There is not a lot of HVAC companies that still work on steam boilers, and there is certainly not a lot that still work on commercial steam boilers.
Commercial Steam Boiler
Here we have a older boiler with even older controls, the boiler is dead cold and has a burnt out control board. The problem is getting replacement parts that simply snap into place for these older boilers.
Old Steam Boiler Controls
The control board in the picture above that was bad is located on top of the panel box, the new board is installed inside of the panel box on the bottom right. After dialing in the control board and firing up the boiler we realized the condensate pump was not working, the pump was bound up. This is not the first time we had a bound up pump on this system.
Condensate collector box
We felt because there was no strainer (filter) on the condensate coming back that we would be seeing more issues with the pump and the condensate collector box. We ended up replacing the entire collector box with the pump.
New collector box
Here you see the new condensate collector box and pump. We also replaced the corroded check valve and added a strainer to the system.
New Strainer
By adding a strainer we will keep debris from coming back to the condensate collector and by adding a valve we can easily clean the strainer.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
This older Amana furnace has seen its last days, I would have to say that it has lived a full life. If you have a furnace in your home and it has a pilot light … seriously give me a call and lets start saving you money.
Older Amana 80%
I often look for signs that there has be equipment changes before, like vent reducers, over/under sized base cans and or different wall colors behind the equipment. Here we have a very odd situation, we have no real base can … just a transition up to the furnace with a wooden stand under the furnace. I have to say this “It worked!”
American Standard 95% STD Furnace
After removing the older Amana we installed a supply base can and adapted to the existing supply ducting. Just under the base can we installed air deflectors to help divide up the air. The new American Standard 95% furnace sat right on the new base can and we installed a new transition from the furnace to the existing return ducting. The new PVC vent went straight up through the roof and the drain was ran into the existing drain line. Everything else was reconnected.
Now a repeated note … I only recommend what I would use if it where my home, in this case the ducting was not insulated and there where some duct leakage issues. So I recommended an American Standard 95% NON-Variable furnace. A variable would have cost them even more money to operate.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
When it comes to relocating a furnace location it could have not been any easier than this. Here we have a home that was recently purchased and the new owner wanted more space.
Existing York 80% Furnace
The existing York furnace was located right smack dab in the middle of the home, right next to the living room. I personally would hate to have to turn up my TV just because the furnace just kicked on. So after looking around home we noticed how much room was in the attic.
Old Location Of Furnace
Here we have a picture of the old furnace location and the closet gone. Amazing how much room was gained.
New Furnace Location
The New American Standard 80% furnace and Honeywell 4″ pleated filter system was easily installed horizontally in the attic over the old location. We ran a new return air system in to the hallway and reused the existing venting.
New Return Ducting
We ran a new supply duct down from the new furnace and tied back into the existing supply ducting. The gas line tucked behind the supply duct and ran to the new furnace.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
This Arcoaire 80% furnace has seen its last days, the repair costs are getting to be to much for my customer. Time for a upgrade to a reliable furnace.
Older Arcoaire Furnace
In this installation we are looking at an upflow furnace, not your typical NW Washington installation. The supply air is discharged from the top while the return air comes in from the bottom.
New American Standard 95% 2 Stage Variable Upflow
Like any other brand American Standard makes more models of upflow furnaces than downflow furnaces, this is because most of the market does not have crawl spaces. This American Standard 95% 2 stage variable furnace fit right into place. I made a new base can for the furnace to sit on and new transition to reconnect to the supply ducting. I then added a Honeywell 4″ pleated filter system off the basecan. Old vent was removed and we vented the furnace sidewall of the garage.
I know I keep repeating myself … but American Standard IMO is the best furnace you can own. I have sold, serviced and installed them and can tell you I’m very proud to be a dealer!
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
In some cases with heat pumps your faced with just replacing the coil and heat pump. In this case the air handler was in good condition and we really did not see the need in replacing it but the heat pump was shot.
Access to crawl space.
Above you can see that sometimes the access points into crawl spaces are not always from outside or from a nice warm basement. Thankfully the new American Standard coil could fit through the opening.
Existing Coleman Coil
The existing Coleman coil had to be replaced considering we are going from R-22 to R-410a refrigerant and we need to match up to the new American Standard heat pump. The coil above is known in the industry as a slab type coil.
New American Standard A coil
After fabricating and installing new transitions we slipped the new American Standard heat pump coil into place. This is considered to be an “A” type coil. Slab type coils are very seldom used anymore.
New American Standard Heat Pump
When replacing a R-22 unit with an R-410a unit its always a good idea to replace the refer line set as well. The last thing you want is these 2 different types of refrigerant mixing in the new system. Here we replaced the older Coleman heat pump with a new American Standard heat pump. Lines where replaced as well.
The American Standard heat pump is more efficient and much quieter than the older Coleman unit. I’m sure she will be very happy with the new unit.
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
Here we have an Arcoaire gas pack, they are called gas packs because they are both an air conditioner as well as a gas heater packaged together. In our neck of the woods we seldom see a gas pack used in a residential application like this.
Arcoaire gas pack
I think using gas packs is a great concept for residential homes if you have the place for it and you can get your ducting routed to it. This Arcoaire has seen its last days, the control board was no longer available so we recommended going to a RHEEM Packaged Heat Pump. Switching from LP as their main source of heat to a heat pump with LP back up heat will really save them money.
RHEEM Packaged Heat Pump
The RHEEM unit dropped right into place all we really have to do had was remake the connecting transitions, everything else was minor.
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
This Laars Lite pool heater has seen the end of its life, sadly to say it was only 10 years old. The really unfortuate part is that this appeared to be the 3rd pool heater replacemnt since the pool was installed. Fortuantly at this time my customer wanted to do more than just heat the pool, he also wanted to heat the pool room and he did not want to have to replace the heater in another 10 years.
Existing Laars Lite pool heater
I’m not use to dealing with pool heaters, but after seeing what kind of corrosion can occur I do not understand why pool owners still use them. Now it could be this is a lower quality of pool heater?
Laars Lite corrosion
Never the less my customer did not want a repeat. I proposed using a Burham ES27 boiler with a Triangle Tube MF-135 heat exchanger to heat their pool. This way we have a closed loop system that heats water with water. The pool water will never be introduced into the boiler system. The ES27 is 85% AFUE and is atmospheric, and because its cast iron … its built to last.
Burham ES27 Boiler
Being a cast iron boiler the Burham ES27 did weigh considerably more than the Laars Lite pool heater, fortunately I did have help on this day… I just didn’t feel like wrestling 460lbs all by myself.
Boiler Loop
If you can make it out the Triangle Tube MF-135 heater exchanger is the black cylinder just to the left and down from center. Its hard to believe a small cylinder like that could heat an entire pool. We control the pool loop with a Ranco controller.
Modine Heater
Now for the pool room itself, we installed a Modine HC-108 hot water fan coil. We ran a separate loop off the boiler into the room. We control this with an Honeywell 4000 thermostat. Now for you people that know what a pool room can do to copper … we actually coated everything with a high heat clear coat paint.
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
Understandably in some areas in NW Washington you will find more brands of furnaces than in others. In some areas of Skagit County you will find more older RHEEM furnaces than any other because in their day they where fairly inexpensive to install.
Older RHEEM 80% Furnace
Honestly I can not tell you how many RHEEM furnaces I have replaced, going on 30 years in the HVAC business I personally may have replaced well over a hundred … and may have contributed to perhaps 500 or more RHEEM replacements overall.
Existing Supply Plenum
And like almost every furnace I remove the supply plenum can looks like the picture above, a trained eye can spot the fact that this is a non-sealed plenum. Back when this furnace was installed new it was code to seal these joints.
New American Standard 2-stage variable speed
After sealing up the existing plenum we installed the new American Standard 95% 2 stage variable speed furnace onto the new base. I fabricated and installed a new return plenum and cut in a easy access filter door. A new PVC vent was ran and a new condensate drain was added to the system.
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.