Anyone know anything about plumbing?

Ok I couldn't see the boiler very well, mectron is riello a early model but a pensotti is a low mass boiler,but yeah you very well could have two separate problems,if it's like you said take a picture of the shower valve
Go to Home Depot they may have a new cartridge, if so try that, but to for warn you if you have an iron issue that valve may not want to come apart,you can turn off the water and see if it will come apart

 

Ice cream time

 

Okay, thanks! I'll take a look at it.

My oil burner guy was intrigued by the Pensotti. He said they are more common throughout Maine and Canada as far as he is aware and he has never seen one around here (I'm near the MA VT line).

It seems to operate well despite being neglected. I have always hated hot water baseboard heat because if you wanted to jump up a few degrees in other houses I've seen with that sort of heat, it seems to take forever. I've been impressed at how quick it is here, though.

 

Not going to read all the other responses lol im sure someone has already given sound advice especially based on uour location, but heres mine.

If you run hot water and it doesnt maintain temp then your crossing over somewhere (probably through the mixing valve in a shower or anything with a single handle faucet)

If you loose pressure with the heat i would look at the recirculation pump.

If the filters are old, obviously replace. If the pump is old (10years+) replace it.
If the water heater is old (10years+) replace it
If the boiler is old (10years+) replace it

Hope you got a good deal on the house. Lack of maintianence on any system will seriously jeopardize life of all components.

If you end up tearing out the system i would do the piping as well. I dont know what local code is for you but i do know thats a whole lot of copper from what i see and once those lines drop below say 20° you WILL have leaks. Make sure whatever you do you include a service/maintaince schedule as sediment and calcification destroys pumps and heating coils.

Good luck and feel free to call or text me anytime from 1pm-8pm Pacific

818-454-0884

 

The oil boiler guy I know stopped by yesterday. He said the Pensotti unit I have is a very efficient design for its age, and he sees no need to replace it. He checked it all out and said it's generally healthy, just needs a good cleaning because it is very dirty. He tested it at 84% efficient as it sits. So, he's going to clean it, replace the oil line, and see if it actually needs a fire box. He said it may not even use one, as some other similar units don't. Also, others had told me it was way over-sized for the house at 151,000 BTUs, but he said given I have three zones plus the hot water off of it, he'd guess it's probably about right.

I don't actually have an indirect heater, it's a Ford Aquabank. I'm not totally sure of the difference, but he said it relies on a circulator pump and is pretty certain that he knows the cause of my issue. He also indicated that the initial installation of it was done in an overly complicated manner and he can simplify it and solve the hot water problem at the same time. He suspects I have lime in my water causing calcification.

He told me he'd get me a price on replacing the Aquabank with a heat pump water heater as well. But, he said the Ford one that's there is a good unit as long as it doesn't start leaking. He said they have very little thermal loss and don't cost much to run as a result. Apparently he's taken them out of houses before and said they weigh an awful lot and it typically takes three guys to get them out of the house. He also had concerns about using a heat pump water heater if my water has issues. He said an aquabooster like I have will run a long time without issues, but other options will plug up fast.