Recent content by Astro46

fitter30, thanks for responding. i don't know for sure, but the boiler could be as old as the building, from 1926. it is hot water radiators, sized for 2 apartments, 2 story building. ap 2600 sq ft living space. I say it started with coal because I seem to remember finding bits of coal, and...

This is a gas conversion on a Very old boiler that happened decades ago. Started out as coal. I've noticed that the flame, when the boiler is on is blue at bottom, but mostly orange. It has been like this ever since I can remember. In the past a professional heating company had done yearly...

110-200 is the min-max for the temperature cutoff switch. I will try lowering the max boiler temp.

I know that what you are suggesting makes sense in designing a new system, where everything is exposed, and data is available for all components. In this case, estimating the length of line and ID is guessing, at best. As I mentioned, its a two flat. pipes running through walls and floors...

btw: I just noticed that there is a tag on top of temp limit switch that indicates minimum temp of 110 (switch closed) and upper limit of 200 (switch opens) or whatever the pointer is set to (currently 165). I don't know if there is a control for the lower limit inside the switch cover.

I think that there is little chance I will come up with a reliable number for volume of water in the system. Too many variables. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't decide about the size of the tank. I went to a Chicago plumbing and heating supply, explained that I needed to replace the existing...

he, he. yep. I was happy to come up with that solution for a stable tank cradle. And, it just fits under the admittedly too long space heater (hasn't been used in years) vent.

I had wondered if pipe to expansion tank is blocked, so opened the tank isolation valve when it was off. Water flowed. But if the blockage is temp related, then of course that is different. Just wondering, what makes you think it is a temperature related blockage? I have tried inserting...

Dana, thanks for the advice. Friday night I removed expansion tank from system and increased pressure to 20psi. I turned boiler high temp from 180 to 165. I don't see any other temp setting (ie low temp). There is an 'altitude' gauge below the temp gauge. I was hopeful when on sat, there was...

water temp up to 145, pressure still at 30#, and 1 gal bucket under pressure relief overflowed a while ago, more still coming out.

I have installed a pressure gauge on the drain valve (flushed valve to remove sediment before installing). It reads the same as the ancient pressure valve on boiler. pressure was reading 11# with system off for 4 hours. water coming from bleed valves on 2nd fl. I removed the expansion tank...

i closed the cold water feed valve a few days ago (it was never kept closed during operation in the past) to see what effect that might have. The Bell and Gossett instructions that came with the new reducer and pressure relief valves talked several times about how that valve should be kept...

thanks for that pic and explanation of boiler heat exchange opeation. Upon closer inspection I now see the exchangers. I don't remember why I got the idea that it had only a pipe running through.

I'll get to looking at previous gas bills and checking the fuel-use heat load calculation in the next few days. The system had already been off for a couple of hours when I shut and reopened the isolating valve. Hard to imagine it could have cooled that much in a few minutes. but who knows...

Thanks for the responses. Now I understand the notion of negative pressure in the closed system. Sounds like the system has never been at negative pressure. I measure the vertical height from level of pressure gauge to top of highest 2nd fl radiator as 16' x .433 +3 = 10 psi. The existing...