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I spoke with a potential contractor in my quest for a replacement Gas/Steam Boiler. In the course of the conversation, told him that there would be an elderly person in the house, often alone for many weeks at a time, and that I would want an auto-feed. He said he doesn't "trust" them, that they will all fail sooner or later, and that he won't put them in due to liability. Is he right? Shouldn't potential liability be my choice? I also have concerns with NOT having one, as the house may be unoccupied for a month or more during the Boston winter, and I don't want to risk freezing.
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EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Boiler Control
Boiler pictures updated 2/21/15
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10202744301871904.1073741828.1330391881&type=1&l=c34ad6ee78
This way you can check your indoor temperature from time to time.
Insist on a Hydrolevel VXT feeder if you want a feeder.
Personally, I don't have an autofeeder. The boiler that was in the house when we bought it did, but I never put one on the new boiler.
As KC said, you should be manually feeding the boiler anyway and it should be done when the boiler is firing so dissolved oxygen is driven out as fast as possible. I typically remember in the back of my mind that I needed to add soon and when I hear the thermostat click on I'll go down the basement and open the valve to feed water slowly. This way, all of my water is added right at the start of a cycle so I know it's boiled before the boiler shuts down.
It should have a meter on it, but that is common enough now that it shouldn't be a problem.
Regardless, the house as a whole should be checked weekly if someone isn't there! It should be checked at least daily if there is an elderly occupant home alone -- but that, I would think, should go without saying. There would be no harm to asking the check person to go to the basement and note the reading on the water meter on the feeder, but it would be asking a bit much of a home health care type -- or your third cousin once removed -- to check the gauge glass and add water as needed.
On the wifi thermostat... well... um. They are getting to be more popular. On most of the ones which I have seen, the security is somewhere between minimal and zilch, and if it is connected, as it would be, to the home computer system all I can say is that I hope you have really top end firewalls on that system... both upstream of the router (between the router and the modem) and downstream (between the router and all other connected devices -- one on each computer), and the wifi network protected by a really solid password, changed, if not daily, at least weekly.
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England.
Hoffman Equipped System (all original except boiler), Weil-Mclain 580, 2.75 gph Carlin, Vapourstat 0.5 -- 6.0 ounces per square inch
I would add that in the case @George cites, the device may not have been an autofeeder, but a PRV, which is somewhat more common on hydronic installations. I would further add that he who leaveth a house in the north and goes down south for the winter and doesn't turn everything off and drain everything may just be a candidate for a Darwin award?
I think, rather, that the suggestion to put an autofeeder on a boiler serving a residence occupied by an elderly person simply makes good sense for the health and safety of that person.
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England.
Hoffman Equipped System (all original except boiler), Weil-Mclain 580, 2.75 gph Carlin, Vapourstat 0.5 -- 6.0 ounces per square inch
http://www.gwgillplumbingandheating.com/webapp/p/500/the-peril-of-automatic-water-feeders
Is this something that a boiler installer should be able to do for me? Anyone out there has done this? Is there a better way to accomplish this?
Located in Staten Island NY
Servicing all 5 boroughs of NYC.
347-692-4777
[email protected]
ASMHVACNYC.COM
https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/asm-mechanical-company
Located in Staten Island NY
Servicing all 5 boroughs of NYC.
347-692-4777
[email protected]
ASMHVACNYC.COM
https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/asm-mechanical-company
i would add an alarm onto the contacts that disconnect the feeder so someone is aware there is a problem.
Bob
Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
3PSI gauge
Located in Staten Island NY
Servicing all 5 boroughs of NYC.
347-692-4777
[email protected]
ASMHVACNYC.COM
https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/asm-mechanical-company
Bob
Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
3PSI gauge
[email protected] yahoo.com
(207)229-7717
Located in Staten Island NY
Servicing all 5 boroughs of NYC.
347-692-4777
[email protected]
ASMHVACNYC.COM
https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/asm-mechanical-company
Please observe that is also possible to come up with a fail operational design of similar reliability -- with considerably greater expense and complexity.
OK... now we can be reasonably sure that the boiler won't overfill or dry fire.
But... what happens if the power goes off completely? What happens if one of the redundant safeties shuts things off? And then it gets cold...
Um...
You have two choices: Well, three. First, and best, is that someone competent checks that all is well at least daily -- and I don't mean an auto-dialer or wi-fi thermostat (that's just something else to fail). Second, drain the water out of the building if it is going to be left for more than 24 hours (perhaps, if well insulated and not too cold in your parts, as much as 72 hours might be OK. Not in New England...). Third, live with the consequences of failure... and hope it doesn't happen on your watch.
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England.
Hoffman Equipped System (all original except boiler), Weil-Mclain 580, 2.75 gph Carlin, Vapourstat 0.5 -- 6.0 ounces per square inch