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Best Of
Re: Do old radiators lose efficiency?
It's funny to see this come up. One of the recent energy efficiency rebates for Nicor gas is to replace or descale radiators. This sounds awfully fishy. This comes from the specialists that seem to believe there is only a couple percent decrease in fuel usage when going from a commercial atmospheric 80% thermal efficient boiler to a 83% thermal efficient power burner boiler in a typical single boiler space heating aplication.
Re: Measuring flow in a hydronic system
OP here -- I don't need the balancing function, the gauge would just be for informational purposes. So is something like that available without the balancing valve? They're kind of pricey, that's all.What will you do with that information?
Are you experiencing a problem that needs diagnosing? Or are you just one of those folks that just needs to know stuff. @ethicalpaul is one of our Steam Boiler DIY guys that likes to know stuff. He put Glass Pipes on his steam boiler, just so he can see what is happening inside there. Not because it needs to be there. Not to solve a problem. Just so he knows what all those books are saying is true.
Re: Boiler Issues - dealing with issues
I am in a 2800 sq ft house.An older home? My Colonial is about 2700 and I'm using a 120K input boiler, and that short cycles more than I'd like on anything except very cold days. My house though is fairly modern with 2X6 fiberglass insulated walls and double pane windows in Zone 5.
If your house is older with single pane windows and no wall insulation or in a zone 6 or 7, you'll need more.
MaxMercy
1
Re: Forced air and hydronic in-floor heat
I have had a similar problem and tried a thermostat that had 3 stages for heat and 2 stages of cool. I used a 2 stage gas furnace with a 2 stage condensing unit for my one story home. I could not get the spread far enough apart to keep the furnace from operating when the radiant could do the job but was just a little slow to respond when the outdoor temperature dropped too quickly. After 2 years of adjusting different parameters on the boiler and the thermostat.
I gave up. I finally ended up with a Nest to operate the AC and the Radiant boiler and a separate thermostat for the gas furnace. When the outside temperature was lower than 17°F the radiant could not keep up. When that happens, I just set the radiant to 75°F and set a separate furnace thermostat to 68° or 70° (whatever the girlfriend is comfortable with) until the Outdoor temperature is above 17°. Then I would put it back to normal and the gas furnace would not operate.
You would think that if they can put a man on the moon you could make a thermostat that does what I want it to do.
And Who is THEY anyhow?
I gave up. I finally ended up with a Nest to operate the AC and the Radiant boiler and a separate thermostat for the gas furnace. When the outside temperature was lower than 17°F the radiant could not keep up. When that happens, I just set the radiant to 75°F and set a separate furnace thermostat to 68° or 70° (whatever the girlfriend is comfortable with) until the Outdoor temperature is above 17°. Then I would put it back to normal and the gas furnace would not operate.
You would think that if they can put a man on the moon you could make a thermostat that does what I want it to do.
And Who is THEY anyhow?
Re: Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Lose
It doesn't sound like failure. It sounds like sabotage. How come no one blames Gremlins anymore?
HVACNUT
1
Re: New Law states: All Oil and Gas Steam and Hydronic Boilers MUST be replaced by years end
lol but really not funny
clammy
2
New Law states: All Oil and Gas Steam and Hydronic Boilers MUST be replaced by years end
Click on spoiler for details
April Fool!
Re: Bridge Collapse
What defensive measures are you going to use against 99,000 tons moving at 8 knots?Actually, @ChrisJ , there is a defensive measure which more recently constructed bridges use: basically an artificial island around the piers (the replacement Sunshine Skyway uses this, as do some other bridges in similar situations). The idea being -- quite correctly -- that running aground on such a thing will be quite effective in slowing and stopping even bigger ships.
Actually I think that's wrong.
How much does that ship weigh empty and how much can it carry?
Sadly, this could have been done for the Francis Scott Key bridge. I imagine that cost factors -- though relatively speaking not that great -- scuppered the idea. This is, after all, a government/highway department bridge. As it was, there was no -- repeat NO -- defensive structure around the piers. None. Not even an old tire.
Re: type of thermostat for simple oil furnace (heat)
Hi Jaime.That primary control does not have a place to connect the C wire from a smart thermostat. If you really, really, really, really, really, want a WiFi thermostat there is a way to do it, but if WiFi is not mandatory, then the T4 that @HVACNUT suggests is your best option.
In process of 'Macgyvering' one out of stiff wire for the Chrontherm- we'll see
Hi EdTheHeaterMan - It seems that I have only a 2 wire (Red and White) connecting to a Carlin 60200-02 box that has TT TT terminal indicators. White is connected to one Terminal and Red is connected to the other 'T' terminal. Looks like no third wire as expected....
Just be sure to change the batteries every year. they might last 2 years but you don't want a No Heat service call one evening because the batteries died.
Funny Story, (but not for this customers son)
I got a No Heat Call from a customer and at the time My minimum service call was $39.00 (yea... a long time ago). I found that the batteries in the thermostat were dead, I had a Flat Rate for replacing batteries when I supplied them. It might have been 10.00 at the time. It included parts and labor. Like maybe $2.00 battery cost and 3 minutes labor, the automatic markup and overhead costs were included in the $10.00.
The homeowner was not home ( a single mom) and the middle school child gave me access. I called the owner at work to get an OK for a $50.00 repair, and got it. Within 15 Minutes I was on my way to the next call. Easy Peesy... Right?
That evening I got a call from that customer in a rage. She had just replaced the batteries a month earlier and was questioning my $10.00 charge for batteries. That was outrageous for something she already replaced last month, Do batteries go bad that fast?. I explained the flat rate includes the labor to make the repair. and that for such a short repair like 3 minutes the labor was only $8.00 plus the minimum service call fee of $39.00, so the total was $49.00. I apologized for not telling her over the phone at work all the details, but it appeared that you were very busy at the time and since you were a regular customer, I didn’t want to bother you with emailing the invoice so you can approve and sign it, then email it back. And it was only $49.00.
Two days later she called me to apologize. It seems that her son helped her with the thermostat battery replacement. And her son’s Gameboy® batteries died. Knowing where he could find some relatively new batteries, he swapped the dead batteries in the Gameboy with the thermostat batteries. Who needs heat anyway when you can’t play on your Gameboy?
Re: Pipe Pitch and Pipe Insulation
Oh @EdTheHeaterMan , is that the circle of fifths on that pitch pipe? Maybe we can get the steam whistle pitched to a tune? LOL.
Intplm.
2