Mod-Con Boiler Servicing Tools

SpeyFitter

So I'm starting to make the transition at the company I work for from doing installations to doing more service work i.e. annual maintenance on Modulating & Condensing Boilers that we've installed over the years (lots of IBC Boilers made right here in Vancouver). I'm going to be doing a few factory service training courses (IBC, & hopefully get some Lochinvar training as well), I have a bunch of questions to ask already for these service seminars, but I'd appreciate some input from those in the know.

My biggest concern is properly cleaning the heat exchangers - do you guys have any tips on tools or things you use that get into some of these tight places to get the "coffee beans" out?  Also, anything else you can iterate to me.

The other thing that I am curious about is what in your opinion is the best way to do a flue gas analysis on plasic vent pipe. I've already contacted the manufacturer about this to hear their take. Everyone seems to be in the "drill a hole and then cover it with aluminum tape" yet one service guy who works for us (who is not a fan of mod-cons) says that he's seen aluminum tape corrode and fail.

Jean-David Beyer

I am not a professional.

I do not know about servicing a mod|con in general, but I have read how to do it with my W-M Ultra 3. N.B.: I am not going to do it myself, but will rely on my contractor. These instructions would not apply to other boilers, but may serve to give you an idea of the kinds of things required.



W-M suggest you obtain their Maintenance Kit. You may not need it, but it would sure be an inconvenience if you did need it and it were not on hand. It includes a heat exchanger cover plate gasket, a burner gasket, a new igniter, igniter gasket.



As far as cleaning the heat exchanger, all you are supposed to need are a vacuum cleaner for the fire side of the heat exchanger to clean it, and if that does not work, to be able to wash it with clean warm water. If even that does not work, they sell a cleaning tool, but they say you can use a piece of 20-gauge sheet metal 3/4" wide by about 18" long to loosen the deposits. To tighten the bolts that hold the cover takes a torque wrench; you use 50 pound-inches of torque. Since the exchanger is aluminum, you really should use a torque wrench. The nuts are metric, 10 or 11 millimeters.



To clean the water side, you must not use TSP. You can uses some stuff from Rhomar.



To check combustion, you can look at the flame through an inspection window, but they say to use a combustion analyzer both at high fire and low fire conditions. To get access to the flue gas, you do not need to drill into the plastic pipe; you remove (temporarily) the flue temperature sensor and stick the flue gas sensor in there.

tim smith

Regarding tools etc

Combustion analyzer, digital meters and manometer, old credit card, soft bristle brush, mm and inches sockets. Manuals & supplements, tech support #s and use them. Spare condensate pumps and more spare condensate pumps. Specific boiler part kits. Wet vac, fresh water. fine steel wool for flame rod. Cleaner for stainless, see mfrs recommendation. All standard hand tools. Knowledge of needed settings for reset as a lot of them are not set properly on arrival for 1st visit.  Good luck

Jean-David Beyer

Whoo Boy!

"Knowledge of needed settings for reset as a lot of them are not set properly on arrival for 1st visit." The defaults are in the manual for my boiler. I would assume this to be true for other boilers as well, but I have been wrong before. I have a friend who throws out all instruction manuals without even reading them first. Then she complains things do not work right and hopes I can fix them. Sometimes I can, and sometimes I cannot. She tossed the manual and CD-ROM for a scanner, and the manufacturer does not have either for that model, so she had to junk it. Sigh.



I wonder what they will think if they look at my reset settings. The boiler came with the default settings in the manual. The thing would work that way, but:



1.) I lowered the supply temp from the boiler to the indirect hot water heater from 190F to 180F because it recovers in about 5 minutes and the cooler the return from the indirect is, the more condensing I will get -- although I may not see any difference here because it never gets above 170F anyway because the heater is satisfied so fast. I already get some condensation from this because it is condensing while the temperature is increasing.



2.) I lowered the supply minimum temp from the boiler to the radiant zone from 80F to 74F because the house temperature overshot too much when it was warm outside, but left the high end at 120F. According to the tables, around here, the design day should be 14F. So I raised the coldest point on the reset curve from 0F to 6F. This may need tweaking when it gets really cold outside.



3.) I have oversized baseboard upstairs (14' of Slant/Fin to put out about 3000 BTU/hr) so I can run lower temperatures up there. Default settings are 180F on design day and 130F on very warm day. Currently it puts out 88F on warm days and 140F on the design day. It remains to be seen if this setting will work in cold weather, but it works fine between 70F outside down to 40F outside.



I think my contractor will allow me to continue with these settings.

rich pickering

Scott

Marks WorkWarehouse discount cards work real good for scraping between the hx.  The software for the Lochinvars is nice to have, just need a laptop with a serial port.

Chris S

combustion analyzer port

For boilers without a port for the combustion analyzer,  those vented with pvc,  drill and tap a 1/2" hole in th epvc, and install a threaded plug.  There is a tool for your battery drill that drills and taps all in one, but I haven't been able to find one.

SpeyFitter

How about Pumps?

What do you guys do for your average residential pumps? Do you ever service them? I mean they generally are pretty inexpensive so I'd imagine as long as you have a way of isolating them they should be easy to replace. Does anyone rebuild or clean say your average Grundfos 15-58 or Wilo star? (or 26-64 or Strato's, etc.).

I also fond out Ipex has a fitting to put in their 636 plastic venting systems for flue gas analysis but it's cheaper/easier to drill & tap. The fitting is basically a bushing wth an FIP 3/4" tappling wit a 3/4" MIP plug.