what do i have here please?

gjuszynski

This is the system in my ca. 1912 home. Can anyone tell me what type of system it is? It seems to work fine, but I'd like someone knowledgeable to give it a once over.
I'm in stratford, ct. Thanks

John Mills_5

Same as I grew up with

That heated the family home, where I grew up. Finally came out in 1989 after springing a leak. The year before, the gas valve stuck open, probably weakend it.

Made by National Radiator, dates to the 1950s. Probably gives an annual efficiency in the lower 60% range at best. Dad said he noticed quite a gas savings when he replaced with 82% model and that was back when gas was cheap.

Our house was converted gravity with huge radiators. Nice heat!

Charlie_10

Janitrol Boiler

The picture seams to sugest you have a 1960's Gravity feed hot water system. These systems are quite comfortable and also quite slow to respond to temperature change. In our area these boilers have for the most part been replaced for efficency reasons. Replacing these boilers require some special piping to prevent thermal shoking the new boiler, and cracking the sections.
I sugest you find a boiler specialist in your area to review the system with you and provide the best imformation to you.
You are the expert in your home. And an informed homeowner is the best tool any technician can have.

Mark Eatherton1

If you want to realize about a 50% reduction in gas consumption

consider replacing it with a condensing boiler with outdoor reset capabilities.

ME

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Constantin

Yup...

If you're living in the house, a condensing, modulating boiler is going to give you some amazing gas savings. I'd stay away from a traditional cast-iron replacement boiler simply because the cost of gas isn't going to go down and condensing boilers don't need shock-protection - they actually become more efficient as the return water temperatures drop.

The minimum efficiency for gas boilers is 80% AFUE. That means, once the boiler has made it to steady-state temperatures, it'll send 20% of the heat up the chimney. As cast-iron systems require a lot of time to warm up, they consequently also require a long time to reach steady-state temperatures. If you plan on using the boiler to also heat your water, the efficiency of the system will plummet in the summertime.

On the other hand, a condensing boiler will come up to temperature very quickly because it has little mass that needs to be heated up... the system relies on high water flow to carry the heat away. With your kind of setup I would be surprised if you didn't hit 94%+ AFUE all year, with no issues in the summer months either if you plan on using the boiler to heat your domestic water as well.

I'm not sure just how special the piping has to be with a condensing boiler, I think it would have more to do with how to control the flow of water in a system that used to rely on convective currents to carry the heat to where it's needed. IIRC, Mark Eatherton pointed out that the DoE is funding research into gravity-systems, as they require less electrical energy to keep the water circulating.

So a gravity-fed system with a condensing gas boiler may in fact be the way of the future...