Pressuretrol Setting

Leepoll

I am obsessed with making my heating system as efficient as possible. When I bought my house 3 1/2 years ago it came with a new Burnham oil fired boiler (clearly never tested so I got the break in period!). During this time I have insulated the pipes, insulated the rim joist, insulated the attic, added a digital thermostat, and got my venting set properly. I get good distribution of heat but I still think my heating bills are way too much money. I have always wondered about how the system controls the pressure  and started reading about the Pressuretrol and how steam systems should be low pressure.



I think the system short cycles a little bit and wonder if I should try to cut back on the pressure. I have attached a photo (blurry- sorry) which shows  the Main at 2psi and the diff at .75. Do I have room to cut the pressure back and if so what should it be? 

Thanks in advance for the help.

BobC

2 PSI is it for that model

Getting that model pressuretrol below 2PSI is hit or miss, some will go a little lower but a few tend to lock out if you try and go to low. The older PA404's could go down to 1.5PSI and a vaporstat can go down to ounces.



Given the cost of a vaporstat (about 80 more than a pressturetrol - part only) it will take a long time for that to pay you back should you install a vaporstat just for the lower pressure. If that pressuretrol were to fail and require replacement it might be worth consideration.



The money might be better spent if put towards tightening up the house against air infiltration.



Bob

Leepoll

Venting Main

Thanks Bob,

What about venting the mains better. The house is currently broken down with a Gorton D vent on the short main (front of the house) and a No. 1 on the long main which really feed the majority of the house. I was thinking about moving the No.1 to the short main and doing two D vents on the long main to vent the long main faster. My assumption is that if I get the heat through the mains quicker to feed the radiators, that should help my efficiency.

Is my assumption correct?



As an aside- I purchased another No. 1 vent for the main, but have a few D's laying around which is how I came up with the "double D" setup on the long main. I was going to return the No. 1 vent and get my money back.

Thoughts?

nicholas bonham-carter

using a good low-pressure gauge

if you have no gauge capable of reading ounces of pressure, then you will be in the dark as to whether your pressuretrol is operating properly. in addition, you won't know whether you have room for improvement on your main venting. short-cycling can be a sign of inadequate main venting, or of boiler over-capacity, and the gauge will show you what is happening. unless you have very short mains, i wouldn't think those "d"s will do much.--nbc

Leepoll

Gauge- Low Pressure

NBC,

Understood about the gauge. Here is the gauge I have which does not appear to be a low pressure gauge considering it goes to 30 psi. When I took this picture the system was off and the gauge still reads just below 2. Is this indicative of a  potential problem with the gauge or does it read to last know max pressure it was running at? I will take a look tonight to see if it moves when operating, but I do not recall ever seeing it above where it reads right now.



My rough estimate for the pipe mains are 40-45' in one direction and 50-55' in the long direction.

If it would be helpful. I can get the main lengths, pipe circumference, and boiler size tonight.

Thanks for the input. 

BobC

Bigger

You want the steam to fill those mains quickly. With mains that long you probably need one Gorton #2 on each main (1.1 CFM at 1oz) and perhaps more than that. As NBC said you need a low pressure gauge to see exactly what is going on because the 0-30 isn't much good at the low end.



If you want to save some coin try mounting the 2 Gorton D's and the Gorton # 1 on one main and then get a Gorton #2 for the other. That will give about 1 CFM vs the 1.1 the #2 is rated for. Just keep in mind the #2 has a 1/2" thread while the #1 is 1/2 female and 3/4 male and the D's are 1/8".



I've enclosed a sizing chart to help you determine the pipe sizes.



Bob

Leepoll

Bigger Clarification

Bob-

I would assume you are saying to do the 2- D's and the #1 on the long main. Do the #2 by itself on the short main.

I understand they have different threading...

Thx for the help and yes I want to save some coin!!!

BobC

Could be either way

The Gorton #2 has about 10% more venting capacity than the two D's and the #1 combination so the combo probably wants to go on the smaller main but depending on the configuration it could be the other way around.



You may have to play it by ear and it could turn out you need even more venting if those pipes are a large diameter.



Bob

nicholas bonham-carter

saving some coin

two ways some money can be kept out of the hands of the fuel company:

1.don't be paying them to squeeeezzze the air out of your constipated little vents.

2.don't have any more pressure than a couple of ounces.--nbc

Leepoll

Main Line Venting

So I took the advise of BobC on adding venting to my mains. My next step is to add a 3psi gauge. My question is how do I know if it is really helping!?!? I know that I need to see what kind of pressure I have, but I don't hear anything coming from the main line vents.

A separate question- being a novice at this type of work, I put a small dent in the No. 1 vent as you can see in the picture. Will this affect the operation or is there enough distance from the skin of the vent to the mechanisms inside?

Thanks for the help!