The case of the door switch, this fridays case

RayWohlfarth

In this Fridays case, I will talk about the door switch and how it's so important for the boiler room. It will air Friday at 6am EST

Regards

Ray

Intplm.

AH? Did the door switch need to "Make" in order for the mechanicals to work? Who left the door open?

@RayWohlfarth , I'm looking forward to this one.

EBEBRATT-Ed

I think Ray is referring to emergency switch's to shut down boilers located at the boiler room entrance(s) but I could be wrong.

ASME requires boiler emergency switches at EVERY at every boiler room door. Enforcement of that has been spotty in the past at least in my area. MA has always required 1 switch located outside the boiler room for oil. Gas has no such requirement.

EdTheHeaterMan

Makes perfect sense to have a switch that is protected from public access to randomly shut down a heating system, but easily accessible at the exit to disable the burner in an emergency. You don't need to send first responders to the front of a piece of equipment to look for the shut off switch when it is malfunctioning.

mattmia2

Light in the mechanical room comes on with the door opening. Oh yeah, and we wired the boiler to it too.

mattmia2

or the fan that brings in make up air.

retiredguy

Here's one for you. I was at a job and the code called for an emergency boiler shut down switch at every access door just as @EBEBRATT-Ed stated. Well. the control guy wired it up and the next day I tested the switch. The boilers shut down and the fire alarms sounded. After a short time we heard the sirens from the responding fire trucks. Yes, the electrician tied both the fire alarm and boiler shut down to that switch. The fire company was not impressed nor were they impressed when I mentioned that they were a little slow in their response.

RayWohlfarth

@EBEBRATT-Ed I was referring to the door switch in a boiler room

@retiredguy OMG That would be awkward

@mattmia2 Been there before It was weird

@Intplm. I should have spelled out the door switch for the boiler room

The case of why door switches save lives, this weeks case.
In this video, I talk about the emergency door switches used in boiler rooms and why they are important. In a school, the smoke detector went off one night, notifying the fire department. The firefighters sprayed water on the overheated boiler. It could have been a catastrophe. Hope you enjoy it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nTv4FnwXOQ

Steamhead

IIRC, the requirement for those emergency switches dates back to the early days of oil burners. Some of the early burner designs were scary by today's standards, so the Code authorities started mandating these switches so if something went sideways, you could cut the power without approaching the unit or combing through an old fuse panel.

With gas replacing oil, I sometimes find these switches still in place but bypassed. This is scary because the switch is there but won't shut the unit off. We always hook them back up and put "Gas Burner Emergency Switch" plates on them. And, some inspectors are now requiring emergency switches on residential gas jobs.

CLamb

Seems like firefighters need to be trained on how to deal with overheated boilers.

EBEBRATT-Ed

All boilers and furnaces should have a switch to shut them down weather oil or gas located outside the basement or furnace room. It's just common sense.

mattmia2

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1806151#Comment_1806151

What about millivolt systems? Is turning off just the thing that moves heat away from the appliance a good idea?

RayWohlfarth

We have a local boiler inspector who insists the emergency door switch be connected to a gas valve upstream of the boilers. The gas valve closes when the button is switched. It's ticked off the local contractors.

retiredguy

The Pittsburgh, Pa city schools all had a manual reset gas valve on the main gas line as it penetrated the building's wall that was tied to the fire alarm system. When the fire alarm was activated or there was a power blip the gas to the building was shut off.

RayWohlfarth

@retiredguy I remember that, the old Maxon valves