Best Of
Re: Near boiler piping/replacement boiler
Run to failure..unless you have extra disposal income....Mad Dog
Re: Near boiler piping/replacement boiler
If it's not broke don't fix it.
Get quotes on new boilers (you will be shocked). Then start saving. Do an accurate heat loss and get the right size equipment and the right contractor.
Consider an Energy Kinetics boiler.
Re: Need advice: What type of HVAC system & capacity to install, 3-bedroom house
Yes. My mother has a Carrier heat pump that looks and acts just like a central air condensor unit but also can provide heat. It's like 15 years old. This is a solved problem.
For your domestic hot water, do not install an indirect. The cost is astronomical. Just use a standalone water heater, natural gas, heat pump, or even straight electric.
For your boiler, maybe there is some magic solution out there, but for me it will always be a standard efficiency natural gas atmospheric. They run and run and run and are easily fixed when something like the thermocouple fails. It seems to me that these HE models can't possibly compete given their maintenance requirements and short lives, regardless of efficiency.
Re: NJ Boiler replacement decision points...
I'm a proponent of combi units and have owned 6 different brands and models. You will want at least a 120K if you expect 3 gpm.
The output for DHW is directly tied to the incoming water temperature. Any idea what your lowest water temperature drops to?
The math look like this 500 X flow X temperature difference.
So 500 X 3 gpm 110- 55° = 82,000 BTU/hr. a 120 boiler at 85% efficiency= 102,000, BTU/hr.
The next number that you want to know is the heat load, but if the 80K munchkin has been adequate, it is safe to assume 80K or less.
A 120 Combi will turn down to 11,000 BTU/ hr output so it word work well for both DHW and heat.
If you want to run multiple showers or DHW loads, add up the required gpm to size a larger combi. A 150K would get you close to 5 gpm.
I think 3-3.5 gallons per minute is realistic with a 120 combi in your area.
Every few years you may need to de-scale the HX, easily done with a pump and bucket kit. I suggest current mod cons have a 15 year or so life expectancy. Parts availability will be the issue.
We do see 20 year old Munchkins and other brands cross the list occasionally.
Proper installation, adjustments and service are the key in my opinion.
hot_rod
Re: A Tribute to Rod Jermain
Jill,
How nice it is to meet you! It is especially nice to know that Rod's family is aware of the tremendous, good work that he did on this board. He was especially thoughtful and kind in the way he went about it, and I can safely say that everyone on here that interacted with him, thought of him as a friend.
Dave
Re: Snowmelt magician!
Energy, like water and other resources, flows towards money.
A 3rd home so they use it a few weeks a year, maybe never some years? Typical of many of the large SIM projects in ski town trophy homes.
hot_rod
Mechanics Institute is Now Accepting Applications for the Fall 2025 Semester
The Mechanics Institute an Educational Program of The General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen
Mechanics Institute is Now Accepting Applications for the Fall 2025 Semester
All applications are due Friday, July 18th - no exceptions.
Applications are available for the following TWO YEAR programs:
Construction Project Management
Classes meet Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 5:30-8:30 pm beginning Tuesday, September 16th.
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Plumbing & Heating Systems
Classes meet Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 5:00-8:00 pm beginning Tuesday, September 16th.
Download the Plumbing and Heating Systems Application
Electrical Technology
Classes meet Monday and Wednesday evenings, 5:00-8:00 pm beginning Monday, September 15th.
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HVAC Systems
Classes meet Monday and Wednesday evenings, 5:00-7:00 pm beginning Monday, September 15th.
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Re: Geothermal, one loop field, two air handlers
Wild guess.
You want the LH riser to come up and butt against the edge of the cardboard with the riser C?L on the arrow.
Re: Kodak Moment: Yet Another Oil Boiler that had been "maintained"
@rick in Alaska, there was a person in my long ago past that was convinced that operating a smoky burner with a 13.5% carbon dioxide was more efficient than operating at 11.5% carbon dioxide with a zero smoke. …and in fact that may be true for the first 6 minutes of operation. Once all that carbon settles on the boiler walls as you have so nicely illustrated, there is a problem with transferring the flame's heat to the water on the other side of that soot. I still believe that smoke is an indication of unburned fuel, and the heat content that unburned fuel never was actually generated… So you didn't get all 138,000 BTUs from that gallon of energy. (but there was no changing his mind, he just brushed the soot off the boiler walls every week as part of his "efficiency program")
Re: Kodak Moment: Yet Another Oil Boiler that had been "maintained"
When I started in the business I worked for an oil co. Being new they started me on cleanings. They were scheduling me for 4 a day. I quickly found out that wasn't enough time. Most were really old boilers and burners installed in the 20s-50s and they made a lot of soot. The company had been installing Petro burners since the 20s and they wern't the best as far a combustion. As I gained more experience I down fired some and did some nozzle substitution tests and raised the pump pressures to 120 and got them to run ok. Most had hollow nozzles and they worked much better with Delevan Ws. Even if the boilers were not too bad no one ever took down any smoke pipes so I found chimneys full of soot from the clean out door to the height of the flue pipe sometimes higher. Oil was about $.25 /gallon then so you couldn't sell a new boiler or a new burner. This changed a little after the oil embargo in the 70s.
I had them only give me 3 a day which was doable unless I ran into a really bad one. We had the larger soot vac and sometimes that wouldn't hold enough to get through the day. Every day i looked like a chimney sweep.
I guess soot must be healthy to breathe because I am still alive.
When the Beckett AF and the Carlin 100CRD came out around 1970 we thought we died and went to heaven. there were a few low speed burners that could burn like a Beckett SR? and a Carlin 400N2R and Texaco (Ducane) had the low speed TWJ burner that was half decent. Used to buy those burners for $60 with no cad cell control and used them on jobs when the customer was short on $$. Reuse the stack control. The good old days.