dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
2646
RickWakeman
join:2013-06-23
Springfield, MA

1 edit

RickWakeman

Member

[HVAC] What Type Of Heating System Is This

Click for full size
So growing up we always had a natural gas hot water heater and forced hot air. Now I have this.

Can someone tell me what kind of heating system this is? It runs off oil, but I am not sure what the expansion tank or additional tank are for. Is there any routine maintenance that has to be done?
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd

Premium Member

My guess is the outer walls of any room in that house have baseboard radiators unless that home has forced air in which case its a hydro-air system. But what you have here in the picture is an oil fired boiler, The expansion tank is because the water expands and contracts and the tank maintains a certain pressure in the system without blowing off a relief valve.

As for the water heater, I am thinking its electric as there is not enough pipes going to it for it to be a loop off the boiler design. However it looks like it has some weird setup that is using the domestic hot water loop of the boiler. My only guess is that its circulating water from the water heater through the boiler loop and its actually more of an insulated tank maybe its electric and is preheating the water with the boiler.

LazMan
Premium Member
join:2003-03-26
Beverly Hills, CA

LazMan to RickWakeman

Premium Member

to RickWakeman
Looks like a pretty standard boiler setup, with a "domestic hot water" option, which means the boiler also provides (or supplements) the hot water for the house, as well.

Expansion tank to to compensate for thermal expansion in the system (water takes up more space as it's heated).

They do require maintenance; a local plumber/heating contractor would be a good start to check it over; although it does look fairly clean, from the initial pic, at least to my untrained eye.
dbamber
join:2003-02-07
Bandon, OR

dbamber

Member

X2, If the Boiler is cast iron, and if the storage tank is stainless steel, copper, stone lined, or polypropylene then you have a long lasting setup. That said heating oil is not as inexpensive as natural gas. However,You do have to run the unit 24/7/365 to heat your hot water. My sister has a similar setup in her second home, and when she tried to shut the boiler down it would leak between the boiler sections.
RickWakeman
join:2013-06-23
Springfield, MA

RickWakeman

Member

Boiler is cast iron and I think the tank is glass lined.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to RickWakeman

Premium Member

to RickWakeman
I should also add I see a very good thing in this picture, heavy use of ball valves. Whoever had that installed was wise to spend the extra few bucks per valve. Your heating contractor will like working on that thing because ball valves rarely cause trouble like gates do on a heating system.
dbamber
join:2003-02-07
Bandon, OR

dbamber to RickWakeman

Member

to RickWakeman
Then the storage tank has the same life expectancy
as a regular hot water heater. If you are considering buying the property, then I would check to see the date of manufacture of the unit. BTW,this setup has a great recovery rate.

mackey
Premium Member
join:2007-08-20

mackey to Kearnstd

Premium Member

to Kearnstd
said by Kearnstd:

As for the water heater, I am thinking its electric as there is not enough pipes going to it for it to be a loop off the boiler design.

Actually, it IS a loop off the boiler system. It's an open loop design with one leg of the heating loop shared with the incoming water. The water in the heater does not mix with the house heating water; that black square plate on the boiler is a water:water heat exchanger.

/M
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd

Premium Member

ahh yea now that I have looked at the picture again I do see the water inlet from the house feeding into the coil insert and then the return line coming off the bottom of the tank going through a check valve just before the cold water in.
RickWakeman
join:2013-06-23
Springfield, MA

RickWakeman to mackey

Member

to mackey
said by mackey:

said by Kearnstd:

As for the water heater, I am thinking its electric as there is not enough pipes going to it for it to be a loop off the boiler design.

Actually, it IS a loop off the boiler system. It's an open loop design with one leg of the heating loop shared with the incoming water. The water in the heater does not mix with the house heating water; that black square plate on the boiler is a water:water heat exchanger.

/M

What does this mean?

dennismurphy
Put me on hold? I'll put YOU on hold
Premium Member
join:2002-11-19
Parsippany, NJ

dennismurphy to Kearnstd

Premium Member

to Kearnstd
said by Kearnstd:

...

That seems to be a very nice, professionally installed boiler with oil-fired burner and domestic hot water loops with a "boilermate" style tank.

The expansion tank (with the "BG" label on it) is for the heating loop.

The one intriguing thing for me is that it appears there's a circulator pump on top of the hot water holding tank. Haven't seen that before?

edit: Item #2 - I don't see a barometric damper... maybe I'm missing it.

jack b
Gone Fishing
MVM
join:2000-09-08
Cape Cod

jack b

MVM

said by dennismurphy:

The one intriguing thing for me is that it appears there's a circulator pump on top of the hot water holding tank. Haven't seen that before?

That pump is controlled by the storage tank aquatstat. When hot water is drawn the incoming cold water trips the aquastat to run the pump. Circulating hot water from the tankless coil in the boiler then "refills" the storage tank.

dennismurphy
Put me on hold? I'll put YOU on hold
Premium Member
join:2002-11-19
Parsippany, NJ

2 edits

dennismurphy

Premium Member

said by jack b:

That pump is controlled by the storage tank aquatstat. When hot water is drawn the incoming cold water trips the aquastat to run the pump. Circulating hot water from the tankless coil in the boiler then "refills" the storage tank.

I was thinking the water would flow from the coil to the storage tank to the faucet/bath via the incoming cold water pressure, but I guess more upflow is needed. That's why I work with computers and not hydronics.

edit: Hang on a sec... I don't see any connection between the taco pump on the tank and the aquastat. What I see is an incoming circuit to what appears to be a shutoff switch, then a connection out to the taco pump and what appears to be a burner or somesuch on the side of the tank. Maybe it's a full-fleged water heater after all?

OK, I found the specs for the thing here. Looks like the tankless coils are ... inside the tank. Even still, the installation diagram doesn't show the second circulator. Curious about that; maybe water pressure is very low or somesuch? Looks like the box I was referring to in the strike-out above isn't a burner head but is the aquastat 'just' for the hot water; separate from the boiler's aquastat.

jack b
Gone Fishing
MVM
join:2000-09-08
Cape Cod

1 edit

1 recommendation

jack b

MVM

Close. What our poster has is a "booster" storage tank. Your link is for an indirect heater, which is a different beast.

»www.tfi-everhot.com/Boos ··· _08.html

dark_star
join:2003-11-14
Louisville

dark_star to RickWakeman

Member

to RickWakeman
said by RickWakeman:

Now I have this.

Can someone tell me what kind of heating system this is?

I am genuinely curious. How could you possibly not know what you have?

Seems to me, the pre-purchase home inspector would have mentioned it. At the very least, your real estate agent, or in the case of a rental, your landlord.

Additionally, just googling the brand and model from the labels of the red box in the photo should reveal exactly what you have. Not just consumer level information, but technical information like schematics and installation information.

RickWakeman
join:2013-06-23
Springfield, MA

RickWakeman

Member

said by dark_star:

said by RickWakeman:

Now I have this.

Can someone tell me what kind of heating system this is?

I am genuinely curious. How could you possibly not know what you have?

Seems to me, the pre-purchase home inspector would have mentioned it. At the very least, your real estate agent, or in the case of a rental, your landlord.

Additionally, just googling the brand and model from the labels of the red box in the photo should reveal exactly what you have. Not just consumer level information, but technical information like schematics and installation information.

The home inspector probably mentioned it, I just have a bad memory. I did do some googling, I just couldn't nail down an answer. The replies here have been very helpful.
jp16
join:2010-05-04
united state

jp16 to RickWakeman

Member

to RickWakeman
If it was not already mentioned, this should be serviced annually. By its very nature oil burners are a bit messy and require service. The fire box should be cleaned the nozzle replaced the igniter checked and the chimney inspected and cleaned when needed. Your oil delivery company may have service techs too. Personally, I do not use my oil company for service. I use an independent service guy. IMO and it makes me feel better; he has no reason to put a higher flow nozzle in than I need. He is not selling me the oil....
Expand your moderator at work
RickWakeman
join:2013-06-23
Springfield, MA

RickWakeman

Member

Re: [HVAC] What Type Of Heating System Is This

Is it normal for the boiler to kick on if the heat is not on? It turns on once in a while but I am not sure what triggers it.

I still haven't had it serviced yet but I plan to.

robbin
Mod
join:2000-09-21
Leander, TX

robbin

Mod

It looks like your boiler also produces hot water for the house. Several posts in this thread discuss that. So yes, if you use hot water without the heat being on the boiler could kick in.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to RickWakeman

Premium Member

to RickWakeman
Completely normal not only due to the point Robbin made but also because even without the hot water option many boilers have a high and low setting for their temperature. That is the low temp is what you could call the minimum core temp, This is what the boiler holds at all the time. Very commonly found on setups like yours with domestic hot water.

The high temp tends to be what it goes to before engaging the circulation pump. In simple terms the pumps do not always come on right away on some systems, when heat is called on the burner does its ignition sequence, boiler heats to high temp, pumps come on. During heating the boiler itself can actually shut off while the pump continues to run as well. The high temp setting is also the max your boiler can heat to(when functioning normally and safely)