Domestic Hot Water
YES! Endless hot water @ 2.4 gallons per minute. That was enough for a nice long shower, first one in the house in about a year. So nice to finally have the water system connected and hot water running again.
Off the wall again for horizontal connections
To accomplish this feat I had to take the whole boiler down and redo all the compression connections with new fittings that cost $20 each for the 4 of them. (These are special mm to inch fittings to bridge the European manufacturer’s divide!) When connecting these pipes the first time, I kept adding the required pieces to the bottom of the vertical installation. Each time I held the upper pieces with a wrench but when they were all connected, the compression fittings and fittings inside the boiler leaked like a sieve. I read that compression fittings can be “overtightened” so that they will no longer hold water. Taking the compression rings off while the boiler was on the wall was a total headache and I finally called Triangle Tube to ask about the fittings. They said they recommended doing the attachments while the boiler was horizontal. Would be good to add that to their installation instructions. So with all the pipes and the PVC exhaust and external air pipes disconnected, and I had some help to lift the boiler off the wall.
Hydronic testing
Connecting the compression fittings was easier with the boiler on it’s side. I didn’t connect all the parts right to the boiler this time. Instead I just put the pressure gauge and the boiler drain close to the boiler. The pressure relief on the hot water, and the strainer on the cold are further down the piping, near the floor where they can be better supported.
I read several other installation manuals for boilers and one recommended a hydronic test of the connections before the boiler was installed. So I rigged up a system to run the water through the boiler first to check for leaks. But after putting the connections on horizontally instead of vertically, there were no leaks in the system.
Boiler rehung and reconnected
I also needed help hanging the boiler back on the wall, but then I was able to finish the connections and fire it up. I had a gas regulator that was rated between 4 and 12 PSI and used that to regulate the gas for the boiler. The installation instructions did not require a regulator, but I used one to be safe as the boiler is limited to 13 PSI. I tested the PSI at the boiler’s test port with a meter I bought just for that purpose and it was 7 PSI so well under 13 and over 5, the minimum requirement. I did not check the flue gasses for efficiency yet, but will do that when the heat is hooked up.
The instructions also did not require a condensate neutralizer, but it appeared that most installations used one to make sure the water that is discarded is not too acidic. I bought one of those and installed it as well. The one piece that I didn’t buy ahead of time was the fill valve, and I decided to get a Calephi because it is fully adjustable and is all brass, unlike the Watts valves. So I can’t wait to see if I can get the system heating soon as the temperatures have turned chilly and it doesn’t help that I have torn most of the insulation out of the walls and ceilings.