Burnham SteamMax...Thoughts?

cross_skier

So with the  power burners draft and A/F mixture are well controlled.  With atmospheric draft, A/F will vary a lot even  with weather

stormbytes

This may be applicable to steam boilers in general but I'm asking specifically about the SteamMax as we're looking to get one. Are the tappings basically similar on right and left sides of the boiler? I'd like to plan my install location so the gauge glass and controls are easily accessible. Wondering if these can be installed on either side of the boiler.

Hap_Hazzard

According to this diagram from the IOM, it looks like you can.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@Hap_Hazzard & @ethicalpaul
As you can see on this link the analyzer take some measurements. What it actually measures depends on the type of analyzer you have. In the old dumbell fluid analyzer days you could measure Co2 (red fluid) or O2 (green fluid) directly. Most modern analyzers measure O2 and calculate Co2.......so it's different depending on what you are using. Basically you measure O2 or Co2 combustion air inlet temp and flue gas temp and some measure C0 everything else (including excess air) is calculated from that

http://cleanboiler.org/flue-gas-analysis/

EBEBRATT-Ed

This I think may be worth saving @Erin Holohan Haskell

Erin Holohan Haskell

Thanks, @EBEBRATT-Ed, but we can't save this because it's copyrighted.

Hap_Hazzard

The first time I had somebody do a combustion analysis I was surprised to see that the CO was 0 ppm. It got me thinking about how many things would have to go wrong at the same time to make my CO detector go off. Of course I still keep a fresh battery in it and test it every year.

BobC

Thanks for the doc, Ed!

Bob

tim smith

The drybase design on metal stand is always bothersome to me. What I see on a lot of stand type boilers is the rack tends to rust out as it is not made of stainless or cast iron. In 15 yrs probably won't be available. Then, time to replace all over again. Disposable society on a lot of things these days.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@tim smith

I agree. I think the manufacturers should keep parts available for 20 years

ChrisJ

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

@tim smith

I agree. I think the manufacturers should keep parts available for 20 years

It's a little bit hard for them to justify when they're all too busy trying to sell the perception of higher efficiency to everyone.

Why repair a 10-15 year old boiler when you can get this new shiny model that will be more energy efficient?

mygardenshed

Hap_Hazzard said:

cross_skier said:

If I lived in MA or CT I would fill a couple of five gallon containers with water from a low chloride municipality and use that to feed my boiler over the winter.  You could make the trip an annual vacation.

You can remove chloride with RO or an anion-exchange column. RO might be best because Cl- is a relatively large ion, and if there's a lot of sulfate in the water, the sulfate ions would overwhelm your anion exchange medium, so you'd have to regenerate a bunch of times before you could start removing chloride.

Of course, you could just start with distilled water and add whatever minerals you want to add to it to get the pH, alkalinity, hardness and osmolarity you need. If you run any dehumidifiers during the summer, that's a good source of cheap distilled water, and you can get all kinds of chemicals at a pool store.

Car washes use RO water as their spot free water. Ours is very clean and neutral. I haven’t checked our numbers in a while but when I start to see spots on windshields it’s time for new membranes. I’m sure a wash in your area would have no problem giving you a few 5 gallon pails. I know I wouldn’t.

jerryb46

i have installed over 160 peerless 63's in N.Y.C. of different sizes and never had one lay down on me, PIPED AS PER INSTRUCTION MANUAL. !!!