40 Gallon Amtrol Boilermate

Kyle

I have a 40 gallon amtrol boilermate 3-4yrs old run off a weil mclean CG-5 gas boiler. It runs out of hot water afeter about a 20 minute hot shower and takes 45 minutes to come back to 140. I moved into this house a year ago. Seems to be little difference in hot water going in and the return to the boiler. Is this normal operation? Could this be the coil needs cleaning? Any ideas? How difficult is it to open up and clean with Phosphoric acid?



Should a 40 gallon Amtrol boliermate be able to supply more than a 20 minute hot shower before it runs out of hot water? and how long to heat up again it takes mine about 50 minutes to get back to 140.

Michal

I have the 41 at home too

I have the exact same one as you have at home and own a 2 family house with 3 bathrooms and have yet to run out of hot water, have come close with 2 showers and washer going, but water was still nice to take a shower in.

Now your problem, your cg-5 is 97,000 btuh net, the amtrol needs 60,000 btuh to give 116 gallons recovery first hour with a 90 degree temperature rise and a 104 gallon CONTINUOUS rating at 70 degrees rise.

The amtrol needs a flow rate of 5gpm provided by the circulator to handle this load, I do not know what you have, would be nice if you told us, most likely a taco 007 or such, but a taco 008-ifc will give you 8 gallons per minute with like 10 feet head, this is sufficient, if possible leave the info on here as to what circulator is on there.

also make sure that the boiler temperature is set at 180 high and 160 low,

but also what kind of shower do you have? is it a normal single head shower or is it a high volume soaker head, the soaker heads use alot more water and that might be a problem

finally you should not be running that unit that high for safety reasons, 120 should be fine, otherwise you will burn kids or other people. code i think is 110 degrees.

also you can change the circulator yourself, its 4 bolts, 2 wires, and making sure the arrow is pointing the right way.

Jim Eastman_2

Amtrol hot water

Is your Amtrol on a priority system for domestic hot water production? If not, you may be spreading the boiler output across the space heating zones and the DHW zone. To check if priority will help, turn off (or shut the isolation valves) on all of the heating zones and see if the "priority" piping and the full output of the boiler makes any difference on the recharge rate of the Amtrol. It is not a "major surgery" task to incorporate a relay into the system to gain DHW priority over space heating.

jalcoplumb_2

coil ...

might need cleaning. I have had to clean many an amtrol coil. Check to make sure the t-stat is pushed all the way up to get an accurate reading.

As for cleaning check the owners manual.

hr

More often than not

if it worked well when installed, it probably has a limed coil.

Best cleaning method is to remove the coil. You can check output with a watch, thermomemter, and a 5 gallon pail. Wait for the tank to shut off then see how much water it produces.

You can also check coil performance by measuring the delta t across the hx.

Newer Amtrols have the coil on top for easier removal.

This coil limed to this condition in less than a years time!

hot rod

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Jed_2

Probably not the SC-5000

That Pic is not the current design coil Amtrol uses. If the WH41 is 3-4 years old, it has an SC-5000 coil; different animal entirely.

Jed

Kyle

Circulator pump model

The circulator pump is a taco model 007-F5 1/25 HP .7Amp. Is this sufficient? I moved into the house a little over a year ago so i don't know how it worked when it wast installed. The Boilermate model number is WH-7l it has approx. 1/2 inch bolt at the top with a relief valve and the potable hot water out line. The boiler water circulates from the bottom. It his set up with hot water priority but it takes so long to heat the tank that on cold days the house temp drops afer a shower. I am going to contact amtrol today and have them send me an owners manual for directions to clean the system.

Geno_15

something doesn't sound right

is the circ running??? you could have a problem with the piping too, maybe it's time to call in a professional??

I had one once where the people had city water at 120psi, in the winter that is also usually about air temp and the guy had a shower head from the thirties that took your skin off
do the math
water - 120 psi
water - 20*f in
shower head 10gpm
= no hot water with this set up

call a professional, you're shooting in the dark.

Steve Paul

Amtrol Boilermate

My Amtrol has been installed for about 18 years. It just started to show signs of decreasing recovery about 3 months ago. We no longer could take our luxurious 30 minute hot showers without having to slowly advance the shower control to hotter and hotter water. Following Amtrols reccomendation, I bought a gallon of Phosphoric acid liquid ice maker coil cleaner at Johnstone Supply (about $42.00). Turn the aquastat to the highest setting, when the aquastat is satisfied, (you may have to raise the boiler high limit) shut off the boiler water supply to the Amtrol, shut down the cold water supply, drain out about 15 gallons of water, make sure the coil is covered. slowly pour in the acid throught the T&P valve tapping. Let it sit for about 1/2-3/4 of an hour. Thoroughly drain and flush out any residual acid. Replace the T&P, re-fill the tank, re-set the aquastat and turn the boiler water supply back on. DONE! My Amtrol recovers like the day it was installed. It was amazing to see the crap that flushed out with the cleaning.

Joe Moody

Amtrol

I have an Amtrol too. It is not a good design at all. The coil gasket leaks from the bottom when th e boiler water cools, and it does not produce good hot water. To change that gasket is a real pain in the butt. It is a poor design. I am going to change it soon and put in a Crown MS-53.

Michal

they had a recall kit for that

Pete
They had a kit to solve that problem where they included the coil, I have changed a few like yours, got the kit from my local supply house, check it out
Mike

Pete_16

Michal thank you for the info, I did not know about that kit. However, if you have changed one of these before you know it's a real pain. Because the coil is underneath it is hard to get to. I would rather cut it out and put in the Crown since it's my own house.

Michal

you do whats right for you

well I agree, they are a pain, but being young and able to make a few dollars I would spend the time and do a few of them. But Like you said, if you will be there a while, it might be a wise investment to put in the crown and save the hassle, all the piping is there, go with the crown

j a

amtrol

just had one the customer complained hot water was to hot and the setting the temp on it made no difference....pulled out the module and there was the temp probe it had fallen out of the tube....reinserted it and end of story......

j a

amtrol

just had one the customer complained hot water was to hot and the setting the temp on it made no difference....pulled out the module and there was the temp probe it had fallen out of the tube....reinserted it and end of story......

PLUMBING&HEATINGGENIUS!

CALL A PRO!!

CANT BELIEVE IM THE FIRST OUT OF ALL THESE RESOPNSES TO SAY PURGE THE AIR OUT OF UR SYSTEM!!!....99% OF THE TIME THATS UR PROBLEM

Nick W

Amtrol

I'm having a contractor install a 41 gallon Amtrol boiler mate.
Any ideas on the cost of the tank (I want to ensure I'm being charged fairly).
Thanks in advance for any help
KMK

Michal

last price I checked

Was like upper 6's but not sure what others charge, thats just for the tank and circ

Trainedpro

Indirect Help?

I currently have a tankless coil - thinking of getting a indirect - noticed a few 40 gallon boilermates online for short money - Any info on this model would be helpful -

Also looking at a few superstor's and buderus, both are significantly more expensive, am I going to get more product for my money with either of these?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Nick