam systems that had that set-up that worked perfectly until someone tried to re-engineer the system or decided that he knew how to make it work better.
Re: Copper for condensate pipes? Your opinion
Thank you all for your expertise.When I first got into the trade, the journeyman was an old steam guy and had rules, lots of rules. The first was no copper in a steam system anywhere. The second was schedule 80 for the condensate and schedule 40 for the steam. See you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Re: Copper for condensate pipes? Your opinion
Definitely copper. As Paul said, steel is a breeding ground for sludge. And considering that the returns are always filled with water, there is no real concern of rapid thermal expansion.
