Best Of
Re: New Return Pipe Noise During Renovation
Wanted to say thanks to everyone on this thread for the help troubleshooting all along the way.
And especially @ezzy who came in and fixed our system in a day. We haven’t heard a thing since it was done. Amazing. A true pro. Very grateful for this wall!
JodiMe
Re: Boiler size confusion
1.20 x.63=.756
I am a big fan of down firing and always have been. Many on here will say it can't be done or shouldn't be done. and I get drowned out. IMHO it solves a lot of issues especially if the boiler is oversized.
Back in the day I worked on a ton of coal-oil conversions and the boilers were all oversized. Old houses two families with large chimneys and draft that would take your arm off. A few fire bricks in the boiler flue to slow down the draft and a new draft regulator and a smaller nozzle with increased pump pressure to make the old clunky burners burn better.
I got news. If you down fire and your stack temp goes down (which it will) your efficiency goes up. Whats not to like??
All that is needed is a stack temp of about 325 minimum (100 over boiler water temp) the right combustion head if you down fire and some common sense. With some of the old boiler and burners you may need to do some combustion chamber work, not so much with todays equipment.
The boilers only concern is being overfired (above its rating) or underfired to much (condensation)
I suspect the MFGs are concerned with meeting efficiency guidelines and don't want to stray too much
Re: Long-term project to update old hydronic -- let's start with the Mercoid switch!
You can't go wrong picking the larger tank volume.
Re: Boiler size confusion
You could probably go down to a 1.10 or 1.00 nozzle.
I like to think of it as hitting the target wall or brushing the target wall. Brushing the target wall shouldn't be an issue. Hitting the target wall hard may be an issue. The chamber material get hot quickly and reflects heat back into the fire. This was required with older burners that didn't burn clean.
Modern burners are much better. If the flame is hitting the target wall too much you would get smoke and soot and may build carbon on the combustion chamber which is called flame impingement
But the flame hitting the target wall is usually a non issue.
Re: Piping for New Steam Boiler
All mains need vents or crossovers. Even the "short " one.
I'd leave the dry returns from those rads as presently configured. No need to reinvent the wheel.
Does that short main have a drip at the far end or is it pitched back towards the boiler?
Re: York Furnace - 3 Weeks & No Heat - What Parts?
Assuming the low pressure gas cut off switch tests OK with a multi-meter and closes above 6 inches of Water Column (the diaphragm did not get stiff or something odd) and there is 6 inches of Water Column or greater of gas pressure at the low pressure gas cut off switch assembly inlet.
I suspect there is an electrical leakage path between the switch assembly and ground (the gas piping). The flame detection signal is very small and weak, it would not take much to compromise it with almost invisible debris or some coating compromising the switch assembly.
I would also simply measure the flame detection current in various places (with and without the switch in circuit) to confirm the switch is messing with the flame detection signal circuit.
If it was me I would just replace the micro-switch if I could get it out of the plastic mounting assembly. I would actually try to remove the switch from the the plastic mounting assembly and wash the plastic mounting assembly and rinse it well. I would also wipe down the micro-switch assembly with a clean tissue lightly saturated with 91% isopropyl alcohol and see if it makes any difference.
The micro-switch without the rest of the assembly is available as I posted above assuming you can remove it from the plastic assembly. Much less expensive.
109A_5
Re: creaking sound from indirect water heater
I suppose as the pressure inside the tank changes that much you get some movement causing that noise.
That is a huge pressure drop, 44 psi!
The gpm for a wash machine fill, usually 3-5 gpm. As stated earlier a 7- 10 gpm drop with maybe everything in the home flowing, something like 10-12
I think you have a restriction somewhere in the plumbing
What type of line from the street to the home? Old galvanized pipe presents this exact condition as they rust closed. A pinched copper or poly line would also
If you have a pressure reducing valve in an accessible spot, I would run a flow test there. A pressure gauge and a 5 gallon bucked would determine gpm and pressure drop.That would determine if the flow reduction is inside or outside the home. It could be as simple as a plugged screen in the PRV. Attach a pic of the PRV.
Attached is a sheet for sizing a PRV based on fall off pressure.
On the bottom line use the gpm at max flow, 8 gpm in this example. Maybe a two bath home with every fixture running.
On the left axis find 7 psi, where the two lined connect give you the 3/4” PRV size
in the bottom box we show max flow for various size 535 prvs
A 3/4 valve max 12 gpm.
Enter the sizer chart at 12, on the bottom, run up to the 3/4 valve and see the 10 psi fall from. So it shows how the 7-10 psi is the industry accepted range
hot_rod
Re: Zero NOx is the goal to reach for continued gas burning
@delcrossv 😄you posted a bunch of text as a visual. We can all find what we need. Especially in the Radiation Safety Journal. Maybe there’s some cutting edge valid knowledge in that study. I will leave that for smarter people to determine. You do know that carbon in the atmosphere, for whatever reason, is only one thing involved in the Anthropocene? My OP was about NOx. If you look hard enough you might find a credential voice who holds the alt-truth that NOx is really great for living things and is not a greenhouse component at all.
Teemok
Re: help me pick properly sized boiler
With the boiler reaching a pressuretrol cut out at 2 PSI and my system heating just fine with 0.072 PSI or less (even below design day temp) with an undersized boiler, just going by EDR and Sq. Ft. values and fairly well insulated basement pipes. I say patrykrebisz boiler could be smaller.
My opinion, but do your own due diligence, I am very happy NOT having oil, to me oil seems very high maintenance, which is more money spent in the need of keeping warm.
109A_5
Re: Why does Gorton not make adjustable rad vents?
Buy a Gorton. Cover the hole with aluminum tape. Drill whatever size hole you want. Presto. You now have the adjustment feature
