New boiler/hot water tank - cold house?

ASaffo

Any help here would be great.

We just switched from oil to gas and got a new setup. We have the Peerless PF-110 and a 40gal hot water tank. For the last week our house has been losing temp. We have it set to 70F and for a while it was holding, then only 69, then 65 and now 64. We haven't hit the coldest part of the winter yet so I'm a bit worried. I don't know much about this. We called and the plumber suggested cleaning the radiators, but that hasn't helped. Our house is 720sq feet, and we have an insulated, but unfinished upstairs (650sq ft) where the stairwell is blocked off by 2 layers of draped fabric at the top and 1 at the bottom (we're in the process).

Any ideas?

nicholas bonham-carter

chilly!!

is this hot water heat?

can you verify that the boiler runs when the thermostat is temporarily set to maximum?

could the radiators be air-locked?

did the plumber change the settings for anticipation on the thermostat [may need changing for the new boiler]?

is the domestic hot water portion of the whole thing functioning properly?--nbc

DSaffo

hope this helps

The boiler has been cycling non-stop to try to heat the house. It is baseboard hot water. The domestic hot water seems to be working fine, it is just the heat. I don't know what you mean by anticipation on the thermostat.



Other information - the outgoing water line and incoming water line are both hot, meaning that the boiler completed the cycle. My thought was air in the line, but I don't hear the water moving in the pipes. I would assume that if it was air in the line, I would be able to hear the water.



Another thought i had was that maybe it was the circulator? I can hear a noise coming from it, but I am not sure what it is supposed to sound like. It almost sounds like when you leave the teapot on the stove for a bit when it is cooling down (not sure if that was a good description or not!).



Any help is appreciated! Thanks.

Jean-David Beyer

in the line

If you have a little air in the piipe, you can hear it. If you have enough to stop the flow, you probably will not hear anything as the water will not be moving. the circulator itself may sound different than it should in that case, but maybe not.



I have 4 Taco 007 circulators and you can barely hear them if you put your ear near them. One is slightly noisier than the others because there is a tiny amount of air in it. It is not louder, but it sounds different. My boiler is in my garage. My old boiler and three piece circulator were much noisier. Beckett oil burner. I could hear the circulator start up from inside the house, and then the oil burner firing up I could hear over the circulator. Now I cannot hear anything from inside the house.



" I don't know what you mean by anticipation on the thermostat."



That question is probably trying to address the question of whether it is the thermostat that is turning your boiler on and off, or if it is the limit switch (probably an aquastata) in the boiler that is protecting the boiler from going over temperature. It is important to find this out.



Do you have bleed valves in your system to let the air out? There are may types.

Jamie Hall

Couple of thoughts...

first off, the return line to the boiler (water coming from the various radiators) should be appreciably cooler than the feed line (water going to the various radiators.  Typically 20 degrees or so.  If not, either you don't have much circulation -- or it's not getting into the radiators.  Lots of reasons for that.



Second, what is the aquastat for the heating side set at?  There are two controls on an hydronic system -- the thermostat in the house (which turns the circulator on or off) and an aquastat, which is sometimes on the supply line and sometimes on the boiler (I've seen both).  The aquastat controls whether the burner should run or not.  The idea being that the water in the boiler should be hot enough to put out heat to the radiators, but it doesn't need to be any hotter -- so the burner will turn on and off as called for by the aquastat.  If that aquastat is set too low, the water in the radiators won't be hot enough to dump enough heat into the house -- and you will be, indeed, chilly.  So... what's that aquastat set at?

DSaffo

Aquastat?

I am not sure about the aquastat. The boiler has a setpoint of 160 degrees. Would that be considered the aquastat?

Robert O'Brien

Why?

Don't you call the people who installed it? It's a PureFire Mod/ Con,is the curve set correctly?

DSaffo

Curve

The plumber who installed it is not available. How would I set the heating curve? Does it have to do with the outdoor temperature sensor? I did not set that up, because it is optional as far as I know. Am I wrong about that?



Thanks for your help.

STEVE PAUL_3

IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

You are in a jamb. If you can't get the original Plumber to remedy the problem, my advise to you is to call in another qualified professional. It's cold out there (and in there as well). You are wasting time asking questions that even if properly answered, you can't act on. As it gets colder, you take a chance of an expensive freeze-up. Bite the bullet and settle with the Plumber later.