OK, who made this mess?

Patchogue Phil_2

J/K I know that no one here made this horrible mess. My niece bought a house and this is their boiler. Which model is it?

So much is wrong, it makes me cry.

Besides the pumps pushing into the bottom of the boiler, through undersized "return manifold/header" steel pipe. The fresh water supply snaking from right side ceiling, behind the boiler around the left side through a pressure reducing feed valve, snaking across the boiler top front to the right side back and shockingly down into the the return manifold. The boiler supply piping coming off the face of the boiler where the pressure gauge should be. The pressure gauge is in the pressure relief valve port (relief valve is installed into the upper back side of the boiler). The top right port should likely be THE supply, but has a float air vent. The existing supply piping is undersized, going left to two zones and to the upper right into the only air-scoop. 😱 Which is rotated & slanted down. The bladder tank is inverted & angled. The outlet of the air-scoop is 1/2" pipe into a flow check the changes back to 3/4" pipe for the basement zone. There is a zone return pipe 4 inches in front of the damper (service guy doing a vac & tune not happy). One of the flow checks is letting ghost flow upstairs; causes some short cycling of the burner and making that zone hot.

I just want to straighten out the supply piping and air scoop. This might be replaced with a gas fired boiler within 2 years. Reluctantly leaving the pumps to push into the bottom return. I think that the fresh water should NOT go into the return. I could leave the 1/2" pipe as a passive bypass from the boiler hot supply. Then re-route the fresh water into a tee for the air-scoop bottom port with the bladder tank. Which should be 18" horizontal pipe from the elbow off the vertical 18" high supply pipe, from the top right port. All three zones' supply piping should be from after the air-scoop.

What do you think of my plan? Did I miss anything (besides pumping away)?

Steamhead

Break out the Sawzall………………

hot_rod

Oddly enough it looks like it has been working. What to fix? :)

Moving the PONPC to the return with 3 circs is not an option. You are pumping at the point of no pressure change with 3 probably over-sized circs.

A diaphragm tank works in any position, nipple up is preferred.

Even with the pipe restrictions, the over-sized zone circs are probably moving enough btus./

Some models of Caleffi air vents have the float on a pin, so out of plumb is not an issue.

I would only touch it if you can make it completely correct. Sawzall time!

DCContrarian

I'm going to guess the reason the pipe going to the expansion tank is bent like that is that the expansion tank is waterlogged and now weighs about 60 pounds. When you replace it, put a small valve in so the next time it needs replacing you don't have to bleed down the system. Also support it so that even when waterlogged it is held up.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Its not pretty but I see no reason to trash the whole thing. i would fix/rehang/replace the expansion tank and that's about it as long as it works don't mess with it.

My biggest complaint with the whole thing is when there is plenty of room around the boiler why jamb everything in tight like it's in a closet? Just makes it harder to work on. I wouldn't move the circulators either.

mattmia2

isn't the barometric damper supposed to not be in the bull of that tee as well?

Mad Dog_2

Good to see you Phil. Been a long time. Mad Dog

HVACNUT

Nasty.

Grallert

I pitty the guy, or gal who has to service that boiler. For that reason I'd start over. If it's nearly impossable to service it doesn't get serviced properly.

GGross

those zip ties 😂

ChrisJ

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1904824#Comment_1904824

It's got a genuine ZipTie pipe hanger© on it.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@mattmia2 Yes barometric is wrong.

And yes difficult to clean the boiler as it gets cleaned through the top. Probably never been cleaned. That's what I alluded to in my first post about everything jammed together.

hot_rod

If you are looking for a quick performance, efficiency upgrade with parts reusable when a new boiler is installed.

Add a press vertical air sep, install, delta P circ above, expansion tank connection at the sep. Or tie expansion and fill into the top boiler air vent connection.

Replace zone pumps with 120V zone valves

This gives you best air removal, Pumping Away, 20W circ, flow modulation as valves open and close, lower power consumption