giannoni service , propane versus natural gas

BoilerGuy

I decided to open up 2 of 5 boilers I installed at a project  in the fall of 2007 to see how things looked, the data loger showed 4000 hours of sh heating time and 300 hours of DHW time, The system is a 4 zone infloor heat system with bare concrete floors, total heat loss of about 80k, the boiler is a 150k to accomidate heavy dhw loads. The system is in full condensing mode 90% of the time.

Based on what I found on the first 2 I will have to put them all on a annual service program.These are on propane, has anyone had this on Natural gas?

Mark Eatherton

LP is dirty....

I don't know if it varies by season, or what, but most LP boilers I've serviced are typically dirtier than NG boilers.



This can also be compounded by environmental dirt, like dust, corn pollen, cotton wood trees and more. I had to install an in line air filter on a horse barn that was picking up the dust from the horses in the outside corrals, and the air intake was 30 feet above grade.



From the looks, those are Knights, and I think they require an annual service/inspection.



Last question. Was an analyzer used to set these boilers up on day 1?



ME

Henry

Knights

We have installed a good number of Knights over the years since they came out. We started to inspect them after year two. They were ALL on Natural gas. Everyone that we inspected, showed no signs of ANY dirt. Our techs kept complaining about why should they be openning them when there was nothing to clean!



Regards,

Henry

P_K

Not So Pretty Typical

Yes, that looks pretty typical for that type of boiler. I even see it on natural gas models that I have set up with an analyzer myself. Goes to show how important annual service is.

ME whats that filter you speak of? Do you have any details?

The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)

A better way.....

There are lots that look that way, even from the top notch installers that often post here.  I opted the avoid the problem completely by going with a boiler design that does not place the flame directly above a heat exchanger which collect debris.   Triangle Tube has has a much better way of dealing with this dirt with their down flow tubular heat exchanger.

P_K

Production of combustion

I do agree. Unfortunately, Tri-Angles are fairly new units and we have a lot of boilers in service with the horizontal radial type heat exchangers, and they all look the same after sometime in service, weather they had been set up with a analyzer or not doesn’t seem to matter. I have been told it is just impurities in the fuel. Products of combustion.



p_k

The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)

Triangles.....

They are relatively new in the US (5 to 7 years?) but have been in use for about 20 worldwide.   They are also at a slightly higher price point it seems.

BoilerGuy

set up

I did not use a combustion analyzer to set them up.I have a kbn 150 that has been in since the knight has been out, it was kind of funny, the rep came out to my shop to per-mote them and I had the first one the supplier got in sitting in my shop to be installed the next day. It runs a indirect hot water maker and snow-melt. I am going to open it up and take a look.

dust and dirt might have been a factor in the above pic, it was a new build on a sandy site and they had a hard time getting the grass to grow, even thought the intake was high on the roof I am sure dust was a  factor

I like the design of the TT, but have never taken one apart. The giannoni is easy to open up and clean. I believe the tt has a better warranty. so many things to consider?