Which contractor is correct???

Fred Christenson

He was sizing it for a 4 section boiler. I willnot use anything other then a pin type boiler with an afg burner, Last house had brand new three pass and I has nothing but problems 2 brands later it was still a mess 3 oil companys later the installer installed a weil mclain wgo. I will rather loss a 100$ a year in fuel and use somthing i know that works. just my choice. I read you shouldnt size indirect hw heater to the boiler?

Fred Christenson

Which contractor is correct

I have had 2 contractors come in and give me a price on a new boiler to replace my 30 year old repco..
I have 2 questions which is better for a series loop system steel boiler or cast iron?
The 2 contractors were both installing a weil mclain wgo boilers with indirect hw heater. I did the heatloss and it comes up at about 50,000 btus with basement. the house is 44x25 ranch with full basement. The one contractor told me he would install a wgo3 three section boiler. the other contractor told me he would install the wgo2 2 section? The questions I have is it ok to noozle down the 3 section? The contractor told me its better to get 3 section for another 100 bucks then to get 2 in case I add onto the house.. I called a third person and he sized the boiler based on the indirect hot water heater and I threw him out of the house he had no idea what he was doing.. Anyone know what size the repco boilers were?
Thanks guys

Matt_67

correct heat loss

if you have done all the heat m loss correct and have a loss of 50,000 btu,s then the wgo2 is plenty big as i beleive it has a heating cap. about 85,000 but you could check the spec as i'm just going from memory.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Fred Christenson

yes the wgo2 is 85000 btus

[Deleted User]

indirect

The third guy was right. On a house of your size the indirect will probably need more BTU'S to maintain temp than your house. I dont Install Weil boilers but why not try a three pass type boiler you will get more thermal efficiency out of one vs a pin type boiler. Weil makes a three pass boiler the ultra oil. It looks like a nice unit i have never installed one.
If you plan on going with a larger than needed boiler i would consider a buffer tank to help prevent boiler short cycling.

Bob Forand

Fred

Hi Fred, the third contractor may have been correct. It depends on how much hot water your family needs. If you go to Crown Boiler co website,then to indirect water heater, then MS-40, and finally to product specs you will see how many gallons you can produce based on boiler size. I don't know a lot about Weil boilers, but have found the Crown freeport to be a good 3-pass boiler. Perhaps you can contact Weil and see if they have any data for downfiring the 3 section a nozzle size or two. Good luck...

kevin coppinger_4

what brand...

and bunner were you having issues w/...was it a becket afg burner? I have had nothing but great results w/ my set up....kpc

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

JohnNY

You threw him out?

Rule of thumb: 50,000 BTUs will raise the temperature of water 70° at a rate of about 1 gallon per minute (1 gpm).

If you've got a 3 gpm shower head and only 40 gallons in reserve (indirect-fired water heater), you can bet it would be nice to be able to replace that hot water at half the rate you're using it.

There's more to the math but your hot water heating load obviously far exceeds your space-heating demand.

Personally, I think you may be a good candidate for an instantaneous water heater.

[Deleted User]

three pass

We only install three pass boilers and never have any problems with them. What type of problems are you having? At oil being over 3.00$ a gallon i think a good three pass boiler will save you more than a 100$ a year in oil. If you must go with a pin type boiler make sure domestic hot water is set for priority.

Unknown

For a residential home

you always want to size the boiler by a heatloss estimate . If you oversize the boiler for hot water , chances are you'll wind up burning more fuel than you have to .

If the boiler is not sized big enough to cover your hot water needs , there are a few things you can do to increase output - raise the temperature of the hot water in the indirect , oversize the indirect or add another storage tank with the proper sized indirect .

As a reference , I have a similar sized home . 30 gallon Phase 3 connected to a Peerless oil fired boiler putting out around 65,000 btus . 4 showers , one after another , in the morning and we haven't run out of hot water once .

JohnNY

Hi, Ron.

I find that trying to heat too much hot water (in storage) with a too-small boiler ends up being counter-productive.

Ya' know what? Really what this guy needs is a mod/con.

JMHO.

But what do I know? I'm sick and am running on nothing but NyQuil.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Fred Christenson

three pass boilers aside

I will rethink the whole three pass idea again but I will still have the same problem three pass or not.
I only have 1 bath no major hot water demands.
Is downfiring the 3 section boiler bad for it if done correctly?

Unknown

I'd agree

if we were talking about a big home with a severe demand for hot water . But this sounds like a typical sized residential house . And I'll bet if the math is done he's looking at a 30 or 40 gallon indirect . The smallest Weil Mclain can handle either one .

We gotta remember hot water needs only take up a fraction of boiler run times when the weather is cold . Oversizing a boiler for an hour a day for hot water might be counter productive too .

Sorry to hear your sick , John . I hope you get better quick . Nothin's worse than working sick .

Unknown

I believe

there is one specific nozzle size for each model Weil . But I've heard you can downfire or upfire by 10 percent at the most . I'd check to make sure of that though .

Some manufacturers have a wider swing in nozzle sizing for each model . In these you can fire at the lowest and increase the sizes if you add to the house or the boiler has trouble keeping up with heat or hot water demands .

Leo

Peerless

The Peerless WB boiler, a pin boiler is specified with three different nozzles.

Leo