New Guy Looking for Direction

franco b wrote:Hearing water trickling in the pipes is a sign of too low pressure. Pressure has to be high enough to raise the water to the highest point in the system. It now reads about 12 pounds which is probably OK.

You also need an expansion tank or one with a bladder to relieve the expansion of the water as it is heated, otherwise the pressure will rise and relief valve start to drip.

I'll throw this in just in case the safety leaks again.

If it has an expansion tank and the pressure goes up to 30 psi at normal operating temps, it's likely the tank has filled with water and needs to be drained, or the air bladder has leaked air and needs to be pumped back up ( a bike tire pump will work), so that the tank is mostly filled with air to allow for expansion. I replaced a couple of what I thought were leaky safety valves before I learned that it wasn't the valves at fault.

Paul

Funny that you say that cuz my valve is puking water right now. Not much but is. Look what just came in today! The one that is there looks old so I opted for the piece of mind. It'll go in next week.

franco b wrote:Will need to see what control is on the boiler. Find it and then short out the two TT terminals. If the burner starts the the problem is in the wiring from thermostat to control.

At the burner there is a safety switch button. Red button. open the load door and shine a flashlight and have someone push the button. If the fire comes on fine but if you see what looks like smoke, which are oil fumes then shut it off right away. Try that and we will take it from there.

I took the thermostat off the wall and crossed the wires, I get a click from the basement which is the circulator pump but it not pumping. After messing around by tapping the circulator, oil, hammer, words.... It went on and pumped for about 10mins and quit. Happened twice now. House warmed up a bit but not much. I saw the red button on the oil burner before reading your post, could resist and pushed it. Turned on. I opened the loading door and only saw a ignition spark, smelled some diesel but not the flame I've seen before. No flame actually...

There ya go, a new Ex-tol tank. That should stop the over pressure.

If the valve leaks at less than 30 psi, it may have some crud, or deposits stuck between the valve face and it's seat.

When you drain the system to install the Ex-trol you can pull the valve open manually and flush the valve and seat. If that doesn't work try gently pushing in on the stem and rotate the stem back and forth a few times. If that doesn't work, a new 30psi safety valve is not expensive - good time to replace it, too.

Paul

Have or add a valve just on top of the new expansion tank, that way it is simple to work on w/o losing a lot of water and letting a bunch more air in.

McGiever wrote:Have or add a valve just on top of the new expansion tank, that way it is simple to work on w/o losing a lot of water and letting a bunch more air in.

good idea, I was looking at the pipes and valves and am wishing it was as quick n easy.

Might attempt to prep a pipe nipple and valve up with tape and dope and then unthread the old tank and then quickly spin in the nipple/valve to close system up and then proceed at a more leisurely pace with only minimal air in and water out troubles.

McGiever wrote:Might attempt to prep a pipe nipple and valve up with tape and dope and then unthread the old tank and then quickly spin in the nipple/valve to close system up and then proceed at a more leisurely pace with only minimal air in and water out troubles.

Like McGiever says, but first open drain valve and get pressure to zero before attempting. You will lose very little water as it just wants to glug out.

Problem was a clogged jet. Burning oil again as back up. I have an extra jet on hand in case. Also found out that my circulator pump only kicks on when water temps are at 160*. Doesn't seem right to me. Can I turn that down so I can call for heat sooner?

hi wildwood, your question about having circulator start below 160 degrees is yes, but is self defeating. you are circulating "colder " water thru your pipes and bringing in "colder" water into your boiler making a longer recovery period for the boiler, thus using either more coal or oil in either case. just my input on this. dandy

wildwood wrote:Also found out that my circulator pump only kicks on when water temps are at 160*. Doesn't seem right to me. Can I turn that down so I can call for heat sooner?

I'm not familiar with handfired boiler controls but Hydronic systems are typically designed to run at 180 degrees. There is normally a low temp cutoff for the pump. As stated above, this keeps the heating load from overwhelming the boiler while it's recovering.

Once you have everything running correctly, you should have no problem maintaining 180 degrees with that boiler.

-Don

Ok, better give it more time and not mess with it. Starting to over think it. Welp... Off to buy some more coal and play home owner. Thanks guys!

Cooking!!! First time with a full load blazing last night. Nice n toasty this morning too. This coal thing is growing on me!

Question if I may... So I let the coal burn it's self out and this is what I found in the furnace. Can/should I just bank it all to the back and add a bucket of fresh coal on top of the bank and light up some wood? Or should I be cleaning this all out? Seems like a waste to me. I cracked open one of the pieces and there's good black coal in the nuggets. Suggestions welcome.

No no, don't waste it. Shake shake shake, get as much ash out as you can. Then push whats left up against the sides, clear a valley in the center best you can. Then build a kindling fire, or use charcoal to reignite.