Too Much Draft

Andrew Nittoli

I am measuring -.05 in. of draft both over the fire and at the breach on an old Winkler boiler. This results in very poor combustion performance and efficiency. If I open up the draft regulator all the way, and adjust it so that it stays completely open, then I get -.02, and the boiler achieves 13% CO2 and 82% efficiency; pretty good for a 50 year old boiler. I have installed a Riello F5, and a new combustion chamber sized to the 1.25 gph nozzle, which has resulted in this improvement. However, since the barometric regulator is wide open, it really isn't doing much regulating, and the chimney is sucking up a whole lot of warm basement air. The flue pipes are 8 inch, with a distance of not much more than 3 feet from the breach to the chimney. What method, which would be to code, can I use to cut down on this enormous draft so that the draft regulator can remain nearly closed, and do its job of regulating?

Al Letellier

excessive draft

When all else fails, how about a second draft regular?

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EBEBRATT_4

That's the answer

Glenn Harrison_2

A couple of options

First check the chart on this link to make sure you have the proper size barometric:

http://www.fieldcontrols.com/draftcontrolsize.html

Second, you can install a nuetral pressure point adjuster. Basically it's a blade that inserts in the flue to reduce the draft. There's a good example on page 24 of the following manual (thanks to George Firedragon Lanthier).

http://pensotti-pna.com/blueline.pdf