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New Hot Water Boiler Installation

Bob joins Steve Bottazzi, a plumbing contractor, who is taking out an old boiler system and installing a new state-of-the-art system. The new system at 280,000 BTU is three times the strength of the old boiler and is smaller in size. It also serves as the heater for the household hot water tank. Steve shows Bob how he adds the manifold on each side of the boiler to direct the flow to the four zones in the original and new sections of the home. He also gives Bob a lesson on threading pipe.
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New Hot Water Boiler Installation

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" It is great to see them getting this junk out of here."

" Let us get this out of here, guys."

" That is some heavy boiler is not it?"

" It sure is. It is about 300 to 400 pounds, Bob."

" They are doing a great job. They got a line tied up to it and it is out here and it is on the way to the dump. That is great. Let us talk about this new one. How is it compared to that?"

" The old boiler is an all steel boiler about 100,000 BTU."

" Yeah."

" This is 280,000 BTU, which is about 3 times the size."

" Wow."

" Yeah."

" Do we really need one that big?"

" Yeah. We have added a second floor so we have added twice as much space and we have also added a Superstor, which is hot water, which will also be coming out of this boiler. "

" Yeah. The old house was just one single bathroom and a kitchen and that was it."

" Right."

" And now we got three full bathrooms."

" Three full bathrooms."

" One has a Whirlpool tub and we got a laundry system and we got this kind of a water heating. Yeah, that is quite a bit to use. How does this thing work? I mean, is it super efficient?"

" This is a much more efficient boiler than what was in here. In today's standards, you have to be 80% efficient."

" Which means that out of every dollar worth of gas or oil that you buy, at least 80 cents worth has to be heat?"

" Right."

" The other 20 cents goes right out of [unk] unfortunately. How many sections is this?"

" This is an 8-section boiler. "

" Aha, so there are 8 large cast irons. We cannot really see them, cannot we? Well, we will look at the top of it, large sections that all looked like lamb chops of cast iron through which the water circulate."

" Exactly."

" And you will be putting it together. How do you install such a thing?"

" We are going to start by doing 2 manifolds, one on the supply and one on the return."

" Now what is a manifold?"

" A manifold is one pipe with several pipes coming off of it. In this case we will have 4 zones."

" Okay. So you are going to be putting all of these things together to basically create situations to hold up 4 different pumps."

" Exactly."

" Alright, you go do it."

" So now we are going to thread the nipple. Why not just use one that you buy already threaded?"

" Because most of the time, most of our nipples are threaded from 6 inches below and anything 6 inches and over, we cut ourselves."

" Because it is easier to do it if they are longer."

" Right."

" How does it work?"

" Just put this in like this."

" You got a motor in there."

" All that does is thread the pipe."

" And this is the dock?"

" That is it."

" Can I help?"

" You sure can, grab that oiler burner."

" I will be the oiler."

" We will fill that right until it comes out to the end."

" Alright, that is pretty hot, is not it?"

" A little bit."

" I will just invert it and thread the other side."

" And that is our finished product."

" Let us take it in and finish that manifold."

" With that last nipple in place we have now created the manifold and you've got 4 directions to go in. Right, 4 zones?"

" Exactly 4 zones. We have got one first 4 zones."

" Yeah."

" We got 2 second 4 zones, one for the office, one for the rest and we have one water heater zone."

" For this guy right here? Okay now what is happening on this first zone."

" What is happening right here is where we are going to put our pump on."

" And this just gets bolted on?"

" Yes. We bolt this right on here."

" Now what becomes quite clear, I think, is that this is not a job for the average do-it-yourselfer? Right?"

" No I would not recommend it."

" And in real time, this would take you about a day to put together."

" Right. It is about a day to prep up the boiler. "

" Yeah. Let me ask you one final question about this water heater. How does it work?"

" It is just like a sauna heat, Bob."

" Like another room full of baseboard heat you mean?"

" Exactly. And the water"

" You must loop it to fit in here, right?"

" Right and the hot water from the boiler, 180 degree water runs through that coil heats the water that is in the tank and that is where you get hot water out of your faucet."

" It is basically a tank."

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