Trianco heatmaker just puts out lukewarm water

redneckmechanic

Hello,
I just bought a house with a trianco heatmaker radiator heating system. Whenever I run the hot water for any length of time (over a minute or two) the water gets lukewarm. I tried adjusting the mixing valve, I tried checking flow valves, I have tried closing infeed flow valve. Idk why it will not heat my water. The service log makes a note of the fact that the "tank gauge doesn't work" on the last servicing. Could this be the issue or is it something simple? I am trying to get a hold of someone to come look at it but no one is returning my calls.

neilc

picture of the boiler, floor to ceiling,
picture of the mixing valve,
when the hot water goes cold, down at the boiler, can you feel where the hot stops?
any hose mounted heads on shower or tub valves?
or the kitchen sink?
looking for crossovers, short circuits, cold to hot,
pictures

redneckmechanic

redneckmechanic

There is nothing on the fixtures. I pulled the panel out from behind the shower. I was able to get a tech out. he charged me $50 to crank the mixing valve all the way to hot. This did nothing. I did play with the aquastat settings a bit. I got a little better by moving the low setting up to 170 and hi up to 190. The diff knob is at 10, it is worse when I put it too 25. When I first turned up the aquastat, the boiler instantly fired up and ran.

redneckmechanic

As far as hot pipes, they all feel hot except the infeed on the front and the domestic pipe exiting the mixing valve. All other pipes are hot. It doesn't matter which fixture I use (kitchen sink, bathroom sink, washroom sink [which is 15 feet from the boiler], or shower) they all go lukewarm after a bit. Some of the fixtures flow faster than others, so sometimes it takes longer for some of them to run cold.

kcopp

Well water or City/ town water? how hard is the water.? Its possible that the coil is scaled up and heat transfer is less than great...

STEAM DOCTOR

Bad mixing valve?

neilc

redneckmechanic said:

As far as hot pipes, they all feel hot except the infeed on the front and the domestic pipe exiting the mixing valve. All other pipes are hot. It doesn't matter which fixture I use (kitchen sink, bathroom sink, washroom sink [which is 15 feet from the boiler], or shower) they all go lukewarm after a bit. Some of the fixtures flow faster than others, so sometimes it takes longer for some of them to run cold.

if the short run of copper from the boiler domestic coil, to the hot side of the mixing valve is staying hot while you loose the hot mix to the house, then the valve is bad or needing service,

if the short run of copper from the boiler domestic coil, to the hot side of the mixing valve is also cooling off when you lose the hot mix to the house, then the coil isn't keeping up and needs flushing or changing,
and maybe the valve service also.

redneckmechanic

Ok, thanks for the responses. I'll try replacing the mixing valve and see what happens then.

Slimpickins

It's been a while since I've worked on a Heatmaker but is the flow restrictor still installed on the DHW supply to the boiler coil? There is a 20 gal tank and the DWH coil is submerged in the tank. Is the tank hot and the hot out of coil to the mixing valve hot? if so, it's the mixing valve. If not, it's the low limit thermostat. If I recall, there's 3 wires on the low limit and I can't remember which wire too disconnect so the boiler starts to heat thartt 20 gal tank. I believe Laars still might have parts but that was 18 years ago when I lasted worked on one. Also it is possible the coil can be clogged as well. https://www.parts4heating.com/v/vspfiles/images/pdfs/heatmaker_HandHW_Manual_186-XXXX_to_188-XXXX.pdf