Another main vent question

jim_14

In that hour its heating up the water I suppose. I guess it runs until the pressure builds and turns off then turns on back again. My bills in the winter are 250-300 range (Gas&electric) same as my neighbors..

jim_14

My system doesnt have a main vent (long story) its 1 pipe gas fired. Its the original boiler.

I understand the new boilers today are more efficient, smaller and generate steam much quicker than their older bretheren. If & when I upgrade to one of those new bad boys would it matter much that there is no main?

Reason Im asking is that my neighbor (same house, year built, same builder) has a newer boiler ,maybe 10 to 15 years old compared to my 60 year old and she tells me it doesnt take long for her heat to come up in the morning. I know for a fact she doesnt have a main vent. My heat takes at least an hour of boiler running time before my rads heat up.

Bob W._2

Wow!!

What exactly is your boiler doing during that hour it takes to heat up the rads? Where is the steam going? Assuming that the boiler is correctly fired shouldn't the steam get to the rads within minutes? It does in my system, which has large main vents and large rad vents. I keep complaining about the gas bills...if my boiler had to fire for an hour just to heat up the rads my kids would have to quit grade school and go to work in the mines:) Consider venting that sucker as an experiment. Can't hurt.

[Deleted User]

youv'e probably already paid to install a main vent

many, many, times over already, except you still dont have one and the gas company has a new truck.

Boilerpro_2

What it is doing for an hour

If you have one of the great big old boilers, they hold LOTS AND LOTS of water. If you turn down the heat at night, the boiler goes cold and then all that water needs to be heated up in the morning before it will start to steam. Then, if you have no main vent, it takes longer to get to the radiators. An hour from a cold start up to steam in the rads won't surprise me. Its alot faster to heat 10 gallons of water from 60F to 212F and then steam in a compact new boiler than to heat 100 gallons of water in a big old boiler when both have the same size flame. This i9s one of the ways a new boiler is more efficient.


Boilerpro

Bob W._2

A good reason not to set the T-stat back...

or have it come on an hour early.

Steamhead

Is that an old round \"snowman\" boiler

like the one in the picture?

If so, it's horribly inefficient when used with oil or gas. This type of boiler did not have much heat-transfer surface in it, and what it did have was hampered by the extremely large flue passages needed for coal firing.

This isn't new news- one of my Dead Men's Books from the 1940s says these round boilers will probably not show an efficiency better than 40% when used with oil. And that's just while the boiler is actually running- not its AFUE.

Venting the mains will definitely help. But you will see a big improvement when that old boiler is replaced by a new one. If you can't afford to replace the boiler now, have a good gas-conversion man look it over and install suitable bricks and baffles to slow down the escaping flue gases. This, however, is a stopgap measure at best.

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jim_14

heres a pic of the boiler in question I dont know how much

water it holds but the service tag says steam 320 sq ft and hot water 510 sq ft

Joe_8

It's alive!!!

The old snowman lives.

Steamhead

Doesn't look that old

unless someone repainted the jacket. And it looks like a steel tubular boiler rather than a "snowman". It shouldn't take an hour to make steam.

Perhaps all you need is a good boiler man. Tried "Find a Contractor" yet?

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