A Homeowner's Story (Part 1)

Eric Peterson_3

In October 2010 I installed a replacement boiler in my house. The installation was straight-forward with one exception which I will go into later.

I ordered the boiler online from Pex Supply. The ease of this buying experience remains impressive to me. Within two weeks of my order a truck showed up and in five minutes the boiler was on a pallet in my garage, where it sat. It was huge, all 460 pounds of it, and I wondered how I could get it down to the basement. A few weeks later, with the help of a few friends and a hand truck we managed to get it out of the garage, into the alley, down the street, down the sidewalk, then through a side door and down the basement stairs. We had to partially disassemble the boiler to make the fit down the stairs, the main thing was to remove the flue assembly. In the basement the boiler was placed on a couple of home-made dolleys I built years ago for moving radiators.

The old boiler had been removed and set aside (it was even heavier) so the next day, with the help of my father-in-law we moved the new boiler into place and leveled it out. There was a small section of rotten concrete that needed replacement so I took care of that too before we started the near-boiler piping, which was the most troublesome aspect of this installation.

The model I purchased was a Burnham ES2 (ES27). The appeal of this boiler was three-fold. First was the anticipated reliability going with a proven design and long-lasting durable components (such as the cast-iron heat exchanger). Second was the notion that this would be a “drop-in” replacement, meaning atmospheric venting and direct connection to near-boiler piping (more on that later). Third was the cost: less than $3000 online with free shipping. This cost was subsidized by a local energy efficiency program that provided a matching 50% grant up to $1,500 for owners of older homes that made improvements to their home.

The Burnham ES2 is rated as 85% efficient. Some may wonder why I chose this when there are many models with higher efficiencies. First, there is a higher initial cost for models that are 90% efficient or higher, an additional $1000 or more. Second, the more efficient models are also more complicated (more to go wrong) and they have shorter warranties. Third, installation is more complicated because of the venting and air supply. Fourth, the higher efficiencies are not all they claim to be as they depend on the run-time conditions. To expand on this last point, the higher efficiency boilers are all condensing models, which achieve their most impressive efficiencies when the return water is relatively cool. The 98% efficiency when the return water temperature is 40F drops to 87% efficiency when that temperature is 130F. During the prime heating season in my application (standing and baseboard cast iron radiators) the return water temperature will be 130F or higher. For me the difference between 87% and 85% did not justify the added cost, complexity, and installation expense for a condensing boiler. Maybe next time?

Note: the quoted efficiencies are from a chart (page 45) in Sienenthaler’s “Modern Hydronic Heating” (1995 edition).

To those of you who have read this far, I salute you. There is a second part to my installation story, which concerns the near-boiler piping. I will go into that in a second post.

Thanks for reading,

Eric Peterson

Naperville, IL

Tim McElwain

Very interesting, I am waiting with

baited breath for the rest of the story!



By the way the ES 2 from Burnham is not a simple boiler as it has many of the same control systems as found on Mod/Con boilers.

Steamhead

We've installed an ES-2

it's probably the ultimate evolution of the old-style atmospheric boiler. Here's a link to the thread:



http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-thread/129307/Our-first-Burnham-ES-2-Install



Did you use the snap-in low-water cutoff and outdoor-reset control on yours?

bob eck

ES2 Burnham Boiler

ES2 Burnham boiler is a good boiler. Did you use the out door reset control that is Optional for this boiler?

Did you vent this boiler into a chimney that has a aluminum or stainless steel chimney liner. If not that could void the warranty.

Did you check the warranty. Most boiler manufactures have policies for boilers sold via the Internet and bought by home owners and not installed by licensed professional heating contractors.This also can void the warranty.

95% -98% condensing gas boiler will condense at 135* F or less. You have cast iron radiators and cast iron baseboard you might have enough radiation or could have added more radiation to run your system at 160* F supply water and return water at 140* F. Most of the heating season when using the outdoor reset control the boiler will be supplying less than 160* F water and your return water will be below 135* F and it will be condensing and at it highest efficiency. The only time you would be sending out 160* F water would be when the outside temp goes down to 0* F

Eric Peterson_3

Accessories

LWCO - no, my boiler is in the basement with three stories above it, there is so much water (9 free-standing radiators,  48-ft of 7-in , 32-ft of 9-in baseboard) in the system I really did not see the need for LWCO

OR - no, I could not justify the $375 added expense for that accessory. I leave the high limit at 150, or raise it to 160 if outside temps are going below 0F. I have not observed any overheating of the house with these settings.

(to previous poster) Yes the ES2 controls are complex, but it was very simple to connect to with my setup:  three zones (2-wire WR valves) with one circulator. I did have to go online to the Burnham site to find the correct wiring diagram (it was not included with the boiler documentation).



I'll have to check out that other thread.



Eric

Eric Peterson_3

Condensing efficiency

No OR, see previous post.

Yes the chimney has a (stainless) liner.

Yes I checked the warranty and saw no mention of any restrictions concerning who does the installation.

I based my analysis of the efficiencies on the Siegenthaler chart, which indicates that condensing mode ceases at 130F, but also shows an efficiency of 87% at that point, not the higher number that you imply.

You can see this chart in Google books if you follow this link (see pg 48 of this online book):

http://tinyurl.com/4n7495s



Eric

Tim McElwain

Eric was a combustion analysis

done on the boiler if so what were your findings.



I have done an install of a conventional boiler with maximum outlet temp at 150 to 155 degrees. However to prevent condensation issues I have several mixing controls to insure no condensing. Condensing temps under certain applications can be as low as 109 degrees. However they also can be as high as 140 especially if you get the CO2 around 10.5% to 11% almost approaching stoichometric conditions. Excess air must be very carefully controlled along with the air for combustion temperature. I am sure you are aware of all of that seeing as you are well read on this subject

CMadatMe

Warranty

You do understand that the only warranty on this boiler is the one PEX Supply gave to you. I would definetly save my pennies and add the outdoor reset module down the road. Boiler can handle 110 degree return water temps and with cast ODR is ideal.





You also understand that you voided any warranty by not using the Z-Flex that comes with that boiler to vent from the boiler to the chimmney.

Eric Peterson_3

OR and Type B

I do think OR is a good idea, but I am only interested if the cost savings pays for the module. If there is data out that indicates proven cost savings then I would like to see it.

The boiler did not come with any Z-flex. The I&O manual does call for TypeB (double wall) vent pipe. Since the run is vertical and very short I am not too concerned but as you say I should replace that section with double wall.

Eric Peterson_3

Condensation

I was very concerned about condensation and return temps. That will be in Part 2.

CMadatMe

It Comes With The Boiler

It should have been with the boiler. They give you a 5' piece of Z-Flex to connect from the Vent Damper to the liner. As for savings it's simple...For every 3 degrees you can run heating system below 180 you save 1 percent of fuel.

Eric Peterson_3

The product brochure says this:

“Vent

Connector Kit Saves

time & simplifies installation,

includes 5’ flexible

insulated double wall

vent connector and

adapters for easy connection

to the chimney

system”

But there was not such vent connector kit shipped to me. I have contacted the distributor and asked for an explanation.

Eric

Mark Eatherton

So...

Where's part 2?



I want to see more of your near boiler piping before I comment :-) (No inuendos were meant or intended in that last statement...) :-)



ME