Found this beauty today

Don Walsh

Ran into this gem of a boiler system today. Owner said can't afford the fuel bills, the constant knocking in the pipes, and the odor in the mechanical room, any longer. No combustion air inlet, No insulation on the piping. CO in excess of 800ppm, and THEN I went into the boiler room! You have to love the draft hood;)

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John Starcher_4

CO in excess.....

....of 800, and THEN you went in the boiler room??????? You mean that you measured a level of 800 in the living space? How was the guy even still alive????????


Starch

andy_5

I don't understand the problem with the draft hood.I've seen hundreds of draft hoods like that one.
Sounds and looks like a blocked flue to me.

Don Walsh

Yep, went in the boiler room, but only after shutting off the exterior gas meter and ventilating the area for close to an hour. The boiler is in a separate yet attached building to the main property, which thankfully prevented contaminating the occupied space. There was a dead raccoon blocking the flue in the chimney. Stiff as a board and not a pleasant removal either. The draft hood had been cut off close to 14" shorter than the mfg. recommended length as stamped on the hood.

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Unknown

The draft hood

appears to have been cut down in an effort to make the flue pipe mate up with the chimney thimble. This will alter excess air availablity and therefore the drafting capabilities and byproducts of combustion. So much for reading the installation manual. Oh well....

Glenn

Nron_9

Draft hood

you are never suppose to shorten a draft hood on a boiler it interfere with the natural draft of the appliance , though not as much as the racoon does. maybe want to add a blocked flue snap disk for protection until they change the boiler

Unknown

Grumpy

Just curious.....was the wood stove in the picture also vented into the same flue?

Glenn

Weezbo

That is a sad sight.

It rivals one i worked on this winter...thats why God calls us out to do this stuff...i've come to the conclusion it is nt because theres some vast financial reward motivating us:)

Don Walsh

Yep, vented into the same flue. Sad what some people will do to themselves.

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Mark Hunt

Installation manual


Was probably used to light the pilot.

Sickening.

Mark H

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gehring

Question


Why are there two pressuretrols mounted together?

S Ebels

You know

We all see crap like this all the time. The more I see of it the more bent out of shape I get. I think this country has to be the most backward and wasteful on earth as far as energy conservation goes. I'm beginning to think we need boiler police like they have in Germany! it is truly sad. Maybe we should all write letters to our congressmen and senators or organize a heating contractor march in Washingto DC.

I checked an oil furnace today that came as part of a kit home built in the middle 70's. The BEST and I mean the BEST I could get out of it without making smoke was 65.7% on the analyzer. Flue temp of over 700*. Owner said he had always wondered why his heat bills were high. Usually over 1000 galllons per season and the house is only 1,300 sq ft!

Steamhead

Try some bricks, Steve

to baffle that piece of junk until the owner can get a real heating system put in.

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S Ebels

No access

It's a cheapo furnace Frank, no cleanout openings, no way to get in the combustion chamber. The flue exits the heat exchanger vertically so it would be impossible to baffle it. The HX is just a 3 foot tall 14" diameter cylinder with the flue pipe extnding from the front to about 6" from the back. It elbows up right where it leaves the actual HX. Pretty poor design, huh? I have to think that it's operating at it's design level. SAD