Boiler Plumbing Re-work

Copper Plumbing, A Job not well done

Of the many disappointments experienced with our build, the copper work was certainly high up on the list. It wasn’t just the quality of the work, you understand, although it was pretty bad. But worse than that was the apparent lack of knowledge regarding how the boiler plumbing was supposed to work. It’s not surprising, really, since we were told that the plumber was fired half way through our build. But we’re not so sure the issues were solely the plumbers fault. Let me explain…

After nearly two years of failures with our boiler system, we discovered by analyzing our plumbing and comparing it to the schematics provided by the builder, that there was some significant discrepancies between the two. For all the details on the boiler system failure, see the long winded explanation on the Boiler Fails page.

As far as the actual copper plumbing is concerned, the issues were with the unnecessary components added to the system, and the inability to build it according to the design. These unnecessary components added restriction to the system, and hindered the flow of the hydronic heating fluid around the circuits. Since we already had the system apart, we decided to remove these unnecessary components.

One-way check valves are used to prevent fluid from flowing the wrong way around a circuit. But in our case, the circuit is designed with a three way valve which directs flow one way OR another. The three way valve, by its very design, provides the check valve function in the circuit. So why add a check valve, let alone three of them.

Now a job well done

Once all the plumbing rework was finished, we completed the pipe and hose insulation by covering the copper tubing in both boiler boxes. After all, the less heat that radiates out through the side of the copper tubing, the more gets delivered to the room heaters and hot water tank. This means the boilers have to work less, and this in turn saves us money by burning less diesel fuel.