a46geo

Not to worry Mike. Kurt is just fool'in. In fact every photo that you have ever seen of Kurt, is actually him wearing only his underware.

Well, I have been gone for a few hours, I see that Chad mentioned the heat issue. Rich, my boiler guru, had a lot to say about that too. Seems that Chad has the makings to become a boiler guru himself. One thing that I didn't mention in the push pull debate was that dry firing a boiler is the fastest way to ruin it. With that in mind, it seems better to pump water into a boiler rather than suck it out. Under certain circumstances, that could mean life or death for a boiler. Bring on the round table, sounds like fun and educational. I'm in too. George

FYI I just got off the phone with a local boiler expert. I can't repeat verbatim what he said, Mike would have a heart attack. But in a nut shell, he said the Ivory Tower Engineers haven't seen the real world since high school. Although he has never installed a pump on the supply piping, he has had to relocate 3 from the supply to the return because of the poor performance. Since I admit that I really don't know, you will have to ask your own guru. I can say however, I don't recall in 20 years ever having any problems because a pump was on the return. George

Darren, Holy-makel-der-andy. I have no idea what you have there, but I would definately write up that Ameritherm vent damper for removal. FYI: That flex connector would not be legal in Michigan. George

Well, it has been a long long time since I have been on a service truck. Many things have indeed changed. However, as I read it, we are talking about pumping away from the tank, not the boiler. With the pump on the return, you are indeed pumping away from the tank. If I am missing something, and if supply pumping is now the norm, I have still never seen it. Even on brand new installations. George

Dennis wrote; The condos were in the same building. Around here all the systems have the circulator pump on the return side. Hot air (and water) naturally rise. Cooler air (and water) naturally fall. That's why we see old gravity systems both air and water. The pump is just there to assist nature. To try to reverse this would not help the situation at all. The idea of the pump is to evacuate the line faster to make room for more supply. As with most anything else, it is easier to pull than push. George

Jim, That is not legal here. Not at the appliance anyway. The feed to the meter is the only place we would see a shut off needing a wrench. George

Chad, There isn't much to share, you are right. Large commercial and industrial applications will do just what you describe for the reasons you site. It is also much cheaper than one very large boiler. The boilers are "staged" and will use one tank. I have never seen this done in a small residential application. I admit I have jumped to conclusions here, I am assuming that the two boilers supply heat to two different systems controled by two different thermostats and they are not connected any other way. It evidentally works. If it the "house" paying for the heat, I guess it is not a big deal. If not, 2 units are sharring the same hot water. Depending on the conditions, water heated by one boiler will be drawn back to the other. Terry, I have never seen a pump on the supply line. What do you mean? George

Dennis, I am with Jim, I would have said circa 1980. How close are we? Is that a 1 inch gas line feeding this thing? It looks to be about 125,000 BTU at the most. How about the gas cock, is the handle broken or is this one that needs a wrench? If so is that legal in your area? We can't do that here. George

Dennis, What type of tank? How big is it? Was it flooded? I am just curious. I Have never seen this before either. I am picturing the old steel tank. Could it be that one rusted out so the just doubled up, or was it an original set up? I can't see how this could work unless the boilers were piped and wired in tandum. Were they? Did you take any photos? I sure would like to see this set up. George

David, Sounds good to me. I especially like the idea of not mentioning the CO test if you find nothing. George

Sulfer sticks work best on ribbon burners. Use a smoke bomb for a pot or fountain burner. The sticks will work on in-shot burners, but sometimes are harder to light. I wouldn't bother to open a sealed combustion chamber. Try this; Next time you actually see a cracked or rusted through heat exchanger, toss in a sulfer stick or smoke bomb. Chances are you will get nothing into the living space. Very few cracked heat exchangers actually leak fumes into the house. REALLY ... The only way to know if there is or is not a breach of the heat exchanger is to take it apart and visually inspect every inch of the it. Anything short of that is inconclusive. Our best bet is to use a good quality CO detector to test for anything in the air distribution and disclaim heat exchangers along with an explanation. George

Darren, No photo here either. I have seen metal finned contraptions that are designed to clamp on a flue. The idea was to make the furnace room a little warmer but I never understood why that was needed. There is usually enough heat radiating off the furnace itself. If you actually do come across something that extracts heat from the exhaust, better watch out for bad drafting. I would also think that rods passing through the flue would create an obstruction to draft. George

Kevin, If you like toys, go for it. The practical use will depend on the type of heating you are checking and just how far you want to go. The purpose for analyzing combustion from the HVAC tech's point of view is to fine tune the burn, especially from an oil burner. A lot of factors come into play here. One of those factors is the atmospheric conditions at that moment. What may read fine to you today may well be off tomorrow or vise versa. So you need to be careful here. If you really want to check a heat exchanger for leaks, use sulfur sticks. George

I bought the Prometer Surveymaster SM because of the recommendations of so many on the ASHI forum. I have never used anything else to compare this with, but after three years, I love it

In fact, if you do NOT vent this way, the chimney would most probably be too large for just the hot water tank. In such a case, the chimney would need to be relined George

That is an easy one ...72

When did Phogg-horn Legg-horn get promoted to chief? What happened to the little chicken hawk? Robert, I never saw a set up like that. In fact, I still don't know what the heck I am looking at there. I would have them call the gas company. That regulator looks like something off of an old gravity solenoid system from the forties and fifties. George

Rob, I wonder how far that hose stretched before it finally blew? George

Welcome Peter, A realtor with whom I can agree. You are not that far from me geographically either. I am in the North Detroit, Port Huron, blue water area. I write up every major concern that I find. I also include what the approximate cost to repair should be. I don't care about cosmetic flaws and the summary section of my report explains the historic (phenomenal) return on investment real estate has been. An honest detached inspection is all I think any buyer wants. First time buyers often have to have it explained just exactly what we mean by the word "investment". George

How in the hell can they get themselves into the minus column like that .. without surgery?

Brian, Give us all a break here would ya? What is the strip mall equivalent of "fair to the house"? George

Dave, What spelling errors? I read "siding" and I read "Chalky". Then somewhere I saw "aluminum." I answered you that way and Chad saw it before I took it back off. The older than dirt Chad comes along and can't even see "south side". No Dave, spelling errors ain't got nuttin ta do wit it. Just two old men who have not got enough sense to go sit out on the porch and whittle. George

Chad, I need more than new glasses. However, it is not "probably" a south facing wall. Read Dave's post again. I'll get you a pair too. George

Norm, I don't do pool inspections, but I am looking forward to this. Who knows what may come of it? George