Road to better efficiency

Fizz

Single pipe system(old Sears Cape Cod set-up) parallel flow, 2 circuits front and back. Front has 31' supply pipe 11/2", and return 28' also 11/2", with 133.5 sf EDR attached rad; back has 28' supply with 2" pipe and 26.5 return with 11/2" pipe with 84 sf of rad attached. Retrurns are dry and drop at boiler. Whe I first got here about 11/2 yrs ago, both returns were vented by gorton#1's; the back vented quicker, and got to vent every run, heated better also. I changed to a Gorton#2 on front, but without much improvement, and steam rarely got to vent, two wks ago I insulated front-side, now it's about = to back. Boiler is WM SGO3, with downsized .80 nozzle, with btu rating of 114K and SF of steam 354. Much oversized I would think. Cycles run from 35-40 min, and 32oz pressure gauge reads 1oz til last several minutes when it rises to 12-16oz. P-trol is additive, set at .5 cut-in and 1lb. Thermostat is Honeywell T822D, with set point of .18(lowest), new Beckett Genysys 7505 calls for .1, but old heat control setting was .2. Functions basically the same. Any suggestions?

Jamie Hall

Is the back side insulated? Might help a little. Other than that, given the boiler you have, probably not much you can do. The best bet on the boiler is to make sure it is carefully cleaned and serviced every year to get it up to its best performance.

A vapourstat, set to cut out at 10 ounces and back in at say 4 would probably help a little on the efficiency -- somewhere in that pressure rise range is where you want to cut out -- but not, I would say, enough to justify the cost of the vapourstat. They aren't cheap...

On overall system efficiency, the best things to do are to make sure that you have tightened the envelope as much as you can reasonably -- attic/roof insulation, wall insulation, make sure the windows are tight and have good storm windows (no need to replace them -- old double hungs, if they are reasonably tight, plus storms are very nearly as good as any but the most expensive new windows). That sort of thing.

Steamhead

What @Jamie Hall said. You've already done most of what I'd suggest. Does someone come every year to maintain the burner and brush/vacuum inside the boiler? Do they do a combustion test every year?

Chris_L

@Fizz, what is an "old Sears Cape Cod set-up"?

Is that some sort of steam system design, or do you mean a Cape house? (Never associated them with Sears, though I suppose you could have bought one from the catalog at one time.)

Jamie Hall

Chris_L said:

@Fizz, what is an "old Sears Cape Cod set-up"?

Is that some sort of steam system design, or do you mean a Cape house? (Never associated them with Sears, though I suppose you could have bought one from the catalog at one time.)

Sears had quite a line in houses from the catalogue at one point -- look at them here: http://www.arts-crafts.com/archive/sears/

Those were the days...

JUGHNE

Sears used to sell and provide everything.
If the boiler has their name on it, it could be another rebadged Dunkirk....side delivery.

This was back when Sears was a real company.
IMO they missed their chance to do what Amazon is doing now.
The infrastructure and name recognition they had could have put them in the driver's seat for the new method of business.
Someone lacked vision.
Even Warren Buffet said he missed the calling to get in early for Amazon stock......me too!

Phil53

@ Jughne amazon is destroying brick and mortar retail that employ the people and pay the property taxes in your community. Shop local first and if you use the internet for shopping try to avoid amazon as they compete unfairly and need to be the target of an anti-trust investigation. I agree as an investment if you got in early on you would have made a lot of money.

Fizz

Yes, boiler is serviced every year and cleaned along with chimney.
Thanks for input to all!

nibs

@phil53, gonna argue with you.
In the 1980's the onslaught of the big box stores gutted main street America.
Grocery supermarkets moved into town, slashed prices forcing mom and pop's out of the game, then they raised their prices because they had no competition.
Then big box hardware & big box everything opened on the edge of town ending mom & pop's except for a few specialty shops. Now we have a new supply paradigm, automated buying and delivery, and that genie is not going back in the bottle.
IMO if a job can be automated it deserves to be, now we have to work out a way of making sure the people have a dignified income not tied to the production of goods that are now increasingly made robotically, and that problem is for you younger people to solve.

Fizz

That's well put!

luketheplumber

well now mom & pop shops seem to be coming back in the downtown areas in my town (Durham NC) there a lovely store called public hardware unfortunately they do not sell parts for steam and hot water systems its well know among DIYers like me

BobC

My area used to have a half dozen hardware stores and 3 lumber yards. Two years after HD opened the lumber yards all closed down and all but two of the hardware stores closed. It's interesting that one of the remaining hardware stores is two blocks from that HD and they do a bang up business because the have a lot of stock and the plentiful staff understand what they are selling.

The other remaining hardware store is 3 blocks from me, they aren't as good as the other remaining hardware store but it's just so much easier to go in and get what you need - in and out in 5 minutes.

Bob

NY_Rob

BobC said:

My area used to have a half dozen hardware stores and 3 lumber yards. Two years after HD opened the lumber yards all closed down and all but two of the hardware stores closed. It's interesting that one of the remaining hardware stores is two blocks from that HD and they do a bang up business because the have a lot of stock and the plentiful staff understand what they are selling.

Similar situation in the town where I work.

The hardware store has been here since 1959, but we all feared it would go belly up once HD opened in the late 90's and then Lowes a few years after that. Well, if anything they're doing more business now because their employees (including some original & 2nd gen owner family members) have been there for years, they are knowledgeable and friendly... pretty much the opposite of the HD and Lowes staff. Funny thing is, if you have to wait on line... nobody minds because it's like a 1950's throwback where you generally know half the people who come in and you've known the staff for years... so everyone chats a bit... and we all leave happy. Sometimes I go in just to talk football with the owner's son, try that at HD or Lowes.
All the businesses in town have a tab there, on paper like back in the day. You just sign for your stuff and leave. They mail out invoices at the end of the month.
I always try to buy there first, if they don't have it I then have to go to one of the big box stores, but it's amazing how much stuff they have packed in that building! Another good thing is the Town and schools still buy their supplies from them vs. HD/Lowes.

mikeg2015

Local stores can survive if they can be knowledgeable, have flexible hours for modern lifestyles and carry some niche products unique to their local market. And just good salesmanship.

It is funny that Sear had the basic Amazon delivery model 100 years ago, but shipping times I think killed them. It was too slow to wait 2-8 weeks for a item by mail order. They failed ot evolve and focused on brick and mortar only.

I think there is a model for a hybrid like SAms and Costco that can be both a brick and mortar and a distribution hub.

nibs

Ran a small business after we retired professionally, we were competing with goods made offshore.
We offered custom work, service and quality and did quite nicely.
Have retired again and are working our aging buns off building the house.