Best Of
Re: Air in boiler feed water
One trick is to raise the boiler temperature, maybe 180 for a few hours. And also raise the fill pressure as high as possible for the same period. Boosting the system pressure basically squeezes the bubbles small and it may be enough to flush them through.
At some point the system should get to a 100% air free condition, and stay that way for years. Unless air, or fill water with air in it is being introduced.
P/S can make it harder to get all the air out. Indirect tanks sometimes suffer the same issue, the coils never flush 100% clear.
The tanks with large coils 1-1/2" for example the flow velocity can be so slow it doesn't move air with the water to the vent locations.
Purge valves are fill and start devices, you should not need to use them on a regular basis. As you do, you bring in O2 laden water.
Playing with this small piping demo. I can pump a full cylinder of air into maybe 3 gallons of water content and within minutes all the air is eliminated. At room temperature! There is no question to the 97% efficiency of microbubble air separators.
I have been building and demonstrating air elimination hands on displays for maybe 20 years now. They are always a crowd pleaser when teaching hydronic techs.
hot_rod
Re: oversized water heater
it is a tough call, legionella, or scald litigation.
Elevating the tank temperature and mixing down is one option, or a chemical romance.
It comes down to your risk aversion, in some places cold water lines can harbor legionella. Piping run through attics in hot locations, for example. Now what?
That is one argument for a chemical solution.
hot_rod
Re: Help with hydronic piping to reduce hammer from circ pump
Are those Honeywell zone valves, the 8043?
Usually ZV hammer is caused by a fast closing valve against a high velocity flow, flow above 4 FPS, perhaps. It's more about the speed, not the volume of the fluid.
However if the ∆P circ is on the correct setting it should easily address the velocity? What circ do you have and what is the gpm or W. when the valve makes the noise?
One common hack for the HW is to remove one of the two springs from the brass sector gear. This slows the close speed by 2 seconds, and that fixes many of the hammer issues.
It does change the close off pressure of the valve by a couple PSI also. So make sure that zone isn't bleeding through when it is off and other zones are flowing.
hot_rod
Re: Help with hydronic piping to reduce hammer from circ pump
A properly adjusted pressure differential bypass on the discharge side of the pump should get rid of the water hammer.
Re: Flaring tools
I used the YJ style one for 30+ years. Still have it and like it.
About 2 years ago I switched to the NAVAC one. I like that better. And it’s easier to use in tight places.
Re: Gas hissing from water heater combustion air inlet area
Hi, One thing I don't see mentioned so far is the tubing connection at the pilot end of things. These can leak too. The Neanderthal (pre OSHA) approach would be to use a long fireplace match or similar, and move the flame past that fitting. If nothing lights, good. Placement of that connection is such that it would not necessarily be lit by the main burner firing. Also, I've seen leaks along the length of the pilot tube, so the entire length needs to be checked. The noise itself doesn't have to mean something is wrong, but as mentioned above, it could mean the pilot flame is too large.
Yours, Larry
Re: Gas hissing from water heater combustion air inlet area
Hi, As your unit has a flex connector for the main burner, you could remove the unit from the combustion chamber and hook it up, then test for leaks.
Yours, Larry
Re: Lochinvar WB80 not lighting, many new parts already. SOLVED
109A_5 - Yes, there are four wires going to the outlet sensor (#7 in drawing you posted) Yellow,Red,Orange, and Gray. You're right, the wiring diagrams are not very helpful in this case! That sensor only seems to throw a code if it's completely disconnected ("Sensor 1 Open") Even at the time this unit was built they could easily have provided better fault feedback - like the OBDII in cars. (by the way, where did you find that drawing/explantion? Have not seen that before, it would have helped troubleshooting)
Looking at the current track you laid out it's starting to make sense. I'm used to following the current tracks on old cars - no integrated circuit boards!
Hot_Rod - yep, I've been thinking about making up a whole new harness during the summer. Lochinvar has a part number for the cabinet wide harness, it's listed at $400, but nobody seems to have stock. Finding the correct connectors will be the challenge, but a good electrical parts catalog should list, they don't seem to be proprietary.
Alan - Thanks, being cold gives incentive! Living in a small mountain village we're limited on services available. The grounds were checked at the start, both in cabinet and the hardwire to house.
EBEBRATT-Ed - Thanks for the ideas, but hopefully this sensor is the problem and I won't have to keep chasing. Time will tell.
As usual, many thanks!
