New Steamer install

Mamcloug

I don't have my digital camera now. Any ideas what the issues could be generally?

Mamcloug

New Steamer Install - Please Help

Just had a new gas powered WM EG-45 steamer installed. Half of the house is steam, the other half 2 zone hot water heat. Decided to consolidate from a 30 year old SF steam boiler, 25 year old SF hot water boiler, and a 12 year old hot water heater into one unit for efficiency. The install doesn't seem to be going well. The guy isn't a steam pro but had doen very good work on other parts of the house including basic plumbing so I was hopeful he could handle this. I started to realize the issues when he didn't repipe according to the manual, was running it at 5 PSI ( ilowered to 1.5, and what he said would take 2 days is taking 2 weeks. The current set up is that the WM EG-45 will make steam, heat the hot water through a heat exchanger and indirect 30G Ultra tank, and also run two zones of hot water with 2 TACO 007E circulators. Although I know the steam pipes are not correct, they are cast iron and the steam system is working fine as it always did. The steam actually works even if the hot water heat is being called. The hot water has been hotter than normal but works fine. Two issues are that is takes over an hour to heat one hot water zone and can't heat both at the same time. Also upon start the hot water pipes crackle for about ten minutes near the boiler then stop. Also noticed the water level in the boiler was much higher this morning than normal - almost near the top of the gauge and I had to let some out. Now the upstairs zone doesn't heat at all even when the circ is running and the thermostat is calling. The pipe feels room temp. How could the boiler make steam but the water in the copper pipes being circulated is not getting hot enough? I only notice one aquastat near the heat exchanger coil in front of the boiler that is set to 160 for hot water. He also didn't add an expansion tank while my old hot water boiler had one? Is this necessary.

Can anyone point me in the right direction. Are these circ's not powerful enough? Can the system not handle all the demands? I had a pro on this site tell me a WM EG-40 could handle this same set up after measuring the EDR and I felt I should up it 25BTU's as we might addd an extension.

Thanks.

Unknown

Can you

take some pics with a digital camera and post them here ? It's hard to diagnose the situation without seeing how it was piped .

bob young

paying twice

sounds like you got exactly what you paid for. a system designed by someone who is clue-less [YOU ] for FREE & installed by a helper who was supervised by YOU. classic example of a know it all who will be ripping it all out and paying TWICE or living with a mess that costs way too much to operate and does not heat properly until you sell the house and put the screws to the sucker that buys it. you did good.

Unknown

Nice dose

of hostility you got going there , Bob . Keep it up at that level and I'll bet many homeowners will not return to the thread they start and you respond to . Remember noone is perfect , even you and me buddy .

David Sutton_6

Just a bit uncalled for Bob

We all cant be the heating hero!!Seems like this person is looking for help not to be condemed.


David

brucewo1b

Mamcloug

Pictures are what are needed One pic is worth a thousand words, if we can see it we can comment without pics we are just guessing and that is no good to anyone. also on steam boilers you are limited to about 1/3 of its output adding water zones you may be overburdenig the boiler which will really show up in cold weather. Have you done a heatloss on the added water zones or at least know how many BTUs you stealing from the boiler? Do you know the EDR of the staem rads and size of the boiler?

D107

see if you can borrow a camera from a neighbor or family/friend

homeowner here......then tell us what town and state you live in and you may well find a steam specialist will respond. You can also check the Find A Pro section on this website to find someone near you. But there are many steam people who don't advertise so let us know where you are. Once pictures are shown you will get some feedback on the problems and maybe even some possible solutions, but you want a real steam pro there and not have to be the middleman interpreting instructions to the installer who caused the problem.

Good luck,

David

Mamcloug

Here are some pics. It is a tight space so it's tough to get all angles. Feel free to comment. Aside from Bob Young, what a complete a**hole you are.

adambuild

Wow!

Clearly a mess! Let's see if we can help you clean it up! Where are you located? Have you tried "Find a Pro?"

kevin coppinger_4

wow..did he

even look at the install manual? If he is using the condensate to heat those 007's will not last long. And wired in romex? ouch...The hot water loop is undersized what was the heatloss? ...kpc

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

David Sutton_6

David Sutton_6

There are a few things

The header on the boiler is piped wrong, the supply pipes are to branch off the header not the other way around, the wet steam can't return to the boiler tru the equalizer, and those cirs will not last long running off the condesate that way. the boiler in the pic is a oil block boiler with a carlin ez-1 gas power burner, much more efficent than a standard gas tube burner

Unknown

another

Another good boiler company gone to ****...
After lookin at the pixs, this installer is not a pro plumber or boiler person... U will need to repipe the pipings on this boiler, I hope u didn't pay for this job... If so, get a refund check from him...