Furnace Boiler Maintenance Call

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
I had by boiler furnace inspected. The tech said there's a leak in one of the external water lines. Not too bad at the moment, but if it gets worse, I should definitely have it repaired. He also suggested I get a "mixer" so my hot water isn't so hot coming out of the faucet. He said right now, the hot water temp is set to 180F. He couldn't do those repairs today because he needed to submit his findings to the main office and they will contact me with an estimate for those repairs. Even so, his visit today cost over $230.
 

I had other handyman look at it and they couldn't find a way to adjust the temp. There's no hot water tank - the hot water comes directly from the boiler.

furnace.jpg

a long shot - boiler is just to the right of the laundry appliances.

cellar6.jpg
 
debodun said:
I had other handyman look at it and they couldn't find a way to adjust the temp. There's no hot water tank - the hot water comes directly from the boiler.

View attachment 418246

a long shot - boiler is just to the right of the laundry appliances.

View attachment 418247
Click to expand...
A mixing valve is a good idea. The picture below shows what it will look like. If you notice, there are two lines coming to the valve (One is hot water, and the other cold). The valve has a dial on it, which allows you to regulate the mixture of the both, before it continues to you faucets. If he installs one, he will show you which way to adjust for hot or cooler temp.

20250422_185503.jpg

Next, you will notice the control box which regulates the boiler temp low and high cutoffs. When it reaches the low, the boiler kicks on, and when it reaches the high, it kicks off. It's OK for this reading to even be up to 180 because that's not the temp of the water coming to your faucets, which is regulated by the mixing valve. However, if you don't have a mixing valve, then the only way to control the temp would be to set the high limit on the control box to a lower setting (Which the tech would need to do).

20250422_185517.jpg

Lastly, the only way to know the temp of the water leaving the boiler and headed to your faucets is they can clamp a temp gauge reader briefly onto the exit pipe to get an accurate reading. I suppose you could tape a stove thermometer or something to it, but it's really not all that necessary. You will know when you turn your hot water faucet on and let it run for a bit, if it's just too hot for your liking.

For safety, most boilers have a T&P valve (Temperature and Pressure) as you can see in the picture below. If your temp gets too high, the valve will begin to leak water out the discharge pipe to relieve the pressure. The tank in the picture works like a well pump bladder tank which helps to keep your boiler from kicking on and off as much.

20250422_185618.jpg
 
bobcat said:
A mixing valve is a good idea. The picture below shows what it will look like. If you notice, there are two lines coming to the valve (One is hot water, and the other cold). The valve has a dial on it, which allows you to regulate the mixture of the both, before it continues to you faucets. If he installs one, he will show you which way to adjust for hot or cooler temp.

View attachment 418275

Next, you will notice the control box which regulates the boiler temp low and high cutoffs. When it reaches the low, the boiler kicks on, and when it reaches the high, it kicks off. It's OK for this reading to even be up to 180 because that's not the temp of the water coming to your faucets, which is regulated by the mixing valve. However, if you don't have a mixing valve, then the only way to control the temp would be to set the high limit on the control box to a lower setting (Which the tech would need to do).

View attachment 418277

Lastly, the only way to know the temp of the water leaving the boiler and headed to your faucets is they can clamp a temp gauge reader briefly onto the exit pipe to get an accurate reading. I suppose you could tape a stove thermometer or something to it, but it's really not all that necessary. You will know when you turn your hot water faucet on and let it run for a bit, if it's just too hot for your liking.

For safety, most boilers have a T&P valve (Temperature and Pressure) as you can see in the picture below. If your temp gets too high, the valve will begin to leak water out the discharge pipe to relieve the pressure. The tank in the picture works like a well pump bladder tank which helps to keep your boiler from kicking on and off as much.

View attachment 418279
Click to expand...
Thank you!
 
My folks had an electric boiler that would also heat domestic water. It ran even during warm weather. When I saw monthly bills over $400 in hot weather, I installed a stand alone hot water heater and shut the boiler down. That cut the bill in half.
 
Prior to 1990 my only experience was with natural gas, forced air heat and electric water heaters. When we moved to New England we bought an all-electric house. It was dead quiet and had the advantage of having thermostats in every room, but it lacked forced air's advantages of integrated a/c, humidity control, and dust removal. Then, on retirement, we bought this house. :rolleyes:

It has oil fueled, baseboard hot water heat. :sick: It's high maintenance, noisy, inflexible, but at least we don't have Deb's issue. Our boiler has three zones; two for heating the house and a third for heating potable water. The hot water doesn't come directly from the boiler but rather from a water tank where it is heated by contact with pipes coming from the boiler. We can set the thermostat on the hot water tank to whatever temperature like.

I pine for those days of gas, forced air but we love our home so we tolerate the foolishness of oil/hot water. :(
 
That was a lot of handy info, bobcat, although I have trouble understand mechanical things. I am still awaiting the promised estimate to install a mixer and fix the leak.
 

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