Best Of
Re: Getting rid of the old boiler sections
@HVACNUT yes these sections were pretty big.
we normally haul all the metal stuff back to our shop, and then hand it over to our Scrap guy.
This was a unique situation, larger than average rip out for us.
This job is going directly to the scrap yard. we don’t have time to hand it over to the Scrap guy, it’s coming off our truck just once- the Scrap guy will lead our help load it into his truck.
Plus, I’m dying see what the weight is, I’m gonna guess 2200 pounds
we packed everything in the pick up truck minus the front section. We did haul it outside, but the pick up truck was starting to sag. We probably should not have loaded those water heaters, oh well
GW
Re: Suntec Fuel Pump Troubleshooting
To All,
In the end, the oil pump was the problem. As I had mentioned earlier, whenever I turned off power to the oil burner, it took several burner cycles to get a flame started. My gut feeling was that it was taking several cycles for the pump to pull vacuum to open the OSV valve. With the new pump, the burner fires on the first cycle. Thanks to all for the help.
Re: Poor venting- and then added two Big Mouths
Would not be surprised, if venting time increases after skimming.
Re: Getting rid of the old boiler sections
old school labor, we got it all out. I’ll post some pictures once I clean the soot off my face and put some food in my head.
GW
Re: Heat loss
better than guessing. The more data you can enter into a program the more accurate the results.
But a number of assumptions need to be made regardless, unless you do a blower door to nail down infiltration, maybe an infrared scan to check insulation quality.
hot_rod
Re: DIY Boiler Monitor Project -- Useful?
This is awesome! What is your hardware/software setup? I built a similar system for my 3-zone boiler over the last 4 years (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4), and have done lots of experiments with trying to improve the efficiency.
fentonc
Re: Thermal post-purge of cast iron boiler
I did some isolated benchmarking earlier:
Along with an elaborate simulator setup to try to get seasonal effects:
It's very difficult to do fiddly experiments when it's cold outside, as my house is extremely affected by incoming sunlight, and the heat loss is affected how warm various parts of the house are (so I can make changes that increase thermal efficiency, make the house warmer, but also increase fuel use in terms of BTU/heating-degree-hour, for instance).
One interesting aspect of my three zone system is that I've just been running the 'colder' zone (the main floor) with the thermostat steady at 68F, and I've turned on thermal purge to all 3 zones, so the upper floor and basement have been heated entirely from the residual heat from the main floor so far. According to my tracking system, my average thermal efficiency so far has been in the mid 60%s, vs <50% previously at these temps, so it seems to be working pretty well.
fentonc
Re: Thermal post-purge of cast iron boiler
@fentonc So you're in the same boat we are…will be interesting to see what our season's oil consumption will be. We have good consumption records from past years so should have a good basis for comparison. Hopefully we save a few percent.
In addition to purge, I've increased our thermostat differential (swing) from 1.0 to 1.5 degrees, which should result in fewer total burns of longer duration, and have also programmed in a night setback that sometimes eliminates one overnight burn (depending on outside air temp) with a longer recovery burn in the morning, which should also increase system efficiency slightly.
Yes, it's just tinkering around the edges, but that's all we can do at this point without major replumbing.
jesmed1
Re: What To Do If You Don't Have a C Wire For Your Thermostat
Before and after- steamer
Our two day job, and pulling the old boiler was a real treat.
Yesterday evening I flung some romex and heated up the building a couple degrees (then shut it down- no controls at all)
This morning I get there early to fire it up again- building management system said the sensor was reading 64. Ran it for 2 1/2 hours before the electrician got there, it reached 71.
We cleaned up the boiler room- took some junk that the previous people left behind.
We maxed out the little EZ Gas with a 7/16” drill bit
We left it nicer that how we found it 💯
GW