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Some days, I am just in awe....

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delta T
delta T Member Posts: 884
in Radiant Heating
at the lengths some people will go to to "save money on heating".

Went to do a tune up for a new customer today......found this. 3" water heater flue runs downhill for about 10' to the connection you see.

Will be replacing the water heater with a side arm, fixing the flue and doing some minor repairs. The boiler itself seems to be in pretty good shape at least!
Solid_Fuel_Man

Comments

  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,061
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    You mean they are going to lose the "Magic Heat"!! :'(
    delta TSolid_Fuel_Man
  • delta T
    delta T Member Posts: 884
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    These people just bought the house, previous owner claimed that it heated the whole basement by itself! (That and the 60' of baseboard....)
  • delta T
    delta T Member Posts: 884
    edited September 2019
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    I've heard of Magic Heat units before but this is the first time I've seen one in the wild!

    Must be magic to make the flue gases go down then back up like that lol
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 16,832
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    Can't fix stupid..................
    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
    Zman
  • STEVEusaPA
    STEVEusaPA Member Posts: 6,506
    edited September 2019
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    Oh I have a hard-headed cheap customer with one on an oil burner flue pipe.
    “Heats the whole basement for 'free'”.
    I posted the pic before...
    I make him take it off and remove the wiring before annual pm.

    This is a diy job. He solved the ghost flow issue by installing zone valves on each circulator zone.
    Won’t pay to clean up any controls/wiring/piping.
    steve
    lchmbdelta T
  • SlamDunk
    SlamDunk Member Posts: 1,580
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    There is a "Greenwood Fire Dept" sign hanging on the wall!
    delta T
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 16,832
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    Too cheap for a 15-second primary too.
    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
  • Alan (California Radiant) Forbes
    Alan (California Radiant) Forbes Member Posts: 4,002
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    And all three circulators are vertical, no insulation, pipes corroded by flux not removed.........Hope he got a deal.
    8.33 lbs./gal. x 60 min./hr. x 20°ΔT = 10,000 BTU's/hour

    Two btu per sq ft for degree difference for a slab
    GroundUpdelta T
  • JakeCK
    JakeCK Member Posts: 1,356
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    Not to mention the scorched wood behind the manifold.
  • GroundUp
    GroundUp Member Posts: 1,907
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    Replacing the WH with a sidearm, somebody is going go be very disappointed with their 7 second showers before they run out of hot water
  • delta T
    delta T Member Posts: 884
    edited September 2019
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    @SlamDunk the antiques they have in that house are amazing, radios and cameras mostly, his hobby seems to be fixing old 1920s and 30s radios, house is filled.

    @GroundUp Why do you say that? an IDWH will make a hell of a lot more hot water than the 20 year old WH that is there....
  • GroundUp
    GroundUp Member Posts: 1,907
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    @delta T I say that because a sidearm has the BTU exchange of a BIC lighter. There was no mention of an indirect until now- at which point I am on the same page.
  • delta T
    delta T Member Posts: 884
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    @GroundUp I gotcha, yeah I meant an IDWH, in my neck of the woods, the two terms are interchangable. Are you talking about an everhot or similar heat exchanger?

    Funny how we all have slightly different terminology. I had a distributor get rather angry and upset with me when I tried to order a PRV (Which is what I call a Pressure Reducing Valve). He insisted that a PRV was and could only ever be a Pressure Relief Valve. He actually got so upset about it that he hung up on me :/ I thought I was being pretty nice about it....guess he was having a bad day Lol>
    GroundUp
  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 3,291
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    Hi @GroundUp , Watts, who invented the temperature and pressure relief valve calls it a T&P relief valve or T&P. Your distributor must have been having a bad day, cuz he had it wrong. o:) Now for pressure relief only, they call it "water pressure relief valve", "safety relief valve" and "boiler pressure relief valve". It could get confusing!

    Yours, Larry
  • GroundUp
    GroundUp Member Posts: 1,907
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    That darn terminology! What I refer to as a sidearm, is literally a "side arm" HX on a tank style WH, basically a pair of tubes inside one another where boiler water runs between the inner and outer via a couple tees and domestic on the inner tube via reducers at the end. Most often used (here anyway) in outdoor boiler applications with constant circulation and create a thermosiphon to keep the tank hot with no additional circ. The output is very low however, so the picture I had in my head was just a 4ft long copper log hanging in place of a tank hoping for on-demand heating like a plate HX would provide.
  • delta T
    delta T Member Posts: 884
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    @GroundUp yeah I've seen a few of those, usually on old solar systems. We call them tube exchangers. Yeah, don't think my customer would be to happy with that lol!
    GroundUp
  • HotanCool
    HotanCool Member Posts: 55
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    STEVEusaPA said:

    Oh I have a hard-headed cheap customer with one on an oil burner flue pipe.
    “Heats the whole basement for 'free'”.
    I posted the pic before...
    I make him take it off and remove the wiring before annual pm.

    This is a diy job. He solved the ghost flow issue by installing zone valves on each circulator zone.
    Won’t pay to clean up any controls/wiring/piping.

    I find those stack robber's, tend to soot up modern Boilers. Too low a stack temp.

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