Best Of
Re: Triangle Tube Woes... Fault codes
It could be the fan. Could also be a loose wire.
Parts are available still. Also the fan from the IBC HC/DC will also fit. P-708
Its not a swap out one for another… The venturi needs to be reused.
For a contractor familiar w/ the boiler its a 1 hour job.
Re: Hudson Valley boiler replacement
Look in the "find a contractor" link at the top, there are several very good contractors in NY. @JohnNY and @Mad Dog_2 are the first I'd try to see if they can do work out of the city but there are several others to try as well especially if you are trying to do it in the off season.
Re: The Loneliest Place, my new article for PHC News magazine.
Ray, Nice work! This line really resonated… "The hardest skill to teach isn’t wiring diagrams or flame signals, it’s patience." Thanks!
Yours, Larry
Re: At my whit's end with banging pipes, squirting vents and No heat! Please help!
I do thorough steam heat evaluations for NYC mid-rise and multi-family buildings all season long. Nearly all of them have the same complaints you list here. I'm not cheap, but neither is throwing money at the inexplicably uninformed people who are frequently hired to work on these old systems and never get it right.
JohnNY
Re: Corroded return pipe
Just finished at 5am but we have heat. I am exhausted. Kept the same layout, will look to improve it when the boiler gets replaced eventually. Thanks for everyone’s help here.
Re: The Loneliest Place, my new article for PHC News magazine.
Another great article on the world of a service tech. Actually, the worst night call is on Christmas Eve on a cold and snowy night in the 1980's and 1990's when there were no gas stations or convenience stores open 24 hours. At least now you can buy some coffee and snacks in the places that never close. to help keep you awake for the 2-4 hour drive home. Our normal coverage area was from Pittsburgh, Pa to State College and even beyond. When you get to those no heat calls for a school, hospital, nursing home or industrial complex you better have everything you will need to get the boilers to fire. Remember we worked on almost every fuel source. That is when you are totally alone. (but I sure do miss it.)
Re: Heat-Timer Varivalve
Nothing but trouble from those vents. They vent way too quickly and they have a remarkably short lifespan. Only real benefit is that they can fit into tight spaces. Would not install them in my own home, if someone gave them to me for free.
Re: CycleGard LWCO & Heat-Timer - Bad Match?
I would say that the Cyclegard is not gong to be a problem — or even if it were, a minor adjustment to the Heat-Timer would take care of it.
Too many other, bigger variables for it to show up.
Re: Building pressure and the effect of abandoned mains
You're not missing anything. Radiator valves have been removed and supply lines capped off in these areas. And you're certainly correct that the sizing of the boiler was done by intuition not calculation. I was new to the property and knew relatively little about steam heating when the old boiler failed. Steam heat is extremely rare here and the contractor mainly deals with process steam.
Re: Blower motor shaking but not starting
Everything is up and running properly. I just wanted to report back that the issue was the wrong kind of motor.
So now I have a motor that is for a belt drive fan and everything seems to be working just fine now.
The other motor was overheating and then it was causing the whole system to overheat because it wasn’t blowing when it was supposed to.
A special thanks to @mattmia2 for pointing that out .



