Spring has Sprung and My Boiler's Done...

The Wire Nut

I've always maintained that a couple of warm days on the waining days of winter are just a sucker punch. For every premature warm day, you pay for with interest...

Though I was hopeful a couple of weeks ago walking around in short sleeves...

Fortunately, at least as far as the weather is concerned, Tempus Fugit...

Alex

The Wire Nut

Optimism

springs eternal... Well, a couple of warm days, at the right time of year this time, has got me thinking about shutting down the ol' new V85.

My prior boiler had THW coil and so the boiler ran through out the year. The new boiler doesn't have the coil, and so won't run, hopefully until next year!

What's the proper procedure for shutting it down for the warmer times? Empty it? Fill it to the brim? Keep the oil feed turned on or off? 1/2 full oil tanks or full?

So many questions...and it we'll probably have freezing weather next week...

Alex

Unknown

Alex


I'm not so sure that we are out of the woods with winter weather just yet. The sure signs I see every spring that are indicators of more nasty weather are the street sweeper coming around to get rid of all the sand on the roads, the flowers starting to pop up in my wife's gardens and the maple syrup being collected. Where I grew up in upstate NY the farmers always hoped for a "Sap Snow" so collecting syrup would be easier with a sled instead of a wagon. And of course we can all probably remember having to shovel 9" of "Partly Cloudy" on Easter morning at one point or another!

In answer to your questions, it is simply a matter of personal preference. Some like to fill the steam boilers up to the riser pipes and some drain them. Some like to top off the oil tanks and some leave them alone. Some shut off the valves and some leave them alone. My preference is to top off the boiler and the tank and leave the valve alone.


Glenn Stanton

Manager of Technical Development

Burnham Hydronics

U.S. Boiler Co., Inc.

Ken_40

Optimism?

Or insanity? In northeast PA, in the mountains, you will need heat for another month - at least. The classic spring blizzard typically comes at Easter. But, when May arrives, you can rough it out. Especially if Elias and Layla have LL Bean long-johns.

I always liked the following: top off the tank right after May. That will allow a heating season gallonage calc, and setup a reference point for next year - starting out with a full tank. Humidity isues and water condensate factors within the tank make going through hot humid summers better on a full tank than a half empty one. (The lower ythe volume of air inside the oil tank, the less humidity can be trapped, condense on cool tank walls and end up on the tank bottom - awaiting the chance to jump into the fuel tube and play havoc on the burner when it's 12-below zero out on a Saturday night.)

Boiler-wise, I always liked to clean them before the summer humidity gets at 'em. Oil or gas, makes no difference. Don't forget to check the chimney base and liner!
Drain and flush the boiler using my old TSP method. and leave it filled to the dead center of the water glass. When fall comes, as it surely will. A flp of the switch is all ya need.

The trace alkalinity left behind the TSP wash also pevents corrosion some. I'd fire the boiler to steaming just once befpore shutting off after the last rinse. By doing so you drive all the O2 out of the fresh fill water, leaving just the trace of TSP and pure tap water behind.

The Wire Nut

Glenn,

Sorry for the delay in responding. Somehow, I didn't get notified of replies to the thread, and I was just cleaning out my mental cobwebs and remembered to check...

I was too optimistic about the weather. I knew it wasn't going to be 70deg all month, but this is ridiculous!

They still collect syrup up by us, though less and less each year. My old barn is filled with all sorts of sapping equipment, including a sled and hundreds of buckets.

In my basement are 2 gallon jugs of syrup, tapped by the former owners. I think they're probably from the early 60's based on the style of address block on the labels (lack of zip-code, old route name, etc.). I suspect they're still good being mostly sugar water... Maybe time for a pancake breakfast party!

Sounds like filling it to the risers is the way to go. If I drain it, it will rust from the moisture trapped in the boiler and pipes. I'll give it a good skim and rinse down prior to the next season...

Any chance you're coming to BUNY on the 20th?

Alex

The Wire Nut

Ken,

Elias is his own little boiler, the kid can go bare handed and no hat in the coldest of weather, and not want to come in...

He turned 2 yesterday! Time truly flies. He's a lot different from the bundle that slept on your kitchen floor awhile back!

I'm a-feared of filling the tank with prices being what they are. I manged to catch the last fill at the last price dip, but I'm not looking forward to the next fill...

As for cleaning the boiler I was going to wait until the fall, but it seems like the spring might make sense based on what you say...

Lately, I seem to take better care of the boiler than the motorcycle... I can't remember the last oil change on that, but since Elias, it hasn't seen much open range...

Look for an email from me in the next day or two with the link I promised you... Slowly catching up....

Best to Jaye...

ttekushan_3

Cleveland lake effect snow.

Tuesday the 3rd we had 83 degrees F. People were saying "Summer's almost here!!!!"

And I (the voice of gloom) said, "And you've lived in Cleveland HOW long?"

These photo's were shot today, the 7th of April.

I rest my case.

Maine Doug_61

Here is Wednesday morning

Fortunately for the robins, there is grass and thawed earth on two sides of my building. About a dozen hungry ones are still looking for food.
And the Tekmar controls measuring the outside temp decide when to turn off the heat.