Boiler Question

Girlfriend of Guikazoid here with a boiler related question.  We recently replaced our 25/30 year old boiler with a new Burnham boiler. Our old boiler used to heat the house up within 15 minutes of turning it on. This new boiler takes a couple of hours to get to our desired temperature. It takes a lot longer (35 minutes – 40 minutes) to start heating and then hours to get to the desired temperature we designated on the thermostat.  Is there a problem with the way it was installed? Are newer boilers supposed to take this long. It works…eventually. I am just wondering how soon it should warm the house up and B. how soon it should take it to our desired temp?    Thanks Bstoner!

guikazoid

in Boiler Repair 13 years and 4 months ago

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steam_man | 13 years and 4 months ago

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Indoor air temperature is no way to measure the performance of your boiler. A morre precise way would be to take a temperature reading of the supply and return water. They should be appx 180 supply and 160 return give or take a few degrees. If your system doesn’t have thermomenters then try taking readings with an infrared thermometer. If your readings are in the ranges I mentioned within the first 10-15 min then you either have inadequate radiation, a drafty house or both.

Master Plvmber | 13 years and 4 months ago

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No, it does not.  It sounds like you dont want to hear this, there’s a problem with either the installation, venting, sizing or the boiler itself.

guikazoid | 13 years and 4 months ago

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they say its fine.  i am just curious because at my parents house once they turn the boiler on the house is toasty!  they do have a steam system (cast iron) and we have a water system (baseboard).  last night we turned it on at approx 930pm, inside temp was 61, we set it to 70\.  at around 1045 it became 65\.  i woke up at around 4-5am and it had reached 71.   going foward i obviously wont have it set that high overnight but i was just trying to gauge how long it would take to warm the house up.   does that timeframe seem reasonable?

Bklnite | 13 years and 4 months ago

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guikazoid (or Girlfriend of Guikazoid),you asked a question about the your new boiler not long ago and got a lot of replies to that post. Who did the installation for you, and why aren’t you asking them the question about the long time to heat up?

Master Plvmber | 13 years and 4 months ago

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Have to see the boiler. Area of the house is actually not relevant here.

guikazoid | 13 years and 4 months ago

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total square footage is about 1900 sf.  3 floors and a semi finsihed basement

guikazoid | 13 years and 4 months ago

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Burnham P206 118,000 BTU Output, Standing Pilot Cast Iron Boiler

needmtg | 13 years and 4 months ago

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I suppose boiler btu rating and size of house would be helpful too…

guikazoid | 13 years and 4 months ago

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Thanks! I definitely will do that when I get home tonight.

Master Plvmber | 13 years and 4 months ago

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Steam boilers have to be sized to match the system they serve having nothing to do with the square footage of the building. Did the installer measure all the radiators in the house as part of his replacement proposal? Can you post a picture or link to the installed boiler and the piping around the top of it? You can probably post it to our Facebook page if you can’t post it here as a reply:
 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gateway-Plumbing-and-Heating/10150140775395177