Home Improvement Today?

If you can afford it Rockwool as insulation certainly will help reduce it even more. Bang for buck though QuietRock > RockWool

 

Good to know, thank you.

 

You're not supposed to refill those.

 

I think you're right, but this warning was created before the versatile refill adapter was made, they just need to update the warning, to state, Do not overfill.

Wait, the 'warning', I'm not sure, doesn't it state 3 possibly conflicting statements on refilling?:

1. Never refill this cylinder.
2. Refilling may cause explosion.
3. Federal law forbids transportation IF REFILLED.

One might interpret as such. [and Never say never...] "Never refill this cylinder, but if you do be careful because it might explode if you overfill. But hey, if you got it refilled without exploding, okay, just DONT transport this cylinder anywhere using an automobile or other motorized vehicle, but you can take it with you if you travel by foot."

 

$6 for the blue propane or $15 for the yellow mapp gas at HD. I chuck them in the trash when empty and buy a new one.

 

Hahaha…one might interpret it that way. I interpret it as “Hey! Hold my Beer”…..

 

Very interesting, I could see that.

 

My boiler and house are REALLY struggling to keep up with the winters in the northeast. Oil burner for forced hot water radiators. 3 zones for the house and a fourth zone dedicated for the hot water heater. I’m thinking to help overall, I’m going to switch from an indirect tank hot water heater and go to a heat pump hybrid hot water heater. That way I’m using a small amount of electricity for hot water and oil/burner is dedicated to only heating. Any major flaws in this plan? Older house that needs tons of upgrades we are doing as well but trying to chip away at this issue quickly. We lost hot water for a day in the last week so I think there’s an issue with the tank anyway!

 

depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go
the insulation mention will be good for things like talking and normal TV but not much for footsteps and chair movement
for the later decoupled mass is needed
I would start by sealing any air gaps in the floor, spray foam would work
then the insulation
then a layer of ether mass loaded vinyl or sheet lead, seams taped
then a layer of 5/8" sheet rock, can be caulked instead of mudded
then resilient channel
then another layer of 5//8" sheet rock, staggering the sesames both ways

first layer of rock could be subbed with Sonopan but I haven't used it but I've heard good things https://www.homedepot.com/p/SONOPAN...g-Panel-32-sq-ft-per-panel-SPAP3448/326631753

 

Yeah I’m not so sure I want to go so far down the rabbit hole. My main concern is when the kids are asleep upstairs, and people are still hanging out/socializing or whatever downstairs. Granted, they’ll be about 40ft horizontally away from each other space-wise with a couple of closed doors, so I think insulation and drywall should be adequate.

 

Lots of questions and not enough info.

Before you buy or change anything - start with the basics, you need to get the system operating at full potential first.

It is cheaper & faster to spend a bit of time sealing up air leaks and such in the house too - instant improvement with little time or money spent.


First of all, when was the last time the boiler was cleaned/serviced?

Oil boilers need to have the access covers removed and the passages brush cleaned/soot vac regularly.
Any build up reduces heat transfer efficiency and raises operating costs.

The burner should be set up by a pro with gauges & test equipment - contrary to what some believe you can't eyeball an oil burner and get it burning clean and efficient. If your service man is out in 30 minutes you need a new service man - a little bias here but I would prefer someone closer to age 65 than 30.


Do you have cast iron radiators or baseboard convectors?
Are they clean and unobstructed by furniture, drapes, etc?
When was the last time you checked the air bleeders on the convectors?


By "keep up" do you mean the boiler is firing all the time and the water temperature not making setpoint?

The fourth zone is an indirect water heater, correct? How exactly did you lose hot water and how did you correct the situation?

What is the heating setpoint of the aquastat? Has it been lowered for the summer since only hot water is required - common problem.

Some photos of the boiler and controls would be helpful.
A photo of the data plate on the boiler too, along with any service tags.

 

Rockwool comfortbatt or safe'n'sound

 

Thank you so much for the long reply, I’m away for a few days but will get photos when I return home.

Boiler was serviced last year by a reputable local company but I think I got the younger guy who was friendly and wanted to chat more than the older experienced guy who did the best job possible. I can call them again to have somebody out though, not a big deal.

I’m doing the small jobs to seal up the house all the time. Windows downstairs. Reinsulate the entire walkout basement. Any wall that’s been opened upstairs has new Rockwool. All the windows upstairs are sealed well (will be replaced as well). We have huge heavy glass sliders and are closed well with thermal curtains in from of them.

The house isn’t designed for the cold though. It’s a flat roof style home with windows all around the top. The house was built with a roof heat system using copper tubing against the ceiling. Otherwise appears to be a typical vented roof with little to know insulation. That’s on the list too for future replacement and upgrade.

Baseboard fin style heaters around the outside of the rooms. All cleaned and relatively unobstructed. I often feel them though and they’re Luke warm at best. They’re rarely ever hot and feel like they’re working hard.

Aquastat is set to 190. I did increase it in the last few weeks while troubleshooting since it was much lower before.

Yes zone 4 is the indirect hot water heater. I did nothing about the hot water. I was working a 12 hour shift. My wife took a cold shower in the morning after waiting 5-10 minutes for hot water and never getting any. By the time I was home it was Luke warm at best and the next morning we had hot water again.

We have replaced one circulator pump for an upstairs heat zone since that had failed. I got a few more coming to replace them all. The house sat for a year or two before us and since we’ve got everything up and running again in the last few years we’ve had to replace a few things like pumps and tanks that sat unused. I’ve also installed a water softner for the house and filters to help with the water hardness and quality.

 

We will be here.

 

Took a minute to answer a few of the questions at least without photos!

 

My Dads place was like this in Philly. Boiler running off natural gas pushing into radiators (the old fashioned heavy kind) all the way up to the third floor. It was the least efficient system I ever experienced while growing up. I always wanted to rip all that out and install mini splits at each level for both heat and ac. But, to get by for now, I absolutely agree with doing the little things to seal up the home first. It's amazing how bad home builds can be and sometimes you need to fix it to benefit the long term investments in other areas. It does sound like you're on the right track though.....but pics would help immensely. haha.

 

No air in the lines? My older, but efficient system has a bleeder on each baseboard section. Even the slightest amount of air can reduce the heat output. Probably not needed, but I bleed mine prior to each heating season (usually in November).

 

I do think we got some air in the line when we did the pump swap so I should do that. Might make more of a difference than I recognize.

 

Definitely need to get that air out!

 

You absolutely need to get any air out, it may require going around and hitting the bleeders several times.

You can't push a bubble downhill unfortunately and it will cause all sorts of problems.

A contact thermometer will help you sort this out, if the leaving water temperature of the boiler is at 190 degrees you can trace it through the system. The contact style works better than the infrared style for this kind of job.