Does this pressuretrol belong here....?

Elias

This is from a New York Times article recently published...about switching to heat pumps. This boiler is pictured in the article, and yeah...not surprising this poor lady was paying high fuel bills.

BUT, the reason I'm posting this picture for your viewing pleasure is...

Someone....please...tell...me that this boiler doesn't have the pressuretrol and pressure gauge plumbed into the domestic hot water coil...That can't be what I'm seeing, can it? It can't be. Seriously, someone please tell me there is a perfectly normal answer to this.

There are of course all kinds of wrong things going on in this picture. Sad, really. Homeowner just wanting the system to work in some reasonable fashion and gets this. No "perfectly normal" answer for that near-boiler piping or the damper facing down or the....and the....

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/oil-gas-furnace-heat-pump.html

Jamie Hall

It certainly looks that way, but perhaps they just used that cover plate with no coil behind it? I hope? In any case the controls are set too low, and will give erratic results.

One can see, though, why older installations -- steam particularly -- can get a bad name, and why people can claim (with some justice) to save all kinds of money by switching to some magic new thing. They could save most of the money just be having things set up properly, but that's beside the point.

I wouldn't trust the Times to get the story right anyway.

EdTheHeaterMan

Tomorrow the NYT will publish the benefits of keeping the time tested technology running efficiently with the following illustration.
If you look hard enough, you will find a good reason to do just the opposite of what you were preaching yesterday.

It is the way of the media! Decide what the news will be, then find a way to prove your point.

What ever happened to real journalism?