I'm diggin' it



Bought my first house a few months ago and it has a hot water boiler and baseboard radiators. The boiler is old; maybe 60s era, but everything tested fine.

The hot water temp is set to 116, which seems kinda low to me, but it's keeping the place a nice, comfortable 69-70 right now...I'm not sure if I should increase the temp when it gets colder as I have no real experience w/ these things; I don't know if it is set at a certain temp to work in conjunction w/ the internally set PSI...all I know is the dog is now glued to the wall





Anybody with some info/tips about these things, feel free to chime in





Speed

I don't but my brothers ran at 140.

Thanks.
Speed



 

Those old boilers will sometimes last for what seems like forever. They def built them to last.

oh and the heat of those baseboards..

I love my base board hot water. It kind of sucks in the summer having a window AC but other than that its good to go. Not to mention they use alot less electricity than a hot air system and can easily be run by a small generator

What temp is your set at?
Speed



 

I want to say our boiler is set at 190.

Thanks,



Mine goes up to 230, but i can't help but think the 116 isn't going to cut it in the winter

The PSI is set at 30 and that is internal, so IDK if they have to be set in conjunction to work most efficiently...there is an overflow valve so I guess I can't fuck it up too bad if I mess w/ it
Speed



 

if you spread silly putty all over your radiator, your mother will spank you

I'm sure it has a pressure relief valve connected to the drain piping. Unless your house is a miracle of insulating efficiency you will of course need to raise the temperature to keep the inside warmth constant as the outside temps drop.

How does it go to 230?  You have steam at 212. 30 psi system?

That's sort of low for an old boiler, I'd say a more typical LWT (leaving water temperature) would be around 140.  
Newer style fin tube radiators? or the old style cast iron style?
Any under/in floor tubing?  (that typically runs 120 or less)
But it all depends on the design of the system.

Worth having a  Good service company check it out before the dead of winter, get a written quote from at least two firms.
Since it's your house now, might be worth paying a good firm to take you around and document the system, how to shut down the boiler - safely, where are the valves, zones, controls, etc so you know where and what to look for if you have problems. If possible get a hold of the old records for service and fuel usage.

Yes, fin-tube radiators in all rooms and hallways. The basement has a cast iron one.


No heated floors that I'm aware of




I had the whole thing checked by the home inspector before I bought the house. It may have been the only thing he actually did that I couldn't do myself as he had some specialized, expensive looking devices he checked the boiler with




I'm going to bump it to 140 and see what happens.
Speed





 

Well, that's just what the meter on the front goes to...

The PSI seems to be set internally somewhere as there is a needle on the meter pointing to 30psi and the water starts pumping when the meter moves to 30 psi and the set temp.
Speed





 

For some frame of reference...

When we design a boiler system we usually run leaving water at 160 and a temp drop of 20 degrees, but that would be on a commerical system, I don't know what residential boilers' pop-off valves are set for, anmd I don't know the specifics of the radiators in question to go any farther.

I had these in my first apartment. Best thing was- heat was free! All hot water for the building came from a series of central boilers and was then piped all over. In the winter time youd hear them open the valves and let it start circulating through the baseboards.

It was tricky for me to get it set comfortably and on more than a few occasions I had to open windows to counter it.
I must say that I was pretty impressed on how even it was distributed away from the wall. I figured id  have to huddle next to the heater just to feel anything. Not so!

Shockingly this wasnt in NYC or some other Northern stronghold accustomed to radiator style heaters but in Amarillo, TX!

What is a boiler, or for that matter a radiator?

make sure it's air free, it should do it automatically but I bleed mine first run.

same reason your car coolant dosent turn to steam...pressure.

There should be a high and low temperature setting.
My baseboard hot water system is set at 140 lo and 180 hi during winter.

Some systems have "outside reset" that adjusts the boiler temperature relative to outside temperature for better economy.

They usually run at between 10-15 psi. 30 psi is where the safety valve opens.

Ok, now I'm more confused than ever



I should take pics of this thing and the controls when I get home...it's pretty damn old.

I don't think there are many features on it; it still has an actual glass fuse before the transformer
Speed

Sounds low to me, What the "cut on" and "cut off" on your aqua stat set at? Check your relief valve for water discharge, 30 PSI is the upper limit on all the systems I have seen.



You should bookmark this forum, it has some sharp old timers who know how to tweak these systems: http://www.heatinghelp.com/Forum

Pressure, holmes.

Vintage Bryant Model 6? hot water boiler(no idea what year), standing pilot light and cast iron radiators in my house.  Low temp sensor set at 120 and high temp sensor set at 180.  Circulator pump usually comes on around 150-160 degrees per the guage on the boiler.  How accurate the guage is unknown.  Psi cold is 13 and hot gets to about 22psi.  Maximum system psi is 30.  Maid-o-mist auto vents on all the radiators.

Very simple system.  It's old and inefficient but built like a tank and keeps me warm.  No electronics.  I love it.  Very easy to work on and have done any required repairs myself over the years.  Replaced circulator pump, impeller, couplers, temp sensors and radiator vents.  Every couple years I have another set of eyes come look at it to check for cracks etc.  I check the vents a couple times during the winter for air and lightly oil the bearings on the circulator pump a couple times too.  Educate yourself about each part of your system before you start messing with it.  Too high of pressure could expose weak spots in the system...especially if the pressure relief valve is not working properly!