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Oil Heat 🔥 Boilers - How it works - Understand the Basics
WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en
00:00:00.000 this video today is to give you an 00:00:01.91000:00:01.920 overview of how a hot water boiler works 00:00:03.91900:00:03.929 that's fired by oil so you may have 00:00:05.86900:00:05.879 bought a new house that uses oil or 00:00:08.27000:00:08.280 you've never had a boiler before this 00:00:10.00900:00:10.019 will give you a quick overview so that 00:00:11.27000:00:11.280 you can learn what the components do how 00:00:13.33900:00:13.349 they work and some basic things to check 00:00:15.49900:00:15.509 in case you're having any problems so 00:00:17.51000:00:17.520 what we're gonna do is start with the 00:00:19.04000:00:19.050 oil tank so you obviously have some tank 00:00:21.10900:00:21.119 like this in your house some houses have 00:00:22.75900:00:22.769 them underground but this is the most 00:00:24.59000:00:24.600 common style this is a 275 gallon tank 00:00:28.16000:00:28.170 it's made of steel there are plastic 00:00:30.10900:00:30.119 ones available on some types of houses 00:00:32.20900:00:32.219 and some new construction these are 00:00:33.95000:00:33.960 still by far the most common in North 00:00:35.63000:00:35.640 America so right here I'm zoomed in on 00:00:38.11900:00:38.129 the oil gauge and it's important to know 00:00:40.19000:00:40.200 that you really don't want your tank to 00:00:41.60000:00:41.610 go empty in fact completely empty 00:00:43.31000:00:43.320 obvious is a problem because you'll have 00:00:44.42000:00:44.430 no heat but the bigger problem is that 00:00:46.25000:00:46.260 you don't want to get down to the very 00:00:47.51000:00:47.520 bottom because it can be sludge in the 00:00:49.01000:00:49.020 bottom of the tank so it's generally 00:00:50.63000:00:50.640 recommended to keep at least a quarter 00:00:52.58000:00:52.590 of a tank of oil you don't really have 00:00:54.83000:00:54.840 to worry about the gallons you generally 00:00:56.33000:00:56.340 want to go by what your gauge says so 00:00:58.31000:00:58.320 there's very comments about these gauges 00:01:01.06900:01:01.079 and you can see that little red plunger 00:01:02.56900:01:02.579 in there some folks will tell you it's 00:01:04.60900:01:04.619 the bottom of that some will say it's 00:01:06.20000:01:06.210 the top generally what I have heard is 00:01:08.30000:01:08.310 that it's considered to be at the top of 00:01:09.77000:01:09.780 that red plunger so as you can see here 00:01:12.08000:01:12.090 I'm somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 which 00:01:14.57000:01:14.580 is a pretty good spot to be in but this 00:01:16.70000:01:16.710 is the first thing you want to check 00:01:17.78000:01:17.790 obviously if your heat fails are you 00:01:19.34000:01:19.350 having problems a lot of heating guys 00:01:21.17000:01:21.180 will tell you they have gone out on 00:01:22.60900:01:22.619 hundreds of calls where the tank was 00:01:24.38000:01:24.390 just out of oil so it's really important 00:01:26.30000:01:26.310 to check that out now I'm below the oil 00:01:29.14900:01:29.159 tank and in my house I actually have two 00:01:30.95000:01:30.960 tanks because I live in somewhat of a 00:01:32.48000:01:32.490 remote area so you will get two tanks 00:01:34.67000:01:34.680 and houses I've had a few like this 00:01:36.08000:01:36.090 sometimes larger homes or if you want to 00:01:37.94000:01:37.950 be able to go a lot further between oil 00:01:40.24900:01:40.259 fills but it's really no different 00:01:41.63000:01:41.640 whether you have two or one you just 00:01:43.42900:01:43.439 have two of certain parts so in my 00:01:45.49900:01:45.509 system here this is my oil filter and if 00:01:49.24900:01:49.259 you look at the bottom of the tank 00:01:50.35900:01:50.369 you'll see this brass valve right here 00:01:52.39900:01:52.409 and this is what is commonly referred to 00:01:54.56000:01:54.570 as a fire o matic these valves are 00:01:56.71900:01:56.729 designed for safety so that if there is 00:01:58.37000:01:58.380 a fire in your home this valve will kind 00:02:00.62000:02:00.630 of melt inside and that stops the flow 00:02:02.71900:02:02.729 of oil and if you look at the news or 00:02:04.85000:02:04.860 you look back in history there's not 00:02:06.53000:02:06.540 really a lot of house fires based on oil 00:02:09.05000:02:09.060 boilers going bad or tanks exploding 00:02:11.63000:02:11.640 there's a lot of safety features built 00:02:13.58000:02:13.590 in 00:02:13.82000:02:13.830 so it's actually quite safe to heat your 00:02:15.62000:02:15.630 home with oil but you do need to keep an 00:02:17.54000:02:17.550 eye on it in my experience though as you 00:02:20.18000:02:20.190 look around I have no oil leaks now 00:02:22.61000:02:22.620 that's not always the case a lot of 00:02:24.20000:02:24.210 houses will have a drip you don't have 00:02:26.09000:02:26.100 to go crazy about a small drip some 00:02:28.07000:02:28.080 people will put kitty litter and whatnot 00:02:29.60000:02:29.610 but I'm not really big on leaks and I 00:02:32.75000:02:32.760 would prefer to put a small tray under 00:02:34.43000:02:34.440 there and if you have any sort of a 00:02:35.75000:02:35.760 regular drip you really want to get that 00:02:37.40000:02:37.410 looked at by a boiler tech so the next 00:02:39.80000:02:39.810 thing that happens you have your oil 00:02:42.14000:02:42.150 tank the oil flows through that fire 00:02:45.35000:02:45.360 romatic into the filter it doesn't 00:02:48.47000:02:48.480 matter if you have this little gauge 00:02:49.43000:02:49.440 like I do on top they're actually not 00:02:50.93000:02:50.940 that useful at least in my opinion and 00:02:52.94000:02:52.950 it flows down this pipe and you'll see 00:02:56.18000:02:56.190 that right here is a special pipe now 00:02:58.76000:02:58.770 this varies depending what state you're 00:03:00.38000:03:00.39000:03:00.71000:03:00.720 so in Massachusetts we're required to 00:03:02.99000:03:03.000 have our oil line encased and you can 00:03:05.27000:03:05.280 see that it's in that blue plastic 00:03:06.74000:03:06.750 corrugated housing that's to protect it 00:03:09.29000:03:09.300 in it from there it actually runs along 00:03:11.57000:03:11.580 the floor you can see it going through 00:03:13.10000:03:13.110 the back and that little pile of 00:03:14.78000:03:14.790 concrete the oil line is actually 00:03:16.97000:03:16.980 encased in so as we follow the oil line 00:03:20.39000:03:20.400 I'm gonna take you with the camera so 00:03:22.46000:03:22.470 you can see this it will come out of the 00:03:25.07000:03:25.080 concrete here and you can see the blue 00:03:27.02000:03:27.030 corrugated line and then ultimately it 00:03:30.89000:03:30.900 goes into this device here and this is 00:03:33.22900:03:33.239 your oil burner that's what it's called 00:03:35.30000:03:35.310 your oil burner is attached to your 00:03:37.52000:03:37.530 boiler which is obviously the larger 00:03:39.26000:03:39.270 unit here in the United States and most 00:03:41.42000:03:41.430 of North America becket burners are 00:03:43.25000:03:43.260 easily the most common and most popular 00:03:45.29000:03:45.300 there are other burners such as Riel oh 00:03:47.36000:03:47.370 and some other fancier burners that a 00:03:49.04000:03:49.050 farmer made but if you have a becket 00:03:50.90000:03:50.910 burner even if it's really old this is a 00:03:53.27000:03:53.280 good burner to have because if you're in 00:03:54.74000:03:54.750 the middle of the night you have your 00:03:56.00000:03:56.010 heating system break pretty much anybody 00:03:57.83000:03:57.840 in the country any heating guy can work 00:03:59.72000:03:59.730 on this they're going to have probably 00:04:01.04000:04:01.050 parts on the truck so if you have a 00:04:02.96000:04:02.970 bucket you're in really good shape I've 00:04:04.43000:04:04.440 had good luck with them over the years 00:04:06.02000:04:06.030 the service is what really makes us burn 00:04:07.97000:04:07.980 a grape and what is surprising is that 00:04:10.00900:04:10.019 these have not changed that much over 00:04:11.60000:04:11.610 about 60 years so my burner has a few 00:04:14.47900:04:14.489 extras on it that yours may not but the 00:04:16.28000:04:16.290 most important parts of the burner of 00:04:17.81000:04:17.820 the following I showed you where the 00:04:19.22000:04:19.230 fuel line goes in and that is the copper 00:04:22.55000:04:22.560 line here it goes into a special flared 00:04:24.29000:04:24.300 fitting in this black box on the side 00:04:27.04000:04:27.050 what's called the fuel pump you don't 00:04:28.54000:04:28.550 need to know a lot about that but you'll 00:04:30.24900:04:30.259 also notice that I have another fire 00:04:31.77900:04:31.789 romatic valve it's slightly different 00:04:33.27900:04:33.289 style but again this is designed so if 00:04:35.64900:04:35.659 there is a fire it'll melt inside and 00:04:37.74900:04:37.759 stop the flow of oil you generally would 00:04:39.76000:04:39.770 not touch this if your burner works at 00:04:41.98000:04:41.990 all that means the valve is in the right 00:04:43.65900:04:43.669 position so if you're out having a 00:04:45.07000:04:45.080 problem don't just go turn in it that's 00:04:46.74900:04:46.759 important to know other parts of your 00:04:49.18000:04:49.190 burner that you want to know about and 00:04:50.58900:04:50.599 even if you don't have a Becket this is 00:04:52.14900:04:52.159 still pretty common this piece on the 00:04:54.36900:04:54.379 top is what's called the igniter there 00:04:56.80000:04:56.810 are different versions of these some of 00:04:58.14900:04:58.159 yours may be a large black box that's 00:05:00.30900:05:00.319 pretty common but this is the actual 00:05:02.32000:05:02.330 device it's a transformer that turns 00:05:04.33000:05:04.340 electrical power into a spark it's kind 00:05:06.85000:05:06.860 of what makes it like a spark plug on a 00:05:08.43900:05:08.449 car and this is what allows the oil to 00:05:10.77900:05:10.789 ignite on the right-hand side of the 00:05:12.93900:05:12.949 burner is actually the motor so what's 00:05:14.95000:05:14.960 really clever about these burners and 00:05:16.33000:05:16.340 you don't have to know all this but it 00:05:17.55900:05:17.569 may be useful to you is that this burner 00:05:20.20000:05:20.210 is actually run come entirely off of 00:05:22.57000:05:22.580 this one motor and that might not sound 00:05:24.01000:05:24.020 like a big deal but the reason it's very 00:05:25.62900:05:25.639 clever is that this motor does a few 00:05:28.36000:05:28.370 things it spins a blower wheel which is 00:05:30.79000:05:30.800 actually inside of this housing right 00:05:32.46900:05:32.479 here and that's what pushes the air into 00:05:35.05000:05:35.060 the flow of the fuel so that you can 00:05:36.79000:05:36.800 burn oil but why it's really unique is 00:05:39.27900:05:39.289 that this motor not only turns this but 00:05:41.11000:05:41.120 the the motor not only turns this blower 00:05:43.77900:05:43.789 wheel inside but it also turns that fuel 00:05:46.83900:05:46.849 pump that I just showed you so it's 00:05:48.12900:05:48.139 pretty clever that they came up with a 00:05:49.33000:05:49.340 design that a single motor can do all 00:05:51.10000:05:51.110 that is this device here it's always 00:05:53.35000:05:53.360 going to be in the upper right hand side 00:05:54.73000:05:54.740 on a backup what this is this is 00:05:57.18900:05:57.199 actually what's called the primary 00:05:58.51000:05:58.520 control this is the box that kind of is 00:06:01.39000:06:01.400 the brain of this burner and it's not 00:06:03.15900:06:03.169 real complicated I have a small digital 00:06:05.20000:06:05.210 display on mine which you're not likely 00:06:06.85000:06:06.860 going to have on yours but these very 00:06:08.89000:06:08.900 model to model year here some of them 00:06:11.35000:06:11.360 are very simple but the important thing 00:06:13.05900:06:13.069 to know about is this infamous red 00:06:14.98000:06:14.990 button so if you're heating ignition 00:06:17.61900:06:17.629 fails your red button may pop up or in 00:06:20.86000:06:20.870 this case it might blink like this one 00:06:22.71900:06:22.729 would and when that happens you can push 00:06:25.08900:06:25.099 the button up to three times after that 00:06:27.64000:06:27.650 it's going to go into what they call a 00:06:28.77900:06:28.789 lockout so let me lay the same for you 00:06:30.82000:06:30.830 it's the middle of the night your heat 00:06:31.83900:06:31.849 fails you come down and this guy right 00:06:34.24000:06:34.250 here is blinking red it's okay to go 00:06:36.55000:06:36.560 ahead and push it and usually the 00:06:38.07900:06:38.089 system's going to restart but 00:06:39.89000:06:39.900 most often that isn't really the cause 00:06:41.93000:06:41.940 these things aren't designed to just 00:06:43.58000:06:43.590 trip for no reason 00:06:44.65900:06:44.669 something always causes the burner to 00:06:47.21000:06:47.220 trip and it might get you heat back on 00:06:49.67000:06:49.680 for a short amount of time but it's 00:06:51.35000:06:51.360 really not the fact so when that happens 00:06:53.09000:06:53.100 even if your heat comes on you're going 00:06:54.83000:06:54.840 to want to call a heating person to take 00:06:56.21000:06:56.220 a look at it because that's not a 00:06:57.52900:06:57.539 permanent fix so as we get close to this 00:07:00.65000:07:00.660 you're going to notice this is what they 00:07:01.87900:07:01.889 call a try Takeda and the reason it's 00:07:03.95000:07:03.960 called that is because it tells you 00:07:05.35000:07:05.360 multiple things but the most important 00:07:07.55000:07:07.560 thing the upper part of these typically 00:07:09.17000:07:09.180 is going to show you temperature and you 00:07:10.58000:07:10.590 can see that mine's at about 160 right 00:07:12.26000:07:12.270 now and the bottom is pressure and right 00:07:14.54000:07:14.550 now I'm at a little bit less than 20 00:07:16.37000:07:16.380 some of this is the angle of a camera 00:07:17.87000:07:17.880 but the important thing to know is if 00:07:19.87900:07:19.889 you come down to check your heat and the 00:07:21.37900:07:21.389 temperature is on zero and the pressure 00:07:23.06000:07:23.070 is on zero you've got a problem you've 00:07:24.92000:07:24.930 definitely got to call somebody but this 00:07:26.60000:07:26.610 is what a lot of boiler people will use 00:07:28.27900:07:28.289 for some basic diagnosis so this box 00:07:31.70000:07:31.710 right here is actually called an aqua 00:07:33.29000:07:33.300 stat so this looks really really 00:07:35.42000:07:35.430 expensive and fancy and it's really not 00:07:37.01000:07:37.020 it's about a hundred and fifty dollars 00:07:38.45000:07:38.460 this is a beckett aqua stat many of 00:07:41.30000:07:41.310 these systems are going to have 00:07:42.26000:07:42.270 honeywell aqua stats so this again is 00:07:45.40900:07:45.419 part of the electrical system that 00:07:47.00000:07:47.010 controls different devices but in this 00:07:49.10000:07:49.110 particular case this was about a hundred 00:07:50.62900:07:50.639 and fifty dollar item for the part alone 00:07:52.76000:07:52.770 this saves me tremendous amount of money 00:07:55.01000:07:55.020 on my heating system so I had this 00:07:56.93000:07:56.940 replaced a while ago and what this does 00:07:59.48000:07:59.490 is a little bit smarter than the average 00:08:00.83000:08:00.840 aqua stat it has an outside temperature 00:08:02.96000:08:02.970 control it knows the temp outside and 00:08:05.21000:08:05.220 what does does is it actually helps save 00:08:07.25000:08:07.260 me a little bit of oil by sensing the 00:08:09.08000:08:09.090 outside temperature and it figures out 00:08:10.85000:08:10.860 how high or low it should set the boiler 00:08:13.58000:08:13.590 so none of this has anything to do with 00:08:15.74000:08:15.750 the temperature in your rooms so if you 00:08:17.45000:08:17.460 set your room to seventy eighty or forty 00:08:19.49000:08:19.500 this has nothing to do with it this has 00:08:21.83000:08:21.840 to do with the internal temperature of 00:08:23.68900:08:23.699 your boiler which you can see here is 00:08:25.27900:08:25.289 about 160 it's a fairly warm day here 00:08:27.64900:08:27.659 today so even if the heat called this 00:08:30.05000:08:30.060 would probably never go up beyond maybe 00:08:32.44900:08:32.459 you know in fact they zoom over I can 00:08:34.85000:08:34.860 see exactly what it would go beyond you 00:08:36.70900:08:36.719 see there that it says economizing high 00:08:38.44900:08:38.459 limit 155 so because the temperature is 00:08:41.14900:08:41.159 almost 50 degrees outside today 00:08:42.76900:08:42.779 if this calls for Heat this box is 00:08:45.35000:08:45.360 really clever because what it's going to 00:08:47.09000:08:47.100 do is it will not allow it's not about 00:08:49.81900:08:49.829 the focus though see if I can zoom this 00:08:52.61000:08:52.620 in for you 00:08:53.39000:08:53.400 you could see that it says 155 it will 00:08:55.43000:08:55.440 not allow the limit of the boiler to go 00:08:57.26000:08:57.270 above 155 all that means is these boxes 00:09:00.68000:09:00.690 are very important you should know what 00:09:01.91000:09:01.920 your aqua stat is and if you want to 00:09:04.28000:09:04.290 save a little bit of money it's worth 00:09:05.36000:09:05.370 talking to your heating person about 00:09:06.68000:09:06.690 potentially installing one of these this 00:09:08.36000:09:08.370 one again is called the Becket aqua 00:09:09.98000:09:09.990 smart 00:09:20.20000:09:20.210 so now you just got a look at what 00:09:22.18000:09:22.190 happens when the boiler fires up now you 00:09:23.76900:09:23.779 always can hear the sound of your boiler 00:09:25.48000:09:25.490 but you may not have known that there 00:09:26.82900:09:26.839 really is a flame going on inside and 00:09:28.42000:09:28.430 it's pretty powerful so as I showed you 00:09:30.82000:09:30.830 in that flame shot that is what is 00:09:33.10000:09:33.110 essentially burning the oil and that oil 00:09:35.32000:09:35.330 goes into the upper part of your boiler 00:09:38.19900:09:38.209 and there's a kind of heat exchanger 00:09:39.94000:09:39.950 it's a series of metal pipes and sort of 00:09:41.76900:09:41.779 tubes they even call them nipples and 00:09:43.65000:09:43.660 the water runs through and it basically 00:09:47.47000:09:47.480 absorbs the heat that comes out of that 00:09:49.54000:09:49.550 flame that you just saw so once you've 00:09:51.94000:09:51.950 done all that now we've got to move that 00:09:53.80000:09:53.810 hot water to the upper part of your 00:09:55.21000:09:55.220 house and on every boiler the way that 00:09:58.75000:09:58.760 you move water is with a circulator pump 00:10:00.79000:10:00.800 now I've done a number of videos about 00:10:02.35000:10:02.360 circulator pumps replacing them working 00:10:04.84000:10:04.850 on them and even just learning a little 00:10:06.13000:10:06.140 bit more about them so in my system here 00:10:08.71000:10:08.720 I actually have two circulator pumps so 00:10:11.11000:10:11.120 when you look at it a house or anybody 00:10:12.69900:10:12.709 talks about heat they always talk about 00:10:13.90000:10:13.910 zones so zones does not necessarily mean 00:10:17.05000:10:17.060 how many circulator pumps you have so 00:10:19.15000:10:19.160 you can have a circulator pump per zone 00:10:22.44900:10:22.459 and some houses do have that and your 00:10:24.57900:10:24.589 average you know plumber or a heat 00:10:27.19000:10:27.200 installer will tell you that that 00:10:28.18000:10:28.190 generally is the best way you don't see 00:10:30.16000:10:30.170 that done so much anymore because they 00:10:31.78000:10:31.790 are expensive it's a lot of extra 00:10:33.57900:10:33.589 plumbing so more commonly in my house I 00:10:36.43000:10:36.440 have one circulator pump that runs all 00:10:39.51900:10:39.529 of my heat and what this does is when 00:10:42.43000:10:42.440 the boiler gets hot after the flame 00:10:44.76900:10:44.779 fires the water actually goes up through 00:10:48.97000:10:48.980 the pipes into my house you see all 00:10:52.15000:10:52.160 these pipes up here I've quite a few of 00:10:53.50000:10:53.510 them and then it returns down back down 00:10:57.82000:10:57.830 this main pipe and the circulator pump 00:11:01.78000:11:01.790 is what moves the water so as far as a 00:11:03.85000:11:03.860 homeowner goes what you really need to 00:11:05.23000:11:05.240 know about a circulator pump is that a 00:11:06.69900:11:06.709 circulator pump circulates water and 00:11:08.56000:11:08.570 it's a critical item so if you ever come 00:11:10.48000:11:10.490 downstairs and look in your boiler maybe 00:11:12.67000:11:12.680 you don't have heat or you having a 00:11:13.75000:11:13.760 problem and you don't hear the 00:11:16.03000:11:16.040 circulator pump on or it's making a 00:11:17.74000:11:17.750 funny noise that's a very typical 00:11:18.94000:11:18.950 problem so it's useful to be able to 00:11:21.22000:11:21.230 know what the circulator pump is and 00:11:23.01900:11:23.029 that's one right there now this one's a 00:11:24.94000:11:24.950 little bit high-tech it's got a display 00:11:26.38000:11:26.390 in it surprisingly it doesn't cost as 00:11:28.24000:11:28.250 much more than a regular one but it has 00:11:30.81900:11:30.829 some other benefits that are a little 00:11:32.01900:11:32.029 bit beyond what this video is but you 00:11:33.91000:11:33.920 just want to know that this is you 00:11:35.05000:11:35.060 circulate upon and in my heating system 00:11:37.54000:11:37.550 I actually have a second circulator pump 00:11:39.57900:11:39.589 not quite so fancy and a little bit 00:11:41.23000:11:41.240 smaller but this circulator pump is the 00:11:44.19900:11:44.209 function for this is it actually moves 00:11:45.97000:11:45.980 my domestic hot water if i zoom out a 00:11:48.97000:11:48.980 bit that's the tank right there and it's 00:11:53.17000:11:53.180 a super storm and that circulator pump 00:11:57.31000:11:57.320 moves the water through that pipe so 00:12:02.05000:12:02.060 that's how the hot water from this 00:12:03.63900:12:03.649 boiler gets into my hot water tank so 00:12:07.99000:12:08.000 again I just said an awful lot and it's 00:12:10.09000:12:10.100 hard to follow along I think but the 00:12:12.18900:12:12.199 important thing to know is that the 00:12:13.72000:12:13.730 circulator pumps are absolutely critical 00:12:15.40000:12:15.410 items for your heating system so they 00:12:17.59000:12:17.600 it's good to know what they are where 00:12:19.18000:12:19.190 they are and it's not a bad idea to 00:12:20.76900:12:20.779 check them out once in a while so you 00:12:21.87900:12:21.889 can get used to the noises that they 00:12:23.19900:12:23.209 make how they look you never want any 00:12:25.66000:12:25.670 water leaks out of these if you have any 00:12:27.37000:12:27.380 water leaks coming on what they call the 00:12:29.29000:12:29.300 flanges here you want to make sure you 00:12:31.38900:12:31.399 get some help because that's not normal 00:12:32.92000:12:32.930 but what this is this is a take ozone 00:12:35.74000:12:35.750 controller so earlier I mentioned that 00:12:37.75000:12:37.760 if you don't have a circulator pump for 00:12:39.40000:12:39.410 every zone and most people don't you are 00:12:42.18900:12:42.199 going to have a controller and what 00:12:43.68900:12:43.699 happens is when your boiler or your room 00:12:46.60000:12:46.610 is calling and that's the word you hear 00:12:48.40000:12:48.410 them use a lot calling just means that 00:12:49.96000:12:49.970 your room needs Heat 00:12:51.85000:12:51.860 and that triggers a contact and it has 00:12:56.92000:12:56.930 to tell the boiler to start circulating 00:12:58.78000:12:58.790 water so this little electrical box here 00:13:01.00000:13:01.010 is your zone control box and this has 00:13:03.40000:13:03.410 the job of taking you thermostats and it 00:13:05.92000:13:05.930 essentially connects it to your boiler 00:13:07.90000:13:07.910 so you may have eight thermostats in 00:13:09.81900:13:09.829 your house or less but they're going to 00:13:11.92000:13:11.930 connect into here and then it will 00:13:13.44900:13:13.459 control making sure that your heat is on 00:13:15.06900:13:15.079 my advice to you is a homeowner is if 00:13:17.50000:13:17.510 this was working at all and it stopped 00:13:19.32900:13:19.339 working 00:13:19.78000:13:19.790 do not start messing with the wires they 00:13:21.79000:13:21.800 can be very confusing colors don't 00:13:23.86000:13:23.870 really matter you'll see that I have 00:13:25.32900:13:25.339 some other videos on zone control valves 00:13:27.16000:13:27.170 so this is something that best if it 00:13:29.59000:13:29.600 fails and in my case this unit has some 00:13:32.68000:13:32.690 lights and it's only on green right now 00:13:35.62000:13:35.630 because when it goes red that means that 00:13:37.96000:13:37.970 a room is calling for Heat 00:13:39.28000:13:39.290 but if you had lights on it and then 00:13:41.35000:13:41.360 there's no lights that could be a real 00:13:43.00000:13:43.010 problem or electricity could be off 00:13:44.47000:13:44.480 whose 00:13:45.30900:13:45.319 you're going to have one of these 00:13:46.38900:13:46.399 transformers somewhere 00:13:47.72000:13:47.730 and you're heating area might be on the 00:13:49.57900:13:49.589 wall it could be somewhere else 00:13:50.84000:13:50.850 the purpose of these is what they do is 00:13:53.54000:13:53.550 they actually power your thermostats so 00:13:56.15000:13:56.160 your thermostats are a switch but you 00:13:57.80000:13:57.810 need a little bit of electricity and 00:13:59.03000:13:59.040 make them work so one good tip for you 00:14:01.06900:14:01.079 is that if you want to see if these are 00:14:02.66000:14:02.670 working and this is not exactly the most 00:14:04.06900:14:04.079 scientific test but if you touch them 00:14:05.54000:14:05.550 they should be warm to almost hot if 00:14:07.87900:14:07.889 they're ice-cold then you've probably 00:14:09.86000:14:09.870 got one that's failed another important 00:14:12.29000:14:12.300 component to know about is that my dog 00:14:14.62900:14:14.639 doesn't like me making a lot of noise 00:14:16.67000:14:16.680 underneath where she sits so I apologize 00:14:18.29000:14:18.300 for the dog barking but when I look up 00:14:20.56900:14:20.579 at the ceiling here you're gonna see 00:14:21.68000:14:21.690 these are called zone valves and I've 00:14:23.72000:14:23.730 done a number of videos about these 00:14:25.18900:14:25.199 because they can be a problem there are 00:14:27.50000:14:27.510 a common item that I wouldn't say it 00:14:29.15000:14:29.160 wears out quickly but they do break over 00:14:31.06900:14:31.079 time because again remember they heat 00:14:32.48000:14:32.490 your heating system is going to just sit 00:14:33.88900:14:33.899 here heating your house for as long as I 00:14:35.68900:14:35.699 can before something breaks and it is 00:14:37.79000:14:37.800 normal to have part failures and whatnot 00:14:40.22000:14:40.230 so these zone valves what they do is 00:14:43.49000:14:43.500 each one of these these wires are 00:14:45.31900:14:45.329 connected to a thermostat they also go 00:14:47.18000:14:47.190 through that zone control box that I 00:14:48.74000:14:48.750 just showed you and each one of these is 00:14:51.07900:14:51.089 a room and if you notice here it's a 00:14:52.67000:14:52.680 second parent I have another one that 00:14:54.53000:14:54.540 says first parent second bedroom so the 00:14:58.12900:14:58.139 naming on these doesn't make any sense 00:14:59.72000:14:59.730 sometimes the plumber I swear does weird 00:15:01.30900:15:01.319 stuff but you want to learn which one of 00:15:03.65000:15:03.660 these is what room in your house so if 00:15:05.60000:15:05.610 you are having a heating problem it's 00:15:07.43000:15:07.440 worthwhile to know that one way you can 00:15:10.30900:15:10.319 actually eliminate your thermostat 00:15:12.05000:15:12.060 eliminate all that electronics is if you 00:15:14.50900:15:14.519 look closely here there's a little a 00:15:16.04000:15:16.050 little silver tab and you actually have 00:15:19.28000:15:19.290 a manual override right here so if you 00:15:22.51900:15:22.529 pull this down and I'm not going to 00:15:24.43900:15:24.449 actually do it but you if you pull this 00:15:25.93900:15:25.949 down that's a manual override that'll 00:15:27.65000:15:27.660 try to activate that zones heat so 00:15:29.99000:15:30.000 that's worthwhile to know where that is 00:15:31.34000:15:31.350 in case you had a plumber ask you to do 00:15:32.87000:15:32.880 this but I'm trying to explain sort of 00:15:34.61000:15:34.620 the system components and give you an 00:15:35.96000:15:35.970 idea where things are the components 00:15:37.85000:15:37.860 that are worthwhile to know are these 00:15:39.25900:15:39.269 little gold boxes or gold cylinders up 00:15:41.44900:15:41.459 here actually air valves and on my 00:15:43.67000:15:43.680 system the way it's plumbed under each 00:15:46.18900:15:46.199 one of my zones are actually above it I 00:15:49.57900:15:49.589 guess is an air relief valve and these 00:15:52.25000:15:52.260 are designed to let air come out of the 00:15:53.72000:15:53.730 system and these aren't the only way 00:15:56.03000:15:56.040 that air gets out of the system if I go 00:15:58.22000:15:58.230 over here a bit try to give you a shot 00:16:00.65000:16:00.660 of this one I all 00:16:01.55000:16:01.560 have a larger valve and this is above my 00:16:03.74000:16:03.750 expansion tank so this is another valve 00:16:06.47000:16:06.480 but it's important so above your 00:16:08.03000:16:08.040 expansion tank you're gonna have what's 00:16:09.65000:16:09.660 usually called an air separator these 00:16:11.66000:16:11.670 might be green that's the tako version 00:16:13.61000:16:13.620 there's a lot of different ones but it's 00:16:15.29000:16:15.300 worthwhile to know that these are 00:16:16.46000:16:16.470 designed to let air out of the system so 00:16:18.92000:16:18.930 if you're in your basement you hear air 00:16:20.15000:16:20.160 hissing and no water is coming out that 00:16:22.61000:16:22.620 is somewhat normal though you shouldn't 00:16:24.07900:16:24.089 hear it all the time but you may hear it 00:16:25.76000:16:25.770 occasionally and that is normal next 00:16:28.79000:16:28.800 thing that pretty much everybody is 00:16:30.07900:16:30.089 going to have is this weird gray tank 00:16:31.55000:16:31.560 sometimes they're blue or white so this 00:16:33.47000:16:33.480 is what's called an expansion tank the 00:16:35.32900:16:35.339 point of this is your heating system is 00:16:37.55000:16:37.560 a closed system what that means is 00:16:39.32000:16:39.330 there's a certain amount of water in 00:16:41.06000:16:41.070 this system so just like anything when 00:16:43.10000:16:43.110 it gets hot it expands if you didn't 00:16:45.41000:16:45.420 have this or this tank failed you're 00:16:47.32900:16:47.339 gonna have a leak somewhere are you 00:16:48.59000:16:48.600 gonna over pressurize your boiler so 00:16:50.84000:16:50.850 this is an important thing in my case 00:16:52.85000:16:52.860 you'll see that there is a date on the 00:16:54.38000:16:54.390 side a lot of times the Installer does 00:16:55.91000:16:55.920 that so they know how old these are 00:16:57.05000:16:57.060 because the outside has nothing to do 00:16:59.42000:16:59.430 with how beat up it is though a lot of 00:17:01.19000:17:01.200 times you'll love leaks on it so these 00:17:03.65000:17:03.660 expansion tanks are very important 00:17:05.66000:17:05.670 they're not something you can easily 00:17:07.25000:17:07.260 test but one thing you can do if you 00:17:09.62000:17:09.630 want to see if it's okay is you can use 00:17:11.24000:17:11.250 your finger and it's a little bit hard 00:17:15.98000:17:15.990 to hear that I'll do it again though 00:17:17.44900:17:17.459 listen to the difference in sound so the 00:17:25.52000:17:25.530 reason it sounds like that is because 00:17:27.31900:17:27.329 the lower part of this tank is actually 00:17:29.41900:17:29.429 filled with air just about until that 00:17:31.46000:17:31.470 little line and the upper part should be 00:17:33.50000:17:33.510 filled with water and it bulges out a 00:17:35.87000:17:35.880 bit but if your tank has exactly the 00:17:38.33000:17:38.340 same sound from top to bottom it might 00:17:40.19000:17:40.200 have failed and if you have water 00:17:41.99000:17:42.000 leaking out your valves that could have 00:17:43.79000:17:43.800 something to do with this so this could 00:17:44.99000:17:45.000 be something you need to get replaced is 00:17:47.21000:17:47.220 your boiler has to be supplied with a 00:17:49.16000:17:49.170 supply of cold water and in my case I 00:17:52.49000:17:52.500 have this small valve right here that 00:17:54.14000:17:54.150 says boiler and this is how my water 00:17:57.05000:17:57.060 gets into the boiler now you might 00:17:59.51000:17:59.520 remember earlier I said that the boiler 00:18:01.25000:18:01.260 is a closed system so what does that 00:18:03.35000:18:03.360 mean so your water line in my case is 00:18:06.89000:18:06.900 right here and it goes into this special 00:18:09.02000:18:09.030 backflow preventor is what they call it 00:18:11.18000:18:11.190 in this device is exactly what its name 00:18:13.58000:18:13.590 is 00:18:14.25900:18:14.269 it is designed to allow the water to 00:18:16.26900:18:16.279 feed into your boiler but it won't allow 00:18:19.23900:18:19.249 water to go backwards and the reason 00:18:21.00900:18:21.019 that's important is because the water 00:18:22.23900:18:22.249 inside your boiler is kind of 00:18:23.70900:18:23.719 contaminated at the dirty you obviously 00:18:25.93000:18:25.940 would not want that water getting in 00:18:27.19000:18:27.200 your drinking water system so you have 00:18:29.16900:18:29.179 to have a backflow preventor I can't 00:18:30.63900:18:30.649 imagine there's any jurisdiction or 00:18:32.01900:18:32.029 state where you don't and underneath it 00:18:34.44900:18:34.459 you'll see this extra pipe here and if I 00:18:36.54900:18:36.559 follow this down this pipe goes nowhere 00:18:40.98900:18:40.999 you see is a little stain there so it is 00:18:43.29900:18:43.309 normal to have a little bit of staining 00:18:44.46900:18:44.479 what it does is when the water shuts off 00:18:46.81000:18:46.820 it actually out of the backflow 00:18:49.53900:18:49.549 preventor let's a little bit drip out as 00:18:52.83900:18:52.849 it stops it trying to flow backwards 00:18:54.75900:18:54.769 next component that you're going to have 00:18:56.61900:18:56.629 and this is almost always going to be 00:18:58.18000:18:58.190 next to this backflow preventor is your 00:19:00.43000:19:00.440 auto fill valve so the reason it's auto 00:19:03.09900:19:03.109 fill is because it's automatic these 00:19:04.74900:19:04.759 fail all the time because they sit here 00:19:06.54900:19:06.559 for five years 10 20 30 years so there's 00:19:09.27900:19:09.289 a very common item that fails usually 00:19:11.64900:19:11.659 what's going to happen on these is it's 00:19:13.06000:19:13.070 not going to stop the water going in the 00:19:14.70900:19:14.719 boiler it might let too much or you'll 00:19:16.47900:19:16.489 have tons of staining this is a pretty 00:19:18.48900:19:18.499 new one so you'll see that it looks 00:19:19.65900:19:19.669 fairly clean and all you really need to 00:19:22.18000:19:22.190 know about this is if you ever needed to 00:19:23.88900:19:23.899 add water manually there's a small 00:19:26.31900:19:26.329 little tab here on the top and when you 00:19:28.89900:19:28.909 lift that up if I put it up in the 00:19:30.69900:19:30.709 upright position all the way it would 00:19:33.06900:19:33.079 allow some water to go in but generally 00:19:35.16900:19:35.179 you're not gonna mess with this it is 00:19:37.08900:19:37.099 supposed to be automatic it's preset to 00:19:39.00900:19:39.019 a certain pressure but you want to know 00:19:40.81000:19:40.820 where this is and again this is your 00:19:42.24900:19:42.259 auto fill right on the ceiling you're 00:19:45.39900:19:45.409 gonna see this weird little device and 00:19:47.22900:19:47.239 this is actually a safety device if my 00:19:50.44000:19:50.450 boiler should ever catch on fire somehow 00:19:52.44900:19:52.459 this flames coming out of the boiler 00:19:54.36900:19:54.379 this is actually a small heat sensor and 00:19:57.00900:19:57.019 there's a little piece of special metal 00:19:58.41900:19:58.429 in here and what happens is if the flame 00:20:01.02900:20:01.039 reaches it or the heat gets so severe 00:20:03.51900:20:03.529 this little guy can actually it'll pop 00:20:07.69000:20:07.700 out and what happens is and I don't 00:20:09.94000:20:09.950 recommend that you always do this 00:20:11.16900:20:11.179 but sometimes installers will actually 00:20:12.96900:20:12.979 use this as a cut-off switch when that 00:20:14.85900:20:14.869 pops out all the power is kiltie a 00:20:16.98900:20:16.999 boiler so that will also give you 00:20:18.99900:20:19.009 another safety factor if you already 00:20:20.56000:20:20.570 ever have a fire this can really be a 00:20:22.50900:20:22.519 real benefit you never want to cover 00:20:24.90900:20:24.919 this or cause any type of tampering or 00:20:26.85900:20:26.869 cause a problem 00:20:28.00000:20:28.010 as after you've got oil going into your 00:20:29.86000:20:29.870 boiler you turn it into a flame that 00:20:31.84000:20:31.850 generates heat the exhaust obviously has 00:20:34.18000:20:34.190 to come out so everybody on any sort of 00:20:36.01000:20:36.020 oil heating system is going to have an 00:20:37.54000:20:37.550 exhaust pipe and this is usually usually 00:20:39.37000:20:39.380 something anybody can identify but what 00:20:41.62000:20:41.630 might be a little bit more of a mystery 00:20:43.03000:20:43.040 to you is this little item right here so 00:20:47.32000:20:47.330 this is made by a company called field 00:20:49.36000:20:49.370 controls and I don't even know that 00:20:51.16000:20:51.170 there's any other companies that make 00:20:52.33000:20:52.340 these they probably had the original 00:20:53.77000:20:53.780 patent the purpose of these and you 00:20:55.99000:20:56.000 notice you this little door swings and 00:20:58.00000:20:58.010 some of these people have no idea what 00:20:59.74000:20:59.750 they do they mess around with these 00:21:00.97000:21:00.980 little knobs and that's a wait but the 00:21:03.04000:21:03.050 only purpose of this is it's generally 00:21:05.02000:21:05.030 going to be set by your heating 00:21:06.07000:21:06.080 contractor and it has to do with 00:21:07.45000:21:07.460 balancing the exhaust so if you didn't 00:21:09.73000:21:09.740 have this whenever your heating system 00:21:11.08000:21:11.090 would run all the heat would go into the 00:21:13.93000:21:13.940 boiler and the exhaust would go right 00:21:15.94000:21:15.950 out right up this pipe and then out to 00:21:18.01000:21:18.020 your chimney so the purpose of the field 00:21:21.37000:21:21.380 controls damper control is what it's 00:21:22.99000:21:23.000 called is that it actually takes a 00:21:25.45000:21:25.460 little bit of room air and it mixes it 00:21:27.55000:21:27.560 in with the exhaust and the point of 00:21:29.20000:21:29.210 that is that it lets you get a little 00:21:30.85000:21:30.860 bit more heat out of your boiler so this 00:21:33.49000:21:33.500 is not something you ever want to put a 00:21:34.87000:21:34.880 screw in I have seen people do all sorts 00:21:36.70000:21:36.710 of crazy things sometimes they can be a 00:21:39.01000:21:39.020 little bit noisy when they open but if 00:21:40.78000:21:40.790 your heat is making a tremendous amount 00:21:42.52000:21:42.530 of noise you want to call for some help 00:21:44.17000:21:44.180 on that because that isn't normal 00:21:47.94000:21:47.950 so I hope you found this video helpful 00:21:49.84000:21:49.850 this is really designed for a new 00:21:51.67000:21:51.680 homeowner or somebody that's not 00:21:52.96000:21:52.970 familiar with oil heat oil heats pretty 00:21:54.94000:21:54.950 reliable it's actually pretty economical 00:21:57.04000:21:57.050 and it's really useful for a homeowner 00:21:59.05000:21:59.060 to understand where their components are 00:22:00.88000:22:00.890 what the names of them are and they take 00:22:02.89000:22:02.900 a little bit of the mystery out of it so 00:22:04.60000:22:04.610 I hope you found this video helpful if 00:22:05.80000:22:05.810 you did I would really appreciate it if 00:22:07.30000:22:07.310 you give me a thumbs up and also please 00:22:09.04000:22:09.050 consider it subscribing to my channel I 00:22:10.63000:22:10.640 have a lot of videos about homeowner 00:22:11.98000:22:11.990 type items repairs and useful things to 00:22:14.47000:22:14.480 know so I really appreciate your watch I 00:22:16.12000:22:16.130 hope you have a great day
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