vincenzo
New Member
Thanks for all your help.
I think I am leaning towards getting an indirect along with a intellicon for now, waiting the 4 years then switching over to gas. One last question, is it o.k. for the boiler I have now to go cold over and over again once I put the indirect in. I can remember once or twice it shut down and went completely cold due to a clogged filter and it leaked a big puddle of water all over the floor. I don't know if this boiler is made to do that.
Tom is right- it doesn't have to be set up for cold-starting. The through bolts stretch over time, so when the iron is cool and the iron heat exchanger plates are at a smaller dimension they may not have sufficient tension to keep it from leaking. While that may happen with the boiler at 70F, it's not likely to happen at 140F, which is the lowest you should normally run the thing.
With the Intellicon you program the low-temp limit, and let it decide if/when it needs to pull down the high-limit. On a new call for heat it won't fire the boiler until the temp in the boiler has dropped to 140F. It "learns" the system and figures out how to anticipated the end of a call for heat based on recent burns, and will cut the burner when it "thinks" there's enough heat in the boiler to finish, dropping the temp part-way to the programmed low-limit. Typical aquastat boiler controls only allow the boiler to slew through a difference of 15-25F. (eg, when the high limit is set to 180F, and it'll bump between 160F & 180F. Sometimes that swing is adjustable, some times not.) A heat purging control like the Intellicon can deliver temperature swings of 60F or more when the low-limit is programmed to 140F, which more than doubles the minimum burn times, cutting the numbers of burn cycles by half or more. It's worth reading the manual to get a handle on how the thing is supposed to work. They also have a crummy programming video and an installation video (with background music designed to drive you crazy. )[/QUOTE
Tom is right- it doesn't have to be set up for cold-starting. The through bolts stretch over time, so when the iron is cool and the iron heat exchanger plates are at a smaller dimension they may not have sufficient tension to keep it from leaking. While that may happen with the boiler at 70F, it's not likely to happen at 140F, which is the lowest you should normally run the thing.
With the Intellicon you program the low-temp limit, and let it decide if/when it needs to pull down the high-limit. On a new call for heat it won't fire the boiler until the temp in the boiler has dropped to 140F. It "learns" the system and figures out how to anticipated the end of a call for heat based on recent burns, and will cut the burner when it "thinks" there's enough heat in the boiler to finish, dropping the temp part-way to the programmed low-limit. Typical aquastat boiler controls only allow the boiler to slew through a difference of 15-25F. (eg, when the high limit is set to 180F, and it'll bump between 160F & 180F. Sometimes that swing is adjustable, some times not.) A heat purging control like the Intellicon can deliver temperature swings of 60F or more when the low-limit is programmed to 140F, which more than doubles the minimum burn times, cutting the numbers of burn cycles by half or more. It's worth reading the manual to get a handle on how the thing is supposed to work. They also have a crummy programming video and an installation video (with background music designed to drive you crazy. )
Tom is right- it doesn't have to be set up for cold-starting. The through bolts stretch over time, so when the iron is cool and the iron heat exchanger plates are at a smaller dimension they may not have sufficient tension to keep it from leaking. While that may happen with the boiler at 70F, it's not likely to happen at 140F, which is the lowest you should normally run the thing.
With the Intellicon you program the low-temp limit, and let it decide if/when it needs to pull down the high-limit. On a new call for heat it won't fire the boiler until the temp in the boiler has dropped to 140F. It "learns" the system and figures out how to anticipated the end of a call for heat based on recent burns, and will cut the burner when it "thinks" there's enough heat in the boiler to finish, dropping the temp part-way to the programmed low-limit. Typical aquastat boiler controls only allow the boiler to slew through a difference of 15-25F. (eg, when the high limit is set to 180F, and it'll bump between 160F & 180F. Sometimes that swing is adjustable, some times not.) A heat purging control like the Intellicon can deliver temperature swings of 60F or more when the low-limit is programmed to 140F, which more than doubles the minimum burn times, cutting the numbers of burn cycles by half or more. It's worth reading the manual to get a handle on how the thing is supposed to work. They also have a crummy programming video and an installation video (with background music designed to drive you crazy. )
They can run dangerously close to condensing so there is a limit to down firing. Because the boiler holds so little water and heats up so fast, the size of the fire isn't much of a factor.
This is awkward, but...
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