My Old Bryant Steam Boiler??

Mike Cascio

How would a computer back up rated for 20 minutes be?

How much run time could you get out of a back up if the power went out?

Michael J. Cascio

D.Fowler

Steam Boiler Questions


Well it has finally happened. We have been our 100 year old stone home with a Bryant Tubular Gas Boiler 10 years without a problem. Then last nite the system would not fire. The pilot light was lit the thermostat(Honeywell 87f) seemed to be operational but no heat!! This had to happen on the coldest nite of the year (until tonite) Thankfully we have space heaters for the bedrooms and a catalytic wood burning system in the fireplace. Then this morning while I was making a sevice call the system fired up and seemed to be just fine.It is still working as I post this message. I found this site and thought it would be helpfull(it already has opened my eyes. To finish this story the service person(wearing a Bryant patch(feeling better)) came out and as soon as he saw the boiler he said "I can't repair or replace any of these parts". Is there any reason that the system would not work then all of a sudden fire up? Should I consider replacing the boiler with a new one? I have already asked Santa for the Books. My wife and I are just hoping the system works until the spring, we're just not ready to replace it now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Holidays
From The Woods In
Coopersburg, Pa.




System Specs:
AGA Square feet
Steam Radiation-1100

Hourly BTU Input-330,000

Jack P.

First thing I would replace is the thermocouple, assuming there is one. If you have no luck with that the gas valve is the next replacement. Your burner assembly is probably not 100 years old and has been retrofitted at some point in time. A good service tech should be able to locate a gas valve for replacement. Older burner assemblies are not that complex. You could try lightly tapping on the gas valve with the handle end of a plastic screwdriver when the thermostat is calling for heat. Sometimes it will open with that technique. If the boiler is not leaking I would even consider replacing the whole burner assembly. That would be much cheaper then a brand new boiler.

D.Fowler

Which is more efficient?

Is ciculated hot water more or less efficient than steam? I have a 2 pipe steam system should I consider conversion? Is a properly adjusted steam system as efficient as ciculated water? I am not waiting for Santa to deliver the books I am ordering them tonight!!

From the woods in Coopersburg!

Dale

Magic fix

I think you may have a partially plugged pig tail, the little curled pipe to your pressure control. Or it may have been off on low water. If it happens again have the tech change the pigtail, pretty cheap part.

Maynard

Bryant

Check pigtail to pressuretrol to see if it is clogged. This will cause boiler to come on when it feels like.

ttekushan_2

In practice

> Is ciculated hot water more or less efficient

> than steam? I have a 2 pipe steam system should I

> consider conversion? Is a properly adjusted steam

> system as efficient as ciculated water? I am not

> waiting for Santa to deliver the books I am

> ordering them tonight!!

>

> From the woods in

> Coopersburg!

ttekushan_2

In practice

I have always found steam to be more economical with the exception of circulating water with condensing boilers and sophisticated electronic controls. The basic steam heating system is quite simple in its operation and there are virtually no moving parts.

The efficiency of a steam system is not in the AFUE rating of the boiler. It is with the fact that steam has very little mass and a tremendously large amount of heating power by virtue of the fact that it is a condensable gas. Therefore, the efficiency lies in the ease of distribution. Remember that the average home steam heating system uses no electricity for circulation.

Furthermore, if natural draft natural gas burners are used and there are no condensate or feed pumps involved, I can operate the heating system off an inverter and a car battery for days if the power fails!

Bob W._3

ttekushan, your point on operating a steam boiler (24v system)on a battery/inverter is intriguing. How would you hook it up? My thought is to just disconnect the line feed and hook it up to the load side of the 120v disconnect. Any reason why that would not work? Thanks.

ttekushan_2

inverter

Where I have tried it there has been a box on the side of the boiler with the boiler power switch on it. I disconnected the line and attached a power cord that I then plugged into an inverter. Obviously, there are better and more permanent solutions.

The interesting thing is that most of the battery power is consumed by the inverter itself. The excitation current of the 24v transformer is minimal (a few ma) and the gas valve is probably less than 10W. Just make sure you use a car battery, or better yet a deep cycle marine battery. Then you're set.

Ideally you would set this up as an automatic Uninterruptabble power supply. This way the system will kick in during a power failure even if you are away. It works a lot like those emergency lights in hallways except it has an inverter and a much larger battery.

Bob W._3

The draw on my new system would be the gas valve, vaporstat, M-M 47-2 and vent damper. The total would still be pretty low. My thought was to do it just as you did, on an "as needed" basis. No need for a permanent UPS since we are in town and the power is fairly reliable (so far). Thanks.

ttekushan_2

It'll only last

> How would a computer back up rated for 20 minutes

> be?

>

> How much run time could you get out of a

> back up if the power went out?

>

> Michael J.

> Cascio

ttekushan_2

It'll only last

about an hour to hour and a half. Definitely need more battery amp-hours. I really like to have about 100 amp-hours. Covers most practical contingencies.