Wet Returns and Hartford finished

Daniel_3

Wowzers . . . what you don't know DOES hurt you sometimes.

Daniel_3

We finished this a couple days ago and started her up for the first time. I couldn't believe how fast it produced steam, literally within 5-10 minutes. There was just a tiny bounce at the water line a slight bit of moisture in the tube but I haven't skimmed the boiler yet. I still have to seal up the stack with cement and decide whether to add a water feeder or not; I'm not quite sure yet. Of course the clean-up must begin and I have to dress up the pit a bit. This should save me some serious fuel this winter!

I'm amazed that you guys finished jobs like this and larger in just a day or two at the most. The only snafus were the height of the stack and the digging of the pit both of which two previous estimates didn't take into account. Imagine this was in the dead of winter?

One thing I have to solve is the boiler switch at the boiler's junction box that I installed: When the switch is turned off the circuit breaker trips and I believe it has to do with the ground wire inside the box. If I wire nut the wires directly and cap the ground there's no problem. If I have the former configuration and leave the switch on there's no problem. I have a friend who's a master electrician and I may call upon him.

Unknown

Daniel

I have been watching your threads on this installation from the beginning and must say that you did a very good job installing an IN-7 for the first time. The reason I decided to jump in here involves the way you have the vent damper installed though. That damper needs to be rotated so the motor is on the side and not on top. As stated in some of the earlier posts, it is always advisable to have a professional do this type of work and as you are well aware that the main reason is the safety of you and your family. Nobody here has the ability to stop someone from installing their own equipment if they are dead set on trying but at least you did the next best thing....you consulted the pros here at Heating Help to be sure you were doing things the right way. You should rotate that damper around first though before running the boiler. Hope this helps.

Glenn Stanton

Manager of Technical Development

Burnham Hydronics

U.S. Boiler Co., Inc.

Daniel_3

Consider it done Glenn. Thanks for the heads up . . . . I didn't do this install myself of course. A very close friend who's a master plumber and who's been in the trade for well over 30 years helped me. What could pop up as an issue if the damper motor were to stay in that position?

Unknown

Daniel

Somehow from your previous posts I interpreted that you were doing the installation. But the older I get it seems the more I misinterpret! Nice installation none the less!

The point where the shaft goes through the housing is not sealed completely on these dampers. In the position it is in there is a likelyhood of some amounts of flue gasses leaking up and out and the water vapor and heat that are contained in those flue gasses can affect the motor and printed circuit board. Same goes for mounting it on the bottom except in that position the concern is condensation running down the shaft and into the motor.

When it is in the normal horizontal position flue gasses do not leak oot due to the negative draft effect of the chimney the vent is connected to. If you look at the instructions that were in the box for the vent damper they will also state to mount it with the motor on the horizontal plane.

Glenn Stanton

Manager of Technical Development

Burnham Hydronics

U.S. Boiler Co., Inc.

Al Letellier_9

steamer

While the workmanship appears to be first class, I still have a hard time understanding why a plumber uses copper on a steam boiler. Just doesn't seem right to me, or to a lot of use "older timers" that wouldn't think of doing that. Don't mean to sound critical, but just my two cents worth.

STEVE PAUL_3

blowing breakers

Daniel
It sounds to me that the breaker blowing problen is possibly being caused by the reversing of the hot and the neutral wires. If you are switching the neutral and the hot is wired to the white wire I think that the boiler metal is live (HOT) when the switch is closed the boiler will operate. When the switch is opened the grounded boiler and piping is creating a dead short to the breaker and opening it. I suggest you double check your wiring polarity.

Daniel_3

It was actually the neutral wire and hot connected to the switch which caused the breaker to blow. When I kept the neutrals contiguous and the two hot wires only connected to the top and bottom screw terminals this fixed the problem. This way the boiler just turns off by the normal refusal for the electrical current to flow. I had help on that one

Daniel_3

I see your side as I remember a thread concerning this very point about 6 months ago in which there were many arguments as to whether a galvanic reaction is created between the dissimilar metals that would lead to premature boiler failure. I had a previous boiler that was done in black steel for the lower wet returns which rotted straight through so I would like to avoid that but then again you would say my cast iron sections would rot just as fast. From what I've read and seen it's a long standing debate and for the purist in half of you pros here it would behoove to perform all steam pipe and water containing pipes to just be black steel with iron fittings. The other half prefer copper on the water holding pipes. In this case my plumber friend is definitely not a steamfitter by trade and I know other steam fitters around that still do headers in all copper.

Steamhead (in transit)

That might have been deadly

if you had Federal Pacific breakers :-O

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Daniel_3

Federal Pacific breakers? Never heard of those before now. Sounds like a breaker with major flaws by the sounds of it. I used to be in electrical contruction before Radiology but this didn't include any residential installations so I need refreshers sometimes

Steamhead (in transit)

\"Major Flaws\" is putting it mildly

go here for more:

http://www.inspect-ny.com/fpe/fpepanel.htm

They lost their UL approval in the late 1970s or so, for reasons you will read about.

If you know anyone who has these, let them know they need to have the panel replaced NOW.

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