Our first Burnham ES-2 Install

Steamhead

No, we're not big fans of atmospheric boilers, but this customer teaches violin in the finished basement so a power-burner unit was out. There was no good way to vent a mod-con without extensive re-working. We decided on Burnham's new ES-2 series, the most efficient atmospheric available. They also had a very trouble-prone A.O.Smith water heater and wanted that gone, so we added an indirect to the project. Heat loss was roughly 38,700 BTUH at design.



These pics show the old Columbia 100ACB and water heater in place, and close-ups of where the old boiler was leaking.

Steamhead

ES-23 and TT 40-gallon indirect

in all their glory. The IQ control system on the ES-2 is pretty well thought out. You can add things like a low-water cutoff and outdoor-reset module with priority for the indirect, by just snapping them into the rack, running the wires to them, and telling the system to "Learn" about the additional units. Self-diagnostics are also built-in, though as far as I know the error codes are not stored. This would be a good enhancement for the next version.



The system as installed here resets with a minimum 130°F boiler temp (default setting, which is adjustable) unless the indirect calls, then it ramps up to a setpoint of 180°F and cuts off the main system circ until the indirect is satisfied. Indirect priority time is adjustable, we have it maxed out at 101 minutes since most of the emitters are cast-iron which cools slowly.



We've cut the total BTU input in this house by half. The old boiler had an input of 100,000 BTUH and the water heater was 40,000. The ES-23 has a 70,000 BTUH input. It doesn't get much better than that!

Unknown

Wow Frank,,,,

That sure seems "tight",,,,, fantastic install as per usual!

Never tried the ES-2 myself, but your install wants me to have a closer look at one.



Kudos to All Steamed Up old friend!  :-)

CMadatMe

That First Picture

With the 26 gauge smoke had me thinking but I see you did use the z-vent. Did you line the chimmney? I also like the control and it's a great little boiler for those that cannot afford a mod/con. That same control platform and jacket design is being implemented into the MPO Oil boiler and I also believe the V8H series boilers. Should see them out in the near future.

Steamhead

Good eye, RW

I had forgotten to mention that but we can't edit our posts until the elves get that bookmarking feature straightened out. The Z-flex comes with the boiler along with two transition fittings. We had it hooked up with regular 4-inch temporarily until we could pull the water heater and get rid of the tee that the chimney reliner had provided. Then we put in the Z-flex.



Relining a masonry chimney is mandatory when installing ES-2 boilers. The stack temp is just too low- not much above 300 degrees F.

Steamhead

Thanks, Dave

but it's still not as tight as one of Ron Jr.'s installs. He's the champ on those boiler-in-a-bottle jobs. We did have to get a bit creative when routing the safety-valve drip line around back of the Extrol tank, but that's minor in comparison.



BTW, the Extrol is hung from a Honeywell SuperVent. First time we've tried one of these, and it works quite well. It's installed lower than we generally like, but is still above the boiler block so no air can collect therein.

bob eck

boiler job

Nice install. Have you ever used burnham alliance indirect water heater?

was the chimney a strait run if so you could have run pvc pipe down the chimney for a T.T. prestige boiler.

Steamhead

The TT indirect

was in stock, whereas the Burnham would have taken a couple days to get. Time was of the essence on this job. Plus I believe the TT has a higher first-hour rating.



And the chimney was questionable regarding rigid PVC, but a flexible liner went in smoothly. The liner was also installed as one piece, whereas with PVC you always end up with some joints located in the flue.



We should be able to get fuel-consumption figures at the end of the season and post them. It will be interesting to see how much they save with a properly-sized boiler, outdoor reset and indirect.

MikeyB

Chimney

Nice work Steamhead, did the flexible liner come w/a cap/hood, how was it to finish off the top of the chimney, thanks

Gordo

The Chimney Work

was done just before the old boiler was torn out by an outfit called "All About Chimneys".  They're as nuts about chimneys as we are about heating, so we know it was done right.

The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)

Indirect

BTW...Have you been having trouble with the relief valves not sealing properly on the Smart's.  I have been seeing that thin female treaded tube stretch, so without the use of abondant teflon tape, leaks always occur.  Very poor design.  jThey had it right before with the male threaded stub that they used previously.  I am beginning to think I need to go to someone else's indirect, since I brought this problem up with TT a couple years ago and nothing has changed.



Boilerpro

Steamhead

So far

we haven't had this problem, maybe they've upgraded it. 

04090

Information on this old post possible?

Just curious, what's the yellow wire on what appears to be the return?  In the first photo on the second post, it's mounted on the copper pipe as it runs just in front of the flue.



Steamhead also mentioned posting the savings from the new system in one of the posts; would also be curious to know how well it worked out.



Thanks.

R Mannino

I Believe

it's for the LWCO

Roland_18

ES-2

Yes, it appears to be the LWCO.  There's a picture of the various and sundry sensors on page 31 of the Burnham 2011 residential (ES-2) catalog.



Am I missing something? I can't seem to find a "piping" diagram in the I/O manual.



Healthy New Year, Roland.....

Jason_13

Piping Diagrams

Piping diagrams start on page 39 in the I & O manual



An earlier comment when comparing the TT smart tank to The Burnham Alliance was "I believe the TT has a higher first-hour rating."

I used to think that also until I compared them a couple years ago.

TT Smart 40 - First hour 180 gal, 150 gph continuous, 112k boiler required for these numbers with 200f water temp from boiler.

Burnham AllianceAL35SL - 200 gph first hour, 180 gph continuous, 99k boiler required for these numbers with 180f water temp from boiler. I have always found stone lined tanks do more hot water with lower boiler sizes

Steamhead

I may have been referring

to the older Alliance units that weren't stone-lined. That was quite a while ago..........

JK_3

Installed a few

I have installed a few of these so far and have been very happy with the results.

The first one I installed was at the very begining of last heating season on a 5 zone system with indirect domestic and I was very happy with the boiler and the options( The plug in gards make it a breeze. so far there have been no issues with any of it and the customer constantly reccomends me. The say the comfort with the outdoor sensor and the dramaticly lower fuel bills have made this one of the prides of thier home. i wish I could find the pics as it is one of my proudest.