Eastman 20371?

neals

If I put "brass 45 street elbow" into their search all I get is this:

https://www.supplyhouse.com/sh/control/search/~SEARCH_STRING=1/4%22%20brass%2045%20street%20elbows?searchText=1%2F4%22+brass+45+street+elbows

That doesn't look anything like the one in the video, though. 

Dan_NJ

It doesn't need to be a bar stock street 45, any 1/4" street 45 will do. and you don't necessarily need a street 45 on there at all since you can attach a hose to the valve itself. This is what I used:

https://www.amazon.com/Anderson-Metals-Fitting-Degree-Barstock/dp/B00D3CVS1C/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=45+Degree+Barstock+Street+Elbow+1/4"&qid=1606606279&s=industrial&sr=1-4

neals

All my vents started spitting last night, enough to wake me at 4 AM. So I decided to do this today rather than wait for plumbing stores to open tomorrow.  Here it is in progress:

How will I know when it's done?

neals

And how often will I need to do this?

neals

Sorry, I just reread this whole thread and you already said it's hard to tell how long it takes. So I'm just looking at each bucket to see if there's oil floating before I dump it. 

Dan_NJ

If you have oils etc floating on the surface you may need to skim a few times to clean things up.  It depends.  I like to start with a clean bucket so I can see if any thing is floating on the surface. You should see some improvement each time if floating oils and such are part of the problem.

Edit - If you're dumping the bucket, you might also be leaving stuff clinging to the sides of the bucket.  Give it a good rinse if possible so you're not seeing the same crud you tried to dump out

neilc

I would give serious consideration to checking the pigtail under the primary Ptrol,
you may be running too high a pressure,
and we don't know due to how that single gage is piped above the piggy.

neals

First firing cycle complete, about 1/2" bounce max (I watched it the whole time).  Water started clear but clouded up fairly fast. But no vent spitting, and floor under radiators is dry. So I'm calling this a limited success, thank you all for your advice and time!

I'll look at the pigtail tomorrow, there should be a time mid-day when the MIL doesn't get too cold and I can turn the boiler off for a couple of hours. I'm in a mother-daughter semi-attached in Queens, built in 1920 -- MIL downstairs, my family on top. No insulation, of course, which makes this cantankerous system even more vital. 

ethicalpaul

neilc said:

The solid grey cover is your primary operating Ptrol, the scale on the front is your cutout, leave it set as is, that just under the 2, inside the cover is a white differential wheel, it should be set to 1, Set like this the boiler should operate up to 2 psi, shut off, and come back on at 1 psi.

But the gray primary is an additive ptrol right? So the front indicator is the cut in and add to that the dial value of 1 means it won’t want to cut out until almost 3. And these things are always set slow by the factory so it might get almost to 4.

I’d run it to the bottom, .5 cut-in, 1.5 cut-out (nominally)

Lard

ethicalpaul said:

neilc said:

The solid grey cover is your primary operating Ptrol, the scale on the front is your cutout, leave it set as is, that just under the 2, inside the cover is a white differential wheel, it should be set to 1, Set like this the boiler should operate up to 2 psi, shut off, and come back on at 1 psi.

But the gray primary is an additive ptrol right? So the front indicator is the cut in and add to that the dial value of 1 means it won’t want to cut out until almost 3. And these things are always set slow by the factory so it might get almost to 4.

I’d run it to the bottom, .5 cut-in, 1.5 cut-out (nominally)

You want to be careful with the cheap gray additive pressuretrols, on mine if I run to the bottom, it will not reliably reset on pressure drop. It is a game of “how low can you go”, since they are cheaply made and every one behaves quite differently. A few hours in the boiler room and you will find the sweet spot... it may work for a few cycles, then suddenly you have no fire until you give the pressuretrol a whack. Bump it up a bit and watch it some more...
 This unreliability at low pressures is one of the reasons I am going to a transducer for operating limit.

neilc

neals said:

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ethicalpaul said:

neilc said:

The solid grey cover is your primary operating Ptrol, the scale on the front is your cutout, leave it set as is, that just under the 2, inside the cover is a white differential wheel, it should be set to 1,
Set like this the boiler should operate up to 2 psi, shut off, and come back on at 1 psi.

But the gray primary is an additive ptrol right? So the front indicator is the cut in and add to that the dial value of 1 means it won’t want to cut out until almost 3. And these things are always set slow by the factory so it might get almost to 4.

I’d run it to the bottom, .5 cut-in, 1.5 cut-out (nominally)

OMG, Wow,
great catch Paul, I am getting sloppy,
Yes, the main scale is the Cut IN, and should be bottomed out, to Lard's point, to where it will reliably cut back in,
so, 0.5, ish.
and the the differential will add 1, and with a little luck, the boiler will cut out at 1.5 psi,
and the boiler should operate between 0.5 and 1.5 psi.

thankyou Paul,
now I gotta go read all my other posts , , ,

ethicalpaul

No sweat @neilc, happens to me all the time!! My phone screen has a hole in it where the "edit" button appears.

neilc

ethicalpaul said:

My phone screen has a hole in it where the "edit" button appears.

Yup !

Dan_NJ

Interesting you mention that, I have two PA404A 1009's and they do not have the same stenciling on the front as you can see from the pictures, yet they both operate in the exact same manner. I did a continuity test on the newer one to confirm operation when it arrived. Sadly they are both inaccurate and a waste of money. Could have had a more accurate vaporstat in the correct range for the price of two of these.

neals

Thank you for catching that!  I have turned it down to almost-bottom, maybe 0.8.  So hopefully that will strike a balance between risking it not cutting in again and it going too high.  Once it gets colder I'll find out -- right now it never fires again anyway because the thermostat stops it first.

ethicalpaul

Ok good, that’s ideal if it never cuts out!

neilc

Dan_NJ said:

oh this just keeps getting better, and better !

Dave0176

In all the years doing this job I have found only one of those pressuretrols to be accurate out of the box. I built a low pressure rig to test them and attempt to calibrate them, because even trying to adjust them doesn’t always work, however I can get it close.

Dave0176

Also as I said earlier don’t discount the piping, it’s wrong and is contributing to some issues.

neals

Thanks for reminding me about the pipes, I've found a pro via this site to hopefully come visit next week and take a look, as well as put in a proper skim port and do the annual maintenance I don't trust myself for. 

neals

In the meantime the emergency skim appears to have worked, my radiators aren't spitting any more and the sight glass bobbing is about half an inch.