Slant Fin Vent Draft

Running my S260 in series with the slant fin galaxy old propane boiler. It has the intermittent pilot ignition system.


IMAG0162 by ValterBorges, on Flickr

You can see the set of pictures here.
http://flic.kr/s/aHsjxNF8bT

and the manual here
http://www.slantfin.com/images/stories/ ... im_iid.pdf
http://www.slantfin.com/images/stories/ ... er_avd.pdf


It comes on when the temp is 120F which has only happened once when i manually tested fail over it in the fall works well pilot lights and it takes over heating.
I've been burning since the summer so this thing is just basically off as the S260 does not let the temp get below 140-150F.

It has a vent electronic damper that is supposed to open and close when the unit is on but it's not fully closed in the off and i'm loosing btu's up the stack.
I have not completely turned it off for fear that i would also be shutting off all the relays hooked up to it.

So my questions are:

1. Is there an easy way to troubleshoot the open/closing of the damper?
2. Does anyone know the replacement damper for this slant/fin sp-52 60 damper?
3. Is it possible to isolate power to the relays from power to the unit/ignition?

How much efficiency loss, thermal syphoning would you guess this causes?

Ok, here is what I figured out.

1. Turned off the propane (valve at boiler and valve in T after comming in from outside

IMAG0108 by ValterBorges, on Flickr

2. Removed Hood from TJ powershot.

IMAG0103 by ValterBorges, on Flickr

3. Realized the top of the hood was rubbing against the edges of the vent damper and preventing it from operating normally thus preventing the ignition from working. It doesnt work unless the vent damper is in the open 90 position. Tested this by tweeking temp on the hi/low of aquastat. The motor seems to work fine but any small tension and it will stop. Opens and closes slowly. Not sure if it needs some oiling or it's on its last leg?

IMAG0101 by ValterBorges, on Flickr


IMAG0102 by ValterBorges, on Flickr

4. Since the goal is to stop the thermal syphoning and prevent the drafting of all the heat from the propane boiler out thru the side-shot. I disconnected the the 24v connection between the damper connections and ignition connection. Then I again tweeked the aquastat and no movement on the vent and no firing on the ignition.

IMAG0107 by ValterBorges, on Flickr

IMAG0105 by ValterBorges, on Flickr

5. Removed draft hood, vacuumed out alot of dust on the propane boiler coils.

IMAG0103 by ValterBorges, on Flickr
IMAG0104 by ValterBorges, on Flickr

6. Put vent on the hood and covered the top with fiber insulation and covered side-shot with insulation to prevent heating of basement and cold draft from outside.

IMAG0109 by ValterBorges, on Flickr

7. Added an additional Co detector around the LP boiler because I'm paranoid.


Did I miss anything?







Thank you Rob for the encouragement.