Help w/ existing 1950's HW baseboard system

jlind

Short story is we bought a place last summer with an old house on the property, we've been repairing the house so we can eventually move in. Our original plan was to do some minimum repairs and move in until we built a new home on the property but those minimum repairs have turned into literally rebuilding over half the house so I'm thinking we might live here a while due to the investment we've made.



The house is a single level older structure that was moved to the site in 1949. It had minimal insulation to start with, the west and south walls are now fully insulated and have new windows as well as new blow-in insulation in the attic. The remaining walls will need to be rebuilt in the next year or two and will be insulated and have new windows installed at that time. No insulation in the floor yet.



The heating system is an old Arcoliner oil fired boiler with a newer Beckett burner thingy (don't know the terminology), single loop w/ 2" iron pipe feeding the baseboards shown below. Total sq-ft of the house is 1200-1300 sq-ft, slab on the left 1/3 of the house and crawlspace on the right 2/3.



I'm posting here for help because in NW Oregon where we live these heating systems are not common and I haven't found anyone familiar enough with them to give me sound advice.



I have a couple of concerns with the system. One, we are only keeping the t-stat set at 55F as we aren't living there yet only working on things and trying to keep the house dry. I had 150 gal of oil delivered about 60 days ago and we've already burned 125 gal in that time.



The other issue I have is the North end of the house including the living room, dining room and M. bedroom aren't staying very warm. If I turn up the t-stat to 65, the boiler fires and when the pump circulates long enough to pull the water through the loop the temp gauge on the boiler is pulled down almost to 100F and it takes a while (30+ min) before returning to 180F and turning off. If I leave the t-stat set at 65 it seems to keep the house warm but the baseboards in that part of the house aren't staying as warm as those closer to the boiler.



Also the boiler seems to short cycle, turning on a few times per hour and running for 5 minutes before turning off.



I don't have the funds available for a boiler replacement at this time so I'm looking for help getting the most out of the system I have. The 2" iron pipe that makes up the loop isn't insulated so I'm guessing that should one item to get done. How I'm not sure? Also I'll add insulation to the floor which should help a little.



What else can be done to improve what I have? The water heater is electric, I mentioned this because I've read that some storage capacity can help efficiency so maybe add that to the system? Re-plumb into multiple zones?



Sorry for the long read, I'm trying to include enough information but can certainly add details if needed. Thanks for any help, I've also included a crude diagram below.



EDIT: From more research I believe I have a monoflow system. Would a plumbing diagram help?

STEVEusaPA

for starters......

1. you mentioned no insulation in the wall on the north and east walls, which also seems to be the coldest part of the house.  Insulating them will help tremendously.

2.  Whats the system pressure.  You could have a few issues at play--waterlogged expansion tank, not enough water in the system, and air trapped, that needs to be bled.

3.  Heat moves to cold, so the heat in the baseboards, on the outside walls of the uninsulated walls, is being sucked right out of the house.

4. An empty house will need more btus to keep it warm.  Theres nothing in the house absorbing, then releasing the heat.  Therefore you will burn more oil.

5.  When you say it takes 30+ minutes to heat the water up, does that include the short cycling?  If so, then you most likely have an air problem (interferring with circulation), low pressure (not enough water), or a bad circulator, causing the boiler to shut off on high limit.

As far as improvements, you obviously need a competent hydronics person involved, to go over the whole system.  Have the boiler cleaned, the beckett burner tuned, and check all the components--specifically the circulator, pressure, and expansion tank.  That should get you on the right track.  Did you try the oil company who delivered the oil?  Or a recommended full service oil company?  Insulating the pipes will help, but do the other things first.

billtwocase

you may be

maintaining temp for an old coil that is no longer in use. You need insulation to start with. No matter how efficient the system is, if you are sending the heat out of the home, your heat source will soon be back on trying to compensate. It sounds like you also need to balance the system out. It may be monoflow which will make that easier. Pics will help. A new boiler when you can would be a big plus. If that burner was not properly sized/set up for that boiler, and no one has baffled the passage ways, it is not running at it's peak

jlind

Thanks for the replies

I'll add pictures of the boiler and plumbing below, I'd really like your thoughts on how the system is setup.



We will add insulation over time, but my concerns about the baseboards not staying warm at the far end of the house won't be changed by adding insulation. How is the circ pump supposed to operate? Is there some adjustment that can be made? It would seem to me like the boiler is short cycling and the pump isn't running long enough to exchange the water at the far end.



Again thanks for the help. We don't have anyone locally familiar with the setup of these systems, only someone that can keep the boiler running. I may need need to get someone out of the nearest metro area (2 hrs away).

billtwocase

I'd like

to see pics of your baseboard/radiators/convectors, and how they are piped. It looks as though the supply/return has to be piped around doorways. Just curious on how that was done. That might be your issue with the north end. If it is monoflo, I can see where it would possibly by-pass that end of the house.

NRT_Rob

several issues

first, you have a lot of water. long, cold runs on these boilers are bad, will kill the boiler.



properly you should have a "primary/secondary" piping arrangement, with "boiler protection" and "outdoor reset" built into a controller... preferably with a mixing device. that would improve runtime efficiencies and boiler lifespan... presuming this boiler can even be run in a "cold start" configuration without leaking (i.e. turned off). some always hot boilers leak if you turn them off as they were built to stay hot.



You can't really evaluate the temp drop of the baseboards unless you're in a temperature maintenance situation. It's possible the baseboards at the beginning are hogging all the heat, but your house is not that big, the pipe IS big, and it's doubtful that pump head is the problem. MAYBE that circ is going bad.



you say this is a 'monoflow' system. do you mean that some flow bypasses each baseboard? If so, you might have air problems in the later baseboards that might need to be purged.