Gas Burner / Regulator Question

nz

I had a guy come out about a year ago - to look at some of the issues I was having with my Dunham Vapor system. This, of course, was before I knew about this site, or even what a vapor system was.



He dialed back the gas regulator for my burners on my American Standard 3B J2 525,000 BTU boiler saying this would help with my water hammer. It helped a little....but not a lot (I know where the problem is now, bad drip/crossover trap). However - the result was the boiler ran longer, and my gas bills went up a little bit.



My question is:



1. Should he have dialed back the gas regulator?

2. If not, what "should" it be set to?



I've bought Dan's books, finished one and I'm in the middle of the lost art. I haven't come across an answer to this yet.

Mike Kusiak_2

Gas Firing Rate

Generally speaking, it is a bad idea to reduce the gas pressure to less than the designed value. The burners and heat exchanger are designed for a specific firing rate (525,000 BTU/ hr in your case). You will lose efficiency if you reduce it significantly from spec.



You can determine at what rate you are currently firing by clocking the gas meter. This involves timing how long it takes for the boiler to consume a given rate of gas, typically one revolution of the 2 cu ft dial. With a little math, you can calculate how many cubic feet per hour you are burning. Since gas produces about 102,000 BTU per 100 cu ft, you can then determine how many BTU/hr are being generated and compare it to the rated value. I would guess your current firing rate is significantly below the manufacturers rating. Details on the clocking procedure can be found on this site by searching for clocking gas meter.



I seem to recall from your previous posts that no matter how long the system ran you were unable to raise any pressure,  and some radiators failed to heat fully. This would be a direct result of the boiler being underfired as a result of  lowering the gas pressure.