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Hydropulse
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Joe Kuhl
Member Posts: 17
Sounds like you are about as impressed with all this "Euro" crap as I am for our trade. Some of its good, "provided" you get and keep the right folks to work on that stuff.
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Comments
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Hydropulse
Guys, I have been viewing The Wall for a couple years now. I have NEVER seen a thread about the Infamous Hydrotherm Hydropulse. My Dad had one installed in the early 80's and never had a problem with it! Well, OK he did have the resonator/muffler relocated since it was pretty much under his easy chair when the "engine" started!
I once saw one covered in sheet lead that was located in a laundry room off of the kitchen. It was still noisy.
Is it true that this boiler put Hydrotherm into bankruptcy? I guess they are still manufactured since they are a current product on their website. Anybody still installing them out there?0 -
I installed one a few years ago
and keep tabs on some 20 year old M -300's in a commerial application. The 20 year old models have needed an occasional draft fan, but have not seen any other maintenance that I know of. They also have seen some abuse, but stil are cranking away. The five year old am 100 I installed has had a new draft fan but that's it. As far as I know they are the only larger water content condensing boiler out there. I bet this helps with life and efficiency in the real world compared to the lightweight extremely low water content condensors that are becoming popular now. I've been very disappointed with Hydrotherm lately, but the pulse boilers do seem to hold up well, when properly installed
Boilerpro0 -
Due diligence or lack of
About 1980 or so I installed a HP on a slab house. Was green and excited about this cool real hi eff. unit. I started it up and I thought it was going to take off. At the same time I was doing a job for a very unpleasant acoustic engineer. He designed a suspended room in the room to isolate the noise/vibration.It cost me a ton of dough on his job too. He had me...he knew it and...Valuable lesson. Do the research!0 -
Hydropulse boilers
Its been a while so some of the correct terminology might be a little off but the job is still very vivid. A company I was employed with back in the mid 80's picked up a new account that had about 40 hydropulse boilers piped in parallel. Some of them looked like they we abandoned in the middle of repair. We were familiar with the company that supplied the boilers to the job so we went to get some info on them. They were new to us. We were told you had to be certified to service those particular boilers and were given all the information about getting certified. The company we worked for sent myself and another tech to the factory down in New York state to get certified. I can't remember the name of the town but it wasn't far from the Tappan Zee Bridge. The factory mfd. their Hydrotherm line there and the Hydropulse was actually imported from Europe. After an intense week of training we returned as certified Hydropulse technicians and set upon getting those boilers back in working condition. We spent about 3 days and on the 4th were ready to fire this system back up. The controls staged the boilers on in groups of 2, 3 or 4 depending on the load. After the first couple of groups lite off we decided to break for coffee, closed the boiler room door and started heading down the corridor. We got about 20 feet down the hall when we heard one hell of a loud woosh that practically knocked the boiler room door out of its casing, set off the fire alarms, and let go the sprinkler system.
To make the rest of the story short what came out in the investigation is that one of what I seem to remember they called the air cushion, (that is the cast iron top where the spark plug screwed into and raw gas is ignited below it) had a hair line crack that was nearly impossible to see. As this boiler ignited and heated up the crack widened and leaked gas through the crack out under the jacket and BOOM. Turns out this was one of the problems with this particular boiler and Hydrotherm was aware of it. They just quietly backed down from that technology. We gave up the account, or maybe they gave up on us, I threw out my Hydropulse books and certification, have not seen a one since and if I ever did, would just quietly back away from it and leave. Kind of odd Lennox had big problems with their Pulse furnaces too, don't you think. Same theory basically.0 -
Hydromoose...
that's what I call'em. Sounds like a bull moose in heat.
"BRUHHHHHHHHHHH" I've heard of neighbors ending up in court because of the noise these things make.
The concept is based on an early jet engine called the pulse, or buzz bomb engine. Imagine seeing one of those things cruising low across the UK country sky... "BRUHHHHHHHHHHH" It struck FEAR in the hearts of men.
Their "New" design follows the same pattern the old ones used to use except that it uses stainless steel for the combustion/exhaust system instead of cast iron. Kind of a poor choice for an acidic condensing boiler in hindsight...
As soon as I got certified in Hydromoose, I realized I NEVER wanted to sell one. Too many moving parts (reed valves opening and closing 60 times a second) for my taste, and sense of hearing, and sense of vibration.
Kinda follows along the same lines as some other early condensing technology, some of which are still being made.
As with any high efficiency equipment, if properly maintained, they're a 10 to 20 year boiler. If you ignore them, they will go away, at the least convenient time:-)
Hydromoose, another fine Euro invention gone bad...
ME0 -
A neighbor......
Next door to the oil co. I used to work for had a Lennox pulse boiler , and every cold morning, I had to check around the front of the office to see who was getting an early start on deliveries. The thing sounded just like an oil truck idling when running steady state. Chris0 -
Hydropulse
Been there, done that.
Just a couple of points.
1) They were always built in the USA, mostly in Dundalk Maryland
2) The HydroPulse consept was developed in Canada
3) When they worked they lived up to, or exceeded their efficiency claims.
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The pulse I installed is nearly silent outdoors
with the factory mufflers. It's much quuieter then the draft fans that can be heard outside on most "high efficiency" furnaces and boilers.0 -
Pulse boiler
Now just when in the heck did Lennox make a PULSE BOILER ?????0 -
Hydropulse
lololololo......glad to see that their are "others" that have had experience with the Hydroplulse H.E. boilers. I saw 2 things that sum it all up......PROPERLY INSTALLED and DUE DILIGENCE. Most of the units that I've serviced (not installed) went to Hell and took their owners with them. Any I did install, lasted quite some time.....mind you, Flapper valves, ignition modules, blowers, plugs and the "acid, baking soda bath" were'nt cheap.
Roy0 -
They didn't...
they made a Pulse Furnace:-)
Although their complete heat is just about as much a loser and the moose is...
ME0 -
Now stop!
> they made a Pulse Furnace:-)
>
> Although their
> complete heat is just about as much a loser and
> the moose is...
>
> ME
Hydropulse was a good product and I am greatful for them...
I make more money replacing them than any other boiler on the market!
Andy Morgan
R. Morgan Mechanical, LLC0 -
Andy Morgan
R. Morgan Mechanical, LLC0 -
Now Stop It!
Come on, I know your not fond of them Mark, but I like the Hydropulse. They are a blessing to my business...
I make more money replacing blown up Hydromooses than any other boiler on the market!!!
Andy Morgan
R. Morgan Mechanical, LLC0 -
Then...
you're probably on a first name basis with these folks then eh...
http://pulseparts.com/
No offense met.
ME0 -
Actually
99 percent of the time they aren't even worth repairing.
What a waste of precious natural resources...
Andy Morgan
R. Morgan Mechanical, LLC0 -
Hey Mark
I think you missed my attempt at sarcasm!
Andy
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Hydro Pulse
Interesting reading guys! I have been involved with pulse technology long before Hydrotherm "messed" with it!
DUE DILIGENCE IS DEFINITELY THE BUZZZZZZ WORD!!
Ever heard of the German "Buzz bomb" or the V-2 rocket. That was the technology this equipment was based on. I still have original drawings from the Lucas Rotax Corp in Berlin. Patent rights were purchased by a company here in Winnipeg and 584 units were manufactured under the name of Pulsamatic. They were installed in houses without chimneys which were originally on central steam. Saw many POOR applications. It was an excellent boiler. Very forgiving !!! Made out of hand assembled copper!! I still service a number of units that date back to the early 1950's. I thought Hydropulse was going to be my new generation answer. Still have a few running but got lots of "boat anchors in my shop. Anybody want some cheap parts?
Hope I didn't bore you with too much history.
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You're right...
went right over my head.
Long tough shopping day:-)
ME0
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