Best Of
Re: Help with fuel oil boiler!
@klanders said: Ended up finding that the tech set my air dial too high. Turned it back where it’s suppose to be and my boiler has been lighting quickly every time.
And without a combustion test to verify that you didn't "turned it back" too far you may be making soot that will be a mess to clean up next time someone does maintenance. The Technician just guessed and you just guessed differently. Call your fuel dealer for a recommendation on a better burner service technician. They want happy oil heat customers that have oil burners that work efficiently. If the burner fails to operate, then it doesn't burn fuel and the oil dealer does not get to sell more fuel to you. If you are unhappy with Oil Heat and you switch to an alternative fuel, then the oil dealer looses you as a customer forever. If your oil dealer is smart, they have a good service technician that can keep you happy with clean burning oil heat.
Re: Seeking Engineer for Off-Grid Religious Facility Heating in the Mountain States
I don't believe gravity hot air would be practical in this situation. You have two 11,000 square-foot buildings. The few gravity furnaces still manufactured are sized for single-family homes as far as I know. You would need multiple furnaces and chimneys in each building.
Hot water and steam systems are more adaptable to larger buildings, and larger solid fuel fired boilers are still manufactured.
You may have another challenge heating the ventilation air needed for adequate indoor air quality per ASHRAE 62. Religious buildings generally include a place of assembly with a large population.
bburd
Re: First time designing and installing radiant - feedback
When the radiant floor is heating the space to 45F it will probably be around 50F. That's not "freezing cold" but it's probably not the warm toes feeling you're looking for either.
The way to have the floor at 75F and the room at 45F is to only heat part of the floor — about a third based on the discussion so far. If you know where you're going to be standing you could plumb one zone to cover those spots, and only run that one zone.
If you don't know where you're gong to be standing, or you want to be able to move around, I would recommend heated floor mats. They won't use any more electricity than an electric boiler for the same heat output.
I would still recommend some sort of high-output heater to quickly take the chill off. If it has a low setting for when the space is unoccupied, even better.
Re: First time designing and installing radiant - feedback
Hydronic or gas fired unit heaters are great for fast warm up, but they can keep the radiant off, depending on how you control the two different emitters.
The Modine unit that mounts in the center of the room, on the ceiling and blows straight down seems to mix up the room temperature best. Unit heaters in the corner of tall shops never really warm down to the floor.
hot_rod
Re: First time designing and installing radiant - feedback
My suggestion is that you look at some kind of supplemental heat for when you want to warm the space quickly. The heated slab is fine for keeping the building above freezing, but when you want to warm up to room temperature it's going to take a day or more. You'll want something that can put out a lot of heat in a hurry to warm things up.
Re: New Backflow Preventer Failed
You might go to the manufacturers website to see if they show an exploded view.
Typically that assembly seam goes against a rubber seal, I doubt it would be Loctite-ed together.
The second check generally comes out the other discharge end, you should not need to split it open if the second check is stuck? Push a wood dowel against the first check if it is stuck, without splitting it open.
Warm the large nut with a hair dryer to expand it, it doesn't need to get red hot to losen it.
hot_rod
Ecobee with Steam
I was recently doing a consulting visit at a small 6 flat here in Chicago and found an Ecobee with 4 sensors running the system. We were there a couple hours and much to my amazement the Ecobee appeared to be running nice long on and off cycles for the boiler. (As a side note, the boiler was even the proper capacity with decent header piping for other sources of amazement)
Could it be that there is finally a "smart" thermostat that is not so dumb that it can't operate a steam system?
Re: New Backflow Preventer Failed
P2902.5.1 Connections to Boilers
Where chemicals will not be introduced into a boiler, the potable water supply to the boiler shall be protected from the boiler by a backflow preventer with an intermediate atmospheric vent complying with ASSE 1012 or CSA B64.3. Where chemicals will be introduced into a boiler, the potable water supply to the boiler shall be protected from the boiler by an air gap or a reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly complying with ASSE 1013, CSA B64.4 or AWWA C511.
mattmia2
Re: Boiler Running Full Tilt, Cold House
or maybe someone was installing or removing insulation in the area and it got sucked in by the boiler. When I zoom in it really looks like the cellulose in my house where it squirted out gaps as it was installed.
mattmia2
Re: Heating Pros: Please Help Us With This Quick Survey About Boilers
@mikedo, this survey is from a manufacturer interested in feedback from the industry for product development.
