Boiler installed in attic

Ralph DiTore

Hope you know how to solder!! LOL Most people don't.

jl

I am renovating my home. I will retain hot water baseboard heat for 1st floor, and add heat pump for new 2nd floor. My question is: Can I install the gas fired boiler upstairs in the attic area? Any advice is welcome. Thank you in advance.

jim lockard

Lo H20

I would make sure you had a low water cutoff, and provide some type of an area for freeze protection. We recently replaced some piping on a boiler that was set in a untily closet (out back) and froze the 2nd loop. J.Lockard

Gary Fereday

Gary Fereday

Advnatages Disadvantabes

Water pressure for H/W systems can be minmal at the boiler, as once filled the system is full and just an indication of water at the top of the boiler is all that is needed. (mabey a sight glass in the expansion tank piping?) Air elimnation is fairly easy. - Freeze protection is absoluet! You must have it. Draining and or leaks, Pan the floor and run a very good drain to the area. You'll be glad you did. Up is always needed to examine the system, make sure of easy acess. I do not know why, but heating equipment located above peoples heads get less attention. Adcvantage here, the elevated equipment rooms are also more JUNK free! (no body stores mop & cleaning items above, & that alone is very good for a boiler!)
Future replacement should be considered and planned for.
Anybody else?

Rodney Summers

Hot air guys

dont like to put 90+ furnaces in attics. A boiler has to be light to bring up there so I guess that means a non CI boiler that won't condense.

Weezbo

i think that is a horrible idea.

hauling a boiler up into an attic Flat out doesnt appeal to me. and anything that could freeze or cause problems on the ground can only become more hassle floating around in an attic. as innovative as it may seem to do i would have you consider working on it during a service call...how many more hours of time are you talking about each and every time?

jim lockard

weezie

The poster only asked if it could be done. I agree with you, I would not recommend or do it in my section of the country. Weezbo you must admit you would not have to fight it out of the basement when it comes time to replace it. J.Lockard

jim lockard

Popcicle

Wait til you see a 90 plus furnace froze up solid. Then you build a plastic tent around it and install a electric box heater. J.Lockard

Mike T., Swampeast MO

What do you mean by "attic"?

A stand-up, partly or mainly floored storage space in a old-style house?

A low, cramped space in a ranch or other low roof pitch house?

If the latter, I can't imagine a worse place for a boiler.

Edward A. (Ed) Carery

Boiler in attic

An important thing to consider is if the boiler is LISTED for installation on a combustible floor. If it does not clearly state on the boiler and in the I&O manual that it CAN be installed on a combustible floor, then it CAN NOT be.

Do not get creative and think that putting a piece of sheet metal or even a pre cast concrete slab under the boiler will provide adequate clearance protection.

Use ONLY the manufacturer’s LISTED combustible floor base under a boiler that is NOT LISTED directly for a combustible floor installation, or consider buying a boiler that it that is LISTED for that installation directly on the combustible floor.

Ed

Taylor_4

insulate the attic

Sprayed open-cell foam on the roof deck....take out any attic venting first of all.....recommended by modern building science if you have an air handler up there....see www.buildingscience.com.....

Constantin

It can and has been done...

... assuming that the boiler is installed inside the conditioned space. If the attic remains at the same temperature as the rest of the house (i.e. insulated roof, not the floor), the attic will not freeze any sooner than the spaces below.

A friend of ours has a new townhouse in Germany with the boiler just under the roof on the third floor... this seems to be the norm over there now, as the boiler in the attic approach obviates the need for a tall (and expensive, space consuming) chimney to run through the house. However, the roof "attic" area is a finished room, just like the rest of the house.

I would check my clearances, combustibles, etc. but with the right kind of preparation (i.e. insulated attic, sealed combustion boiler, etc.) I see no reason why this approach would not work. Perhaps I would ask the local inspector whether he/she would have a coronary if they were to sign off on such an install first to avert any issues in that department down the road...

Darin_3

Attic install

dont' forget, the piping in the attic needs to be protected too. That's going to mean the system needs to have antifreeze and be checked annually to verify it's freeze point. A ruptured pipe in the attic could lead to expensive structural and mechanical repairs....

Weezbo

Ok Jim *~/:)

it almost seems you playing the devils advocate...:) Buh the not having to drag it out of the basement part restored my Faith

Some of the Frontears men have put a eye opening lash-up in place from time to time....maybe some day when i have time i might go revisit some of the places i have serviced from time to time ..with a Camera. ju know, just to tweak the expansive vision of the walls collective mind they arent all bad..then again some of them ,well er ...well , .. lets just say they are Different .

And...Some of them just had to be chopped out or abandoned in place the good part of this conversation is ,...We aint talking Coal

mark smith

my boilers been in my attic 17 years ....

jim lockard

hope

he has a mop and a bucket. And that he is at home when it happens.

Ralph DiTore

plastic fillvalves in toilets..

had one bust at the base and flooded his basement from the
second floor. Replaced with Manfield 09 ball cocks.

mark smith

LWCO,glycol, shut off makeup water, constant circ, combustible floor rated....

like I said 17 years out in the cold ...

anybody with some real commrcial experience, woulda chimed in that Teledyne makes a roof mount comm boiler pkg