Check 'em ALL! (Steamhead)

Mark Hunt_3

I wonder how long those folks were getting dosed.

One less news story I get on Google thanks to you.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Mark H

Steamhead (in transit)

Scary boiler last night

So I went to this house in the evening because that's when the owners can be there. OK, no problem. One-pipe steam system, complaint of uneven heat. Aboriginal Hoffman #6 vacuum main vent out, Gorton #2 in- there's only the one main. Tightened all the rad valve packings- so far so good.

Then I got to the boiler. Older Utica PEG-112 atmospheric:

Pigtail plugged- cleaned it, fortunately it was brass. Cranked Pressuretrol down too.

#67 LWCO full of dirt- blew it down until it ran clear, miraculously the float wasn't stuck. Yes, I had a new one on the truck if needed.

Now it's time to fire the boiler- I got a blast of aldehydes from the draft hood. Shut down, pulled the smoke pipe and found what turned out to be about 18 inches of debris in the chimney base. Including two dead birds- looked like crows.

One well-filled Sootmaster bag later, fired up again with Testo running- making CO, burner was overgassed. Now we know what killed the birds. A simple adjustment cured that. Added a blocked-flue switch too.

When the owner picked his jaw up off the floor, he stated that (name deleted), who he has a service contract with, never checked any of these things. Then he asked how serious it was, and I told him it could have killed him and his wife.

BTW, now the house heats quickly and evenly. And safely. I referred them to a licensed chimney contractor.

Moral of the story: You're the last one to work on it- check EVERYTHING!

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tim smith

Checking boilers completely

Steamhead, we had the same situation this last week, 37 unit apt bldg, new owners who we do alot of work for. Checked boiler, #67 low water not blocked but hanging in closed position, decided to replace, done. Flushed #150. Pressure control sluggish to react, pulled pig tail, partly blocked. Cleaned & much better reaction to pressure. Went through all radiators in bldg yesterday, added packing and or tightened nuts on most radiators. Quite a few radiators with no pitch or wrong pitch. Their maint. staff after instruction are going to go in and repitch to valves. Then they will verify vent operation on this 1 piper. Manager has been there for 5 yrs and when asked how often he blew down, ??? huh. Instructed. Called city inspector, last internal was appx 5yrs ago, well that's set up now. 50 ft of exposed main in boiler room, they will have that done. Plenty done with a fair amount to go.

JK_3

done it myself

Steamhead, you are right.we should check everything before leaving but even i have gone in on service calls and in a rush to get to the next call have just addressed the issue and got out of town. on the other hand i have been accused of trying to scam customer because no one else said anything about that blocked low water cut-off or that back pitched flue pipe. but if you don't check these things and something happens it,s always your fault because you were the last one to work one the system.

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Mitch_4

Advice from the man that trained me

when I was a young Jedi apprentice in HAVC.

"If you race and do 20 jobs, you have 20 possible mistakes, but if you take your time do it right and only get 15, then likely you have 0 mistakes."

I have always tried to do it that way..but yeah there are times I can't.

Unknown

My friend you learn and

practice real good. Keep up the good work.

Steamhead (in transit)

Thanks all (and another weird one )

especially you, Tim- attaboys mean more coming from one of your stature.

Now for the next one, from this morning- older Burnham-America atmospheric hot-water, lady said it smelled funny when she started it. Flames looked terrible- lots of yellow despite wide-open air shutters and proper input rate- and definitely didn't sound right. Didn't even want to know how much CO it was making. New chimney liner, drafting properly, and oh yeah, gas valve had been replaced in the not too distant past.

Turned out the burner manifold- on this one, basically a length of 1-inch pipe mounted on a pair of steel brackets and having the orifices tapped in the side- had been wrenched out of alignment, and the orifices were not shooting into the center of the venturi tubes. Whoever had tightened the union didn't hold back properly. So I wrenched it back into position, brushed the dirt off the burners and it ran fine- nice blue flames, 79% efficiency and 8 PPM CO/AF, about what one would expect on this boiler.

That other company she was using is going to lose a customer, and will wonder why.....

Also added a tank drainer and changed to a right-sized circ- nice delta-T now, bet she saves a LOT of gas this winter!

BTW- we found another Tudor Vapor this evening. That's five we know of in Baltimore.

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[Deleted User]

You don't know how true that statement is...

until it comes back to bite you where it hurts...

It's called due dilligence. Attorneys call it a standard of care.

We've all done it though... yours truly included. Wish I had more time...

Good catch Frank. You should take your story to a local TV station. They LIKE cold weather related safety items...1

ME