New Boiler, too hot when cold out, too cold when not so cold...

RELY

Did you size the boiler to the radiation?Was the return well flushed or replaced? Can you take picture of Job?

Tony_13

New Burnham, new problems...

I recently replaced a cracked 50 yr old steam boiler with a beautiful Burnham. I though my heating problems were long gone in our 1930 2000 sq ft. Tudor in Westchester County NY. Welll....

A couople of weeks after install the main return began banging! Installer came back, cleaned the boiler and we were home free for a few weeks. Then the banging came back a few weeks later. Flooded and drained the boiler again. Came to see the water was filthy!

After the second drain i was ecstatic... The first floor was heating evenly, it was comfortable, the second floor was a sauna, but hey i had heat. It was very cold out for these few days. It seemed that every day after the 2nd draining we got less and less heat. Today we bagan to get cold again.. its 40 degrees out.

So... a summary:
- 2nd floor is too hot when very cold
- 1st floor seems evenly heated when very cold
- whole houseis cold when 30 degrees or better outside

I've tried to replace vents as needed, they do hiss, some offer a light clanging at times. The main vents were replaced at the same time as the boiler.

I'm racking my brain here, can anyone help? My next step is toflood and drain the boiler again and see what happens, but I don't want to do that every three to four days nor feel I should. I assume my problem is dirty water / steam. Is there a way to flush and clean my entire system? would that correct my problem?

Any help you can offer would be very apreciated.
Thanks TG

Tony_13

I did size the radiation. The installer measured all the radiators, height depth and # of lengths and had the engineer at burnham size the boiler. It turns out to be the same size as the one i replaced.

I will take a picture today and send it to your e-mail.

any idea why this thing kicks **** when its very cold out but doesn't when its not? I flushed out the water again today but disn't seem too dirty to me.... I'm hoping to see what happens as it gets colder.

lchmb

skimming

first question I would have is did he skim the boiler? second..there is an additive that is used to flush the system..did he use this? it is very possible that when you swapped the boiler it broke the mukin pucky loose and partially plugged some of your system..good luck

Al Letellier

steam heat problem

Has anyone considered the problem may not be in the same room as the symptoms? How about the thermostat location? Almost sounds like a balance issue with the location of the stat and the room it's in. The room may have an undersized rad and that causes the system to run longer in cold weather, but satisfy the stat easily in milder weather, causing the rest of the house to be cool....just a thought!
Was this a problem b-4 the new boiler went in? The new boiler makes steam a whole lot quicker than the old one. This could be compounding the problem.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"

[Deleted User]

also what about

the thermostat anticipator setting? is it set properly for the new boiler?

Tony_13

therm...

Good question, its a digital thermometer, do they have anticipators? How can I check the setting?

Tony_13

The boiler was skimmed, three times as of today. He added "Boiler cleaner" and ran the system for a couple of hrs. the first time around.

Tony_13

Thanks for this... The stat is in a medium size room in the house, three windows over an unheated garage. Yes a fairly cold room, but the temp on the stat is at the right number both when chillyand when warm at home.

I did have a similar problem before the replacemen however it never got as warm as it gets now in cold weather, only when the water level was very low (old boiler had no manual feed and no cut off). I replaced the boiler with the expectation that "it" was the problem.

Still scratching my head...

Tony_13

Update

Today i skimmed the boiler, flushed out all the old water. It was pretty clean. Temperature is about 30 degrees today and yes, it was still a bit chilly throughout the day with the temp set at 70 on the thermostat.

tomorrow is expected to be at or about 5 degrees, so we shoudl have an idea if the "problem" is consistent.

I also notice that some of my rad don't heat all the way when the outside temp is "normally" cold... 30 degrees or so.

Question... Should I simply replace all the vents? I have #5 and 6 vents here at home thatI can swapp out easily. One hvac guy told me i should have all the rads with the same size vent. is this correct? other tell me to use the furthest away concept and others to use the rad size concept. Could vents be a problem? They all seem to work ok though.

[Deleted User]

the digital ones

should do this themselves...is this one pipe steam? what kind of main vents did you use and where are they? how hot is the area they are in? are the radiator vents sized right?

[Deleted User]

vents could be the problem..

if air can't get out, steam can't get in...5&6 seem small..that would be for a very small radiator...i use more ''C"' sizes than anything else..probably followed by ''D'' size on large radiators..

tombig

Back to the stat

> if air can't get out, steam can't get in...5&6

> seem small..that would be for a very small

> radiator...i use more ''C"' sizes than anything

> else..probably followed by ''D'' size on large

> radiators..

tombig

Back To The Stat

Is the stat affected by other heat sources? Solar heat gain? Uninsulated steam mains below? Uninsulated mains throughout? All these may have an affect.

Tony_13

Vents

Ok... I may try an changhe the vents would C accross the board be the best bet? I assume from your note that the letter coded vents are faster than the numbered ones?

I apologize for the seemingly foolish question.. homeowner trying to fiz a problem a plumber can't :-(

Would this cause the excessive heat in the very cold environment and limted heat in the warmer temps?

The stat is located in a room above the main vents, floors always seem to be very cold though... its directly above an un heated garage.

Tony_13

Anticipator

Yes one pipe steam.

Vents are at the far end (away from the boiler) in the two main feeds. the rooms they are located in are garages and failry cold. type? I'm not sure what kind he used, they look lieka 3/4 inch fitting.. if that clarifies anything.

[Deleted User]

the C vent is large

and the D vent is even larger..if a radiator is to hot when the rest of the house is still needing heat try a thermostatic vent on the excessivly hot one(s).

eburke_18

Could boiler size be the problem? Thought I read where in milder weather these problems, I think undersized show up.

RELY

old system performance

How did the old boiler perform? By changing the boiler and was properly the new boiler should operate like the old one!What changed? Look at the new boiler and see if any major piping changes took place . Can you take picture?

Becky Hebert

New system

I am going to replace my old furnace this spring with a new one, what do you recommend. My Beckett burner is about 13 years old, should that be replaced also? I have steam heat and my hot water runs off my furnace. What does this usually cost? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.