Pressure Problem - Slant Fin Galaxy New Boiler

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Figman

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Hi all, First time on this forum. Lots of good information. Hopefully someone can give me some advice. Here it goes, previously My house had a Slant Fin Galaxy GX-100 gas boiler with a tankless heat exchange, it ran for over 25 years without a problem until the last 2-3 years when started to leak. I know the company went Under or got acquired by another company but still went on and bought and installed this past March 2023, the newer version Galaxy GXHii-115 which was almost a direct replacement with minor pipe modifications. The contractor installed the unit, put in a new expansion tank, PRV and water inlet valve, it went through the testing process but here in NY during March and April was a bit warmer so the boiler will run very little but not like winter time, the test was probably not very complete, tested the baseboards, hot water but not sure if it needed longer time. The unit came in with the electronic control Aquastat 3200, which the installer did not have much knowledge on the programming side of it. At the beginning the hot water was not very hot So I did some reading and finally setup the low limit at 180 and high at 200 instead of default of 190. After the final setup it ran beautifully since March until last week. During this entire time the unit will to the same: the heat tubes will come on every 1 hour and 15 minutes, for about 2 minutes, it will bring the boiler to 180 then will shut off but the temp on the electronic display will keep rising to 203-206, the upper limit light will come on, it will stay there for a 45 minutes or so and eventually start to decrease, as it went down the upper limit light will go away and the will go continue to decrease to 170 which is10 degrees below the low limit and then the process will start again.

Here is the problem: during all this time I never paid attention to the temp/pressure gauge on the side of the unit, last week I engaged the boiler for the first time and came on at 70 degrees. It ran for a short while, all baseboard heaters were hot and working, continue to run the unit for about 15 minutes, soon after the PRV started leaking water and noticed the gauge marked 30 PSI. My first inclination was the 180 -200 setup and brought down to 170-190 degrees but the unit continued to expel water though the PRV not matter the setup on the electronic controller. as I was playing with the different setting notice the pressure go all the way down to 0 or close depending on how long the boiler recovers from the previous warning cycle. Called the installer and explained the situation, first thing he mentioned was the expansion tank which I reminded him he put a new one, the he mentioned 2 3 other things that could be causing the over pressurization of the unit, the second time I spoke to him then he gave other reason but still waiting for him to show up and it is getting colder in NY. I apologized for the lengthy post but wanted to provide as much detail as possible.

Your help is greatly appreciate it,

Thanks,
 

John Gayewski

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Pressure rising too high are either expansion tank too small or it's broken. Prv is bad, or a leak in a heat exchanger for hot water.

It could be your expansion tank was installed and was too small and the larger temp rise in the winter finally broke it.
 

Figman

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Thanks for the reply, the installer did say the expansion tank as his first thing regarding the pressure, the tank is new but can definitely can be defective, the size seems as the same as the older boiler, replacing the tank and PRV should be not problem but I really hope is no the heat exchanger, bought the boiler brand new boxed up with all the component, As you might know Slant Fin went out of business which makes warranty claims almost impossible and parts might be difficult to get. My luck….

thanks again
 

Figman

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Hi friends. I was out of town and just got back so I went downstairs to grab some pictures for your review. this boiler is all over the place and hopefully someone can make some sense out of it. I witnessed something interesting: while I was watching the process of down cycle, dropped from 164F/0 PSI to 160/0 and fired back up to bring the unit back to the low limit of 170/15. Then for up cycle the temp kept going to 180/20 and to 190 were triggered the upper limit of 190 and started to go down with about 20 PSI. At this time the boiler received a call for heat from the thermostat as the boiler fired up and came to work the temp dropped to 120 from 190 and the pressure started to rise to eventually hit 30PSI and started to release water from the PRV. By looking at the floor where I attached a hose to direct the water to the drain, water has been releasing constantly …. This is crazy and my contractors is MIA. Will call him again today. Please see pictures attached Thanks again. Figman
 

Figman

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Hi All, finally I was able to downsize some pictures, the fist group is for the install, let me know your thoughts
 

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Figman

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The second setup of pictures shows the actual behavior with the boiler as it goes up and down with temp and pressure during a cycle of about an hour and 15 minutes while keeping the coil hot. Normally, I would say the boiler will be at 170 degrees and 12-15PSI. But at random and in not a particular moment will below 170 and 0 PSI, this is driving insane. still waiting for the installer to return my calls. Thanks for the feedback
 

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John Gayewski

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The relief is tripping and letting the pressure drop and then it slowly rises back up?

Your fill valve should be piped into a tee between your expansion tank and air eliminator. I'm not sure this is causing your problem without some testing.
 

Fitter30

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Expansion tank is on the wrong side of the system needs to be on the suction side of the boiler pump. Pump looks like it would be easier to move the pump like tacos diagram than to keep the pump where it is and move scoop and extank. Need to know the height of your system for the correct water pressure.
 
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Figman

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Fitter30 the height of the water line is at 86” from the ground. interesting you say that about the expansion tank, the actual setup was already in place when I had the old boiler which never had a pressure problem, the new one is a direct replacement from the old one, almost all the pipes lined up with the new one, same company, physical dimensions, newer model and as mentioned new exp tank, PRV valve, water inlet feeder valve and some type of “W: AT MOS VENT“ device which comes from the water line to the feeder valve, not sure what is that piece. Thanks for your input
 

Fitter30

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Height from the lowest piping to highest water heat emitter or piping. What tools are needed 50 lb tire gauge, tire pump, flat bladed screwdriver and adjustable wrench.
 
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