Closet boiler

Unknown

you work in a basement that was made into an apartment , so the heating equipment is jammed into a tight spot ? This was a Thermo Dynamics S series boiler , not too old . 2 zones , notice how someone left the monoflow tees capped ?

Unknown

And as a bonus , behind the boiler is

an aquabooster . Not sure how someone woulda replaced it if it leaked , short of knocking a wall down or cutting out pipes near the boiler .

Unknown

We used the Burnham RSA

Fits nicely in tight spots . We left enough room so the new aquabooster can be slid out if it leaks . We also removed the capped off monoflow tees . Not a fun install , I hit my head into shelves on the left 10 times .

lchmb

very nice

and another nice neat job goes in the book's..Hey I know, take tomorrow off and go camping..:)

J.C.A._3

Captain Shoehorn....

Rides off into the sunset, triumphant, yet again!

Patience is a virtue. To be able to see this in your minds eye, day in and day out is a blessing. Nice job, as usual Ron. Have a couple days off. You deserve it. Chris

Unknown

Hobbles off into the smog

with trashed knees and gravel back - is how the saying goes for us basement trolls . You know the feeling Chris . I always forget to mention who I worked with . I piped the header and return while Brian piped the aquabooster and coil and wired the boiler . We had a new kid named George who ran out for parts , cut pipe , doped and cleaned fittings . It was a tight squeeze in there , any more rubbing and someone was gonna need the morning after pill . Thanks alot Chris and ICHMB , with both of your permission I will take that 4 day weekend . I am spent .

DanHolohan

LOVE the new name

Captain Shoehorn. Thanks, Chris!

Patchogue Phil_23

Aquabooster

Hi Ron, um, Capt Shoehorn!

Is that aquabooster a deactivated electric WH as the storage tank? Looks like the boilercoil is the heat exchanger. If so, I am curious as to how you wired it and how you piped it. I've done the same thing in my house and wanted to compare. Any front view pics of the piping?

WalkGood,
Phil

DaveC

Wondering about the purpose of...

the chrome spigot valve that sticks out above the burner (is it on the return piping), and what looks like the world's longest aquastat well - is that standard on the boiler? Thanks, Shoey

Unknown

Phil

Yep , that is an electric water heater with the elements not wired . A nice touch that is brand new is the stainless top - no solder sticks to it . And yep , we use the coil as a heat exchanger . I'm sorry but there ain't no pics of the front - no room to take a pic . With the failure rate of many indirects we use , the coil and aquabooster is a viable option .

We pipe the cold of the house to the inlet of the coil , and pipe a tee as close to the coil inlet as possible . We then pipe the recirculating line from the bottom of the tank to this tee - with the bronze circ pumping to the coil on this pipe . The outlet of the coil goes to the cold on the top of the tank . And the hot of the tank goes to hot of the house .

We wire the aquabooster powering it after the LWCO . We use the lower surface mount aquastat to control the circulator . I've been toying with the idea of integrating the tank aquastat into relay controls and an 8124 , keeping the boiler temp at a minimum until hot water or heat is needed . You think a 50 gallon aquabooster will recover fast if the boiler temp starts at 120 , on it's way to 180 ? Priority would be given to the tank . Thanks Phil .

Unknown

The chrome spigot

is the boiler drain , graciously given with each Burnham boiler . And the well is standard with the boiler too - a special 1/2 inch thread well to get the aquastat away from the coil piping and gage . The length of the well is normal . Burnham came through again - we had a hard time getting our hands on long 1/2 inch wells , so they made it a standard item with their boilers . If they can ship them in the plastic containers they used to , it would help protect them from shipping damage .

Patchogue Phil_23

ditto here

My setup is pretty much the same way, except 2 minor differences.

I wired so that both the upper and lower thermostats on the tank will control the bronze circulator. The original pre-modified double-element wiring and thermostat would, under heavy demand, have the upper thermostat cutting off power to the lower element (both elements cannot be active at same time). I could have bypassed the upper thermostat all together I guess, leaving just the lower one to control the circulator. What I have is parallel switches.

The other difference is that I put in a swing check valve between the cold-feed tee and the circulator. I didn't know if any possible back-pressure from the coil would force some cold water back-feeding into the tank thru the circulator when circulator is off.

Your idea about priority switching for the aquabooster is very interesting to me. I was thinking about a possible problem - I guess it is possible that under heavy heating demand the boiler temp could drop down enough to "steal" heat from the storage tank if it also calls. Not fun if you are taking a shower and the boiler treats your shower water as a sorta buffer tank!

DaveGateway

Tankless coils

I've got that same old steel TD with a leaking coil gasket.
The stand by losses are horrible on those steel boilers with tankless coils.

With all the complaints of indirects leaking, I'm suprised I don't see more use of the steel low mass boilers like TD and Burnham sell with reverse indirects like the Dunkirk Artesian or Turbomax. Put the tankless coil in a thermos bottle and let the boiler cold start. Seems like such a waste keeping that boiler at 140° min all summer. Gotta be cheaper then a SS indirect.

Patchogue Phil_23

economics

My decision was economics. I already had the boiler w/tankless coil. A superstore type aquabooster was mucho money compared with an electric water heater storage tank and a bronze pump. The tank and bronze circ was little less than HALF the price of a (less capacity) superstore tank alone. Then add on a 007 taco to the superstore and extra piping for the new zone.