Old System

icesailor

I have a customer I took on last Spring (2010) with an old house that was gut rehabbed between 1910 1nd 1920. The house was built 1790 to 1810. A coal fired gravity system was installed with one zone and radiators on two floors. At some time, the coal was dropped and the boiler was converted to oil. Sometime in the early 2000's, there was a flood in the cellar and the boiler was replaced with a Peerless JOT. A Vaughan Top Performer is used as an indirect. The supply and return to the original boiler is 4" screw pipe. All the radiator connections are 1 1/2"  screw pipe. There's a lot of water in the system. All the radiators on the second floor have been disconnected in the cellar. One second floor circuit that had two radiators on it was supposed to be broken and leaking. I air tested it today and it doesn't leak.

What I would like to do is use a mixer controlled by outdoor reset to control the radiator water temperature and run the boiler above condensate. I just need the valve and controls. I plan on making the disconnected second floor, another zone.

Who makes such valve and what are thoughts?

Charlie from wmass

One thing about your air test

the leak may have rusted closed. When you run hot water through it it may open up. Is there a budget for home running the radiators to a central manifold? You said it was gutted right? A hydraulic separator could also be used to prevent condensation in the boiler. Tekmar has many good controls.

Charlie from wmass

I only mention the air test as I lived through one like that

It was a few years ago but it was not fun. I had a nice cast iron radiator the people wanted converted to hot water. I said not bad idea, they said please try. I tested it with air before I tried to convert it to hot water and it held fine. After I converted it I tested it again to make sure nothing had a leak after converting. It passed that test too. After a week of running on hot water it developed a pin hole, then another. I know I am preaching to the choir here, but figured I would say it for the public reading this thread.

icesailor

Old Systems:

Charlie,

The house is complete. The "Gut Rehab" was done between 1900 and 1920. All walls are intact and the house is in excellent condition. Complete with knob and tube wiring. It has mostly old column radiators. Some modern slender tube radiators in one end of the house.

I don't want to turn this into a giant project. It won't happen if I do. The problem with these coal conversions is that there is so much water in the system, they radiate long after is shuts down. With reset, I can cool down the water temperature. The house isn't lived in during the winter. A family member in the past, had all the second floor radiators disconnected. I want to re-connect them. I can reconnect them in the cellar and make it a new zone. The whole first floor zone starts out 4". The new boiler connection is 1 1/4".

At this time, there is no insulation in the house. In the future, it will probably get blown in. Then, it is REALLY over radiated.

As far as the leaking loop, I'm always suspicious of story's that are passed on. The disconnect was years ago. There had been a stain in the ceiling in the front hall. 3' away from any piping or radiators. You only need to test gas piping to 5# for 10 minutes. I tested to 7.5# for two hours and it didn't drop at all. If it is still at 7.5# tomorrow AM, it isn't leaking. More likely, water got on the floor and came through the ceiling. So they disconnected the radiators. If there is a break under the floor, I will take up the floor and fix it. I can do that.

What I want to do is correct the heat system. I know what I want to do. I just need the equipment to do it. The radiator system is just a radiant panel type thing. I have a high mass system with a low mass (in comparison) boiler.

icesailor

Old Syetem Testing:

I have plenty of time to test. I'm not going to connect anything until the fall. From the description of the ceiling stain and the location, I don't think the pipes were leaking. There are two old column radiators with their old packed valves. I ran gas leak detector on them and no bubbles. I expected them to leak slightly. Nada.

I'm just in the planning stage.

I got this customer because the sewer backed up under and outside the house. Two plumbers walked away and said they couldn't figure out what was wrong and find someone else. I'm "Someone Else". The town replaced the sewer in the street and didn't re-connect the house. I found the missed connection with a camera and found the town sewer map from 1903 showing the connection they missed.

There was a stain on the kitchen ceiling under the second floor toilet. Except the stain was under the bathtub. The leak was from an American Standard Aquarian single lever valve leaking out of the stem and down the inside of the wall. I'll replace that shortly. Then, there's the cracked 4" CI soil pipe in the wall in the kitchen. It goes on and on.