More Trane

Craig_2

I live in Champaign, Illinois. That's about 150 miles south of Chicago.
The house (and Trane) were built about 1920. The Trane works very well but has several problems.
1) Original boiler so it's extremely inefficient.
2) The near boiler piping isn't exactly the way it should be according to the Lost Art book. It's all original though.
3) The main vents are at the exact end of the mains. Again original.
4) The radiators appear to me to be water radiators.
5) A previous owner removed the asbestos covering on most of the mains. Only one radiator bangs but obviously the pipes should be wrapped.
6) One radiator banging. I *think* it's because the floor has settled in that area of the house. Hard to tell exactly.
7) Not really a problem but I insulated my daughter's room and now it gets HOT.

The absolute biggest problem I have is the lack of knowledge locally on these systems. One quote to replace my boiler was $8000. The payoff is waaaaay too long on that. A local company that replaced the cutoff valve and cleaned the burner for me, told me to "bump up the pressure a bit" it it's not heating right. I'm not joking. The visit lasted 8 hours and I was charged $1000 for parts and labor. That's when I found the Loast Art and started to rely on myself.

I will happily hire out the work but in order to protect myself, I now want to tell them what should be done instead of relying soley on their knowledge, which they've proven to be nil.

In the winter, I sit in the boiler room and have a cigar and beer and listen to the beautiful sounds the Trane makes. I like it.

-cf

Craig_2

More Trane

The discussion of Dave's Trane system is great. I have a Trane as well with a boiler converted from coal to oil to gas.

I have a couple questions. Why do you (or Dave in this case) need the original pressure guage? Is it wired to soemthing? Mine isn't. I had a new emergency low-water cutoff switch installed a couple years ago which I test when I manually add water every few weeks.

Why is the vaporstat a safety device? Is it because the burner is shutting down because the thermostat tells it to thus never getting to the maximum pressure? I still have the direct return trap and all my return pipes feed to it. It feeds to the boiler through a safety trap. I have three vents, on on the direct return and on each on the end of the mains.

BTW, mine runs well too although it needs some work.

-cf

Steamhead

It's Hard to Stop a Trane

You need the "standard" gauge to satisfy Code requirements, which call for a gauge that can read twice the blow-off pressure of the safety valve.

If the pressure in your system gets higher than about 10 ounces or so, the water won't return to the boiler by itself. That's what the Return Trap is for. But if you have a Vaporstat, it can be set to stop the burner before the Return Trap would be activated. In this scenario, the Return Trap becomes a backup device.

We seem to be finding a lot of Tranes lately. Where are you and your system located?

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Dave_23

Craig's questions

The discussion of Dave's Trane system is great. I have a Trane as well with a boiler converted from coal to oil to gas.

I have a couple questions. Why do you (or Dave in this case) need the original pressure guage? Is it wired to soemthing? Mine isn't.

>I retained my 0-30 PSI gauge for code reasons. My blowoff safety valve is rated at 15 PSI. It is not wired to anything. It just sits there and doesn't move (and I hope it never does!)

I had a new emergency low-water cutoff switch installed a couple years ago which I test when I manually add water every few weeks.

Why is the vaporstat a safety device?

> My Trane system operates at about 1.6 oz/sq in pressure. I don't need the vaporstat to cycle the burner. Therefore, I'm simply using it as a high limit device which I've set at 4 oz/ sq in. A pressuretrol would serve equally well in this manner, albeit at a higher pressure.

Is it because the burner is shutting down because the thermostat tells it to thus never getting to the maximum pressure?

> Yes, with an operating pressure of 1.6 oz, the boiler steams until the thermostat cancels the call for heat. The vaporstat never comes into play. I'm amazed that the house will heat at 1.6 oz. The steam propogation velocity, especially in the vertical risers seems to be at least a foot per second, which translates into quick , even heating to all floors.

BTW, mine runs well too although it needs some work.

>My system works amazingly well too. It performs better, in general that many of the one pipe systems other HO's have in my neighborhood. Again, the fact that it works at 1.6 oz is fascinating.

-cf

Steamhead

I know the town

beautiful old University town. For a while, much heating research was done at U of I's Research Residence.

Try getting in touch with Dave "Boilerpro" Bunnell. He's up in Amboy, but he knows steam. You can e-mail him at boilerpros@cin.net .

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Dave_23

Send me an email

Craig,
Being a fellow, self-taught homeowner (HO) on my Trane system, I'd be glad to share my experiences and HO's tricks with you. Feel free to drop me an email at the address listed above.

For the really critical or important questions, I respectfully defer to the experts on this board, such as Steamhead, Dan, etc.

-Dave