Roth 1050 controller

June 22, 2015   |   Author: Gary Kirkendall   |   No comments   |   Categories: Boilers • Controls   |   Tags: • • •

Roth 1050 Controller to Honeywell AQ25244B

Boiler Controllers

Boiler controllers can be very intimidating, especially if you do not deal with the same controller all the time. To make matters worse we had a burnt out Roth 1050 controller (Tekmar) that provided zero information on the installers custom settings. The Roth #1050 was manufactured by Tekmar, Tekmar was a leading manufacture and provider of boiler controllers. That was until the industry they provided controllers to caught up to their technology and started to produce their own controllers at a much more reasonable cost.

Roth 1050 Controller

Burnt Controller

After removing the circuit board from the housing you can see under the blue capacitor a burnt spot, now in some cases you can have these boards repaired, unfortunately this board was beyond repair. And the very sad part is these boards are becoming scarce and very expensive. Our solution was to move to a Honeywell AQ25244B controller with a AQ25744B expansion panel. Honeywell is less expensive and readily available.

Burnt Roth 1050 Controller

Honeywell AQ25244B controller

Not only would the Honeywell controller replace the the boilers Roth 1050 controller it would also replace the 2 Taco zone controllers that where on the system as well.

We installed the Honeywell AQ25244B controller in a more accessible area for the home owner as well as for the service technician. Because the new controller did the task of 3 components all the wiring had to come back to this location.

Honeywell AQ25244B Boiler Controller

Boiler System Back Up And Running

Once the new Honeywell controller is installed we still have a few hours left configuring the system and to make sure the system is working correctly.

 

Overall Boiler System

Monster to Weil McLAIN boiler

June 18, 2015   |   Author: Gary Kirkendall   |   No comments   |   Categories: Boilers   |   Tags: • •
Old Boiler

The Weil McLAIN Boiler

 

This Monster had to go

I do not know any other way to describe it, the older American Standard boiler was originally an oil fired boiler that had been converted to natural gas. Just to let you know one of the worst efficient systems out there are oil systems that have been converted over to gas...bad bad bad. This particular boiler I am guessing at 40% efficiency at best... and I'm being nice.  The boiler weighed well over 800lbs and took 2 vans, 3 men and a block and tackle to get it out of the basement and into a van.

 

Weil McLAIN Boiler have come along way

As you can see the new Weil McLAIN Boiler  #CGA is not only half its size, its 83% Efficient, more BTU's, quieter and 2 men can carry it. How is that for technology!

Old Boiler
New Weil McLAIN boiler

American Standard 95

June 11, 2015   |   Author: Gary Kirkendall   |   No comments   |   Categories: Furnace   |   Tags: • • • •
American Standard Furnace

American Standard 95

American Standard 95 .. again

I love upgrading customers equipment, here we upgraded our customer from a single stage 80% to a new American Standard 90 to 95 variable speed 2-stage gas furnace. Not only will this furnace run much quieter than their existing furnace, but it will also save them 5% more on their heating bill.

 

American Standard  is a Trane

The first picture is the older furnace and hot water heater. The Trane unit was and still is manufactured by American Standard.

 

Bradford White Tank

As you can see we also replaced the existing hot water heater with a new Bradford white water heater. I have installed many brands of hot water heaters, I prefer Bradford White. I will usually discount the hot water tank when replacing the furnace at the same time.

American Standard 95

American Standard 95

Living Room Furnace

June 7, 2015   |   Author: Gary Kirkendall   |   No comments   |   Categories: Furnace • Hall Of Shame   |   Tags: •

Living Room Furnace

Furnace Room Heater?

Can you imagine trusting a mechanical contractor you hired over Craig's list to install a room heater in your living room while you where at work? These people came home to a full sized furnace installed in their living room, all they wanted was a room heater. Can you imagine trying to watch TV as this furnace ramps up to heat your home? Now imagine that you paid him in FULL already!

 

I actually looked up the contractor who installed this furnace, he has no contractor license, he has no bond, he is not insured and on his proposal he asked the check to be made out in his personal name! Even though on his invoice he was clearly charging tax! Normally I would be the first in line to turn this contractor in, but the customer actually beat me to it.

PLEASE when hiring a contractor, do a little homework. And Don't do a Living Room Furnace

 

Living Room Furnace

Living Room Furnace

Lennox to American Standard

May 27, 2015   |   Author: Gary Kirkendall   |   No comments   |   Categories: Furnace   |   Tags: • • •

Lennox to American Standard

Years ago I use to be an Lennox furnace dealer ... and way before that I use to install Lennox furnaces for a local company.

Lennox Pulse

Lennox Pulse

I can not tell you how many Lennox pulse furnaces I have installed, but I can tell you I absolutely hated the Lennox pulse because of the noise it produced. Because of the way it burns its fuel it creates a pulsing/knocking sound that is so annoying it will drive you out of your home. We literally had to install mufflers and vibration pads to try to help bring down the noise.

Here we have a 100,000 btu Lennox pulse, the grand daddy of noise makers. Seeing this old knocker reminded of my early days installing when I was in my early 20's. Fortunately for my customer there is the new American Standard 95% Variable 2 stage gas furnace that is mouse whisper compared to the pulse.

 

Lennox to American Standard  ... Cont.

 

Lennox To American Standard

American Standard furnace

I had to replace the existing venting with larger 3" PVC, do a few duct changes and added a Honeywell 4" pleated filter bank. Other than that the job went fairly smooth. And because the existing thermostat location could not be moved easily we went with a Honeywell wireless thermostat. If you want to move your thermostat location but cant because of wiring issues ... use the wireless... very cool.

 

Payne Furnace Replacement

May 27, 2015   |   Author: Gary Kirkendall   |   No comments   |   Categories: Furnace   |   Tags: • •

Payne Furnace Replacement To American Standard

Why Alpine Heating

I would say about 80% of my customers that do furnace replacements choose Alpine Heating And Cooling because they have been our customer for years and trust us, the other 20% do their due diligence on equipment before selecting us. Its always a nice feeling when a customer comes back because we carry American Standard and they want a quality piece of equipment.

 

Now you obviously can not tell just from the photo, but this furnace was just a little undersized for the home, fortunately the base can and the rest of the ducting was sized for the home. This made it fairly simple to do the replacement. It is not uncommon for heating companies to use the same base can for every application, this makes it easier for the fab shop and the crew setting the base can.

 

The new American Standard 95% Variable 2 Stage fit right on the older base can, I simply had to make a offsetting transition and reconnect. The venting had to be rerouted to the other side of the garage and a condensate line added, but other than that this was a fairly simple replacement.

 

Now in this case and well as many others We offered a discount to replace their hot water tank at the same time as I replace the furnace. In this case I replaced the older hot water tank with a new 50 gallon Bradford White Tank.

 

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.

Payne Furnace Replacement
New American Standard furnace

Navien Combi Water Heater

May 26, 2015   |   Author: Gary Kirkendall   |   No comments   |   Categories: Boilers • Water Heater   |   Tags: • •

Navien Combi Boiler Weekend Home

Navien Combi Water Heater

At first glance I was taken back a little by the material being used in this water heater system. I have never seen black rubber hose being used in a in-floor application. It was not only the rubber hose being used but the size of the hose, 1/4" Id just does not seem like a lot of surface area to me for in-floor.

Existing Black Rubber Hydronic Hose

Existing Black Rubber Hydronic Hose

The black hose simply pushed into the copper pipe to make a manifold, the pressure of the system keeps its sealed. My research concludes that 45psi is the max these connections could hold back. We are running 12 to 20 psi.

Older Combi core HWT

Older Combi core HWT

  Here you can see the older Combi-Core water tank that was used to heat both their domestic as well as there hydronic heat. The mixing valves being used appeared faulty and both expansion tanks where bad.

 

Navien Combi Water Heater ... cont.

Navien has really out done themselves in my book with the Navien Combi Water Heater. This unit not only heats your domestic water, but also heats your home ... all in the same box.

New Navien CH-240 Water Heater

New Navien CH-240 Water Heater

 The Navien CH-240 tankless bolted right up on the exterior wall and really was plug and play, well of course we had to build a primary manifold and modify the existing loop to be a secondary loop ... but not to complicated.

 We controlled the Navien Combi Water Heater boiler system with the new ecobee Wifi thermostat, this way my customer can change thermostat settings from a remote location. And this being a weekend home it will work out great.

 

American Standard AC

May 25, 2015   |   Author: Gary Kirkendall   |   No comments   |   Categories: Air Conditioner • Furnace   |   Tags: • • •

Installing a American Standard AC

This older RHEEM 80% furnace has lived its life and ready for the scrap yard. In fact my customer not only wants a better quality furnace but one with a higher efficiency rating as well. And lets not forget about air conditioning.

 

American Standard fits the bill

The American Standard 95% Variable Speed 2 Stage with an American Standard air conditioner fits the bill perfectly. American Standard is IMO the best furnace on the market today, I talk to a lot of technicians as well as personally service many brands myself... hands down I really do not think you can beat the quality.

 

Install the American Standard Air Conditioner

The new American Standard furnace sits perfectly on its matching indoor coil, the new PVC venting runs up and out through the roof ... and the condensate runs into a simple condensate pump. The refer line set runs up, over and down the wall to the new AC unit. With the help of a preformed pad the AC installation happens rather quickly. In fact most of our installations take less than 8 hours.

Need a American Standard AC, Heat Pump, 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.

Older Rheem Unit
American Standard AC coil
American Standard AC