boiler pics, new homeowner

Ken_40

There's a general rule of thumb involved here:

If you have a net output of around 100,000 BTU's (meaning input rating of BTU's in - less efficiency losses, and the net is around 100,000 (also meaning a nozzle size of ~1.00GPH, and oil having 140,000 BTU potential output per hour per gallon) most boilers in that size range will produce 3 GPM of hot water.

I.E., it takes 100,000 BTU's to make 3 GPM of hot water. Given that most shower heads provide ~ 3GPM, the boiler will run all the time and you'll get a decent shower all the while, until you try and get 3.5 GPM from the coil!

At which time, the boiler & coil CANNOT meet demand.

Gabeesh?

Papa

boiler pics, new homeowner

Hi,

I am a new homeowner (of an old house). I have a peerless ECT-03 boiler and 1 pipe steam heat. I thought I would post some pictures of the system to see if any experts here see any obvious problems. I had a problem earlier in the year due to pipes sloping in the wrong direction, but was able to fix that with some help from this forum.
I have the book on steam heat, but I am a novice to steam heat. The system was already installed when we moved in.
Do you see anything I should bring up with a professional in these pictures? Thanks.

Ken_40

Looks pretty damn

nice to me! I assume the D/H/W coil is being used for a HWBB zone or radiant?

Twinned risers! Nice equalizer piping. I didn't see any vents, but then - didn't look that closely.

The insulation is in place, that's always a biggy. One thing; how many weeks can you go before you have to give it a drink?

bob_50

You might

want to turn the siphon on the pressure stat 90º. It wouldn't hurt to put something on the relief valve to aim it at the floor.

Papa

Sorry, I don't know the abbreviations D/H/W. I will add that there is tankless hotwater.
If you look closely I think you can see 2 vents, one on each return in the leftboiler picture, but I think they are actually vents for radiators, not appropriate for the mains. On the right side there are no vents. I checked with the service guy about adding a main vent on this side and he said to just let it vent through the radiators, but according to Dan's book that is wrong. So I might look into that more this summer.

Ken_40

D/H/W =

domestic hot water.

The mixing/tempering valve on the tankless coil looked more like a heating loop control than an anti-scald valve.

Works okay I presume?

Papa

And to answer your last question. I was told to flush it (blowdown?) once a week during the heating season until some of the gunk is cleared out. I usually give it a bit of water after that. I think it would go several weeks without adding water otherwise. Thanks.

Papa

Of course. Seems to be working ok. Only been here for about 9 months so far. I think it cannot keep up with the hotwater demand if the shower and dishwasher are running at the same time though.

Papa

Got it.
So is there anyway of producing more hot water with the existing system without getting a new boiler (I'm guessing not)? It isn't much of an issue now, but we have a 3 season porch we may convert to a 4 season porch someday, which would require some sort of heat source. I was thinking this would be some sort of hot water heating system that could be added to the boiler for this single room. If the boiler can't handle a shower and a dishwasher at the same time, I'm guessing that adding heating for an additional room won't help.

Unknown

For more hot water

with the coil we use a 30 , 40 or 50 gallon electric water heater that's converted to a storage tank . We call it an aquabooster - a bronze circulator pumps water through the coil and it's stored in the tank .

You have a few options to incorporate more hot water and another zone of heat with the steam boiler . You can go the aquabooster route and add a zone of heat off the bottom of the boiler , but you're limited to how high the piping goes from the boiler and like you said , if the boiler can handle the increased load . Or you can use the coil in the boiler for the new heat and add an indirect heater to the boiler for hot water . Another option is to use an indirect for the new heat source .

Whatever choice you go with , the hot water demand can be prioritized if the boiler can't keep up with the demand .

Ken_40

That' okay...

Regardng the hot water (D/H/W) you can make two zone easily from the excisting coil. One for D/H/W via an indirect storage tank - making all the hot water you could imagine; and, a hydronic and seprate zone for the sun room.

Piece of cake.

The coil, which can make ~100,000 BTU can barely keep up dirtectly; but, put a storage device on it and voila! You can have your cake and eat it! Do both lots of D/H/W AND a hydronic zone with the boiler you already have.