A friend of mine has a Weil Mclain gas steam boiler that was put in
about 15 years ago. Apparantly whoever put it in oversized the job and
put in a 300,000 BTU unit, when it should have been a 200,000 BTU unit
according to a heating specialist that recently surveyed the house.
One suggestion he made is that since there are 12 venturi burners
under the boiler, is to remove 4 of them and cap the nozzles, thus
leaving only 8 burners. He said each burner outputs about 25,000
BTU's, so that should reduce the output.
My question is does this make sense? Theoretically it sounds like it
does, and from a safety standpoint, as long as the gas outlets are
capped, it does not seem unsafe.
Any thoughts?

"Mikepier" wrote in message
...
A friend of mine has a Weil Mclain gas steam boiler that was put in
about 15 years ago. Apparantly whoever put it in oversized the job and
put in a 300,000 BTU unit, when it should have been a 200,000 BTU unit
according to a heating specialist that recently surveyed the house.
One suggestion he made is that since there are 12 venturi burners
under the boiler, is to remove 4 of them and cap the nozzles, thus
leaving only 8 burners. He said each burner outputs about 25,000
BTU's, so that should reduce the output.
My question is does this make sense? Theoretically it sounds like it
does, and from a safety standpoint, as long as the gas outlets are
capped, it does not seem unsafe.
Any thoughts?

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that the tank size would be proportionate
to the burner size. It's a steam boiler. It has to make steam. With fewer
burners it would just take longer to generate steam

"Mikepier" wrote in message
...
A friend of mine has a Weil Mclain gas steam boiler that was put in
about 15 years ago. Apparantly whoever put it in oversized the job and
put in a 300,000 BTU unit, when it should have been a 200,000 BTU unit
according to a heating specialist that recently surveyed the house.
One suggestion he made is that since there are 12 venturi burners
under the boiler, is to remove 4 of them and cap the nozzles, thus
leaving only 8 burners. He said each burner outputs about 25,000
BTU's, so that should reduce the output.
My question is does this make sense? Theoretically it sounds like it
does, and from a safety standpoint, as long as the gas outlets are
capped, it does not seem unsafe.
Any thoughts?

That would work with a hot water boiler, but I'm not so sure it would help
with steam. Once the steam begins to flow in the system, it will rise and
heat the radiators. Less burners means more time to go from cold to steam
and a slightly less rate to pressure cut off.

Some W-M boilers are made in sections. You can remove a section and the
burners that go with it for less output. One of my boilers in work is that
way, but it is 3,000,000 Btu.

More information is needed to give a good answer. You may be better off
contacting W-M directly to see what can be done. Take a look at page 3 here
to see what I mean by sections
http://www.weil-mclain.com/downloads...e/eg/eglit.pdf

On Dec 30, 8:30*pm, Mikepier wrote:
A friend of mine has a Weil Mclain gas steam boiler that was put in
about 15 years ago. Apparantly whoever put it in oversized the job and
put in a 300,000 BTU unit, when it should have been a 200,000 BTU unit
according to a heating specialist that recently surveyed the house.
One suggestion he made is that since there are 12 venturi burners
under the boiler, is to remove 4 of them and cap the nozzles, thus
leaving only 8 burners. He said each burner outputs about 25,000
BTU's, so that should reduce the output.
My question is does this make sense? Theoretically it sounds like it
does, and from a safety standpoint, as long as the gas outlets are
capped, it does not seem unsafe.
*Any thoughts?

The pro that said its oversized and cap of burners is no pro of
steam. Steam isnt sized like hot water radiators when replacing.
There are alot of good steam repairmen where I am in Chicago as there
are steam units everywhere. But there is nobody I have met and seen do
other instals that I would trust that they are correct in all aspects.
Steam is not simple like hot water to get right, and with it not being
used on new installs that I know of there are very few really
knowlagable old timers left. My friend just had bids from 4 of the
very top chicago area companies on a replacement, sizes went from
3-600000 btu and the company that did it finaly, is a very well
respected company. But they didnt do it right and lost near 5000 since
a special pump and tank system was needed on his unique problem.
Luckily the home owner is extremely educated, he got all the books, he
read and knew and researched this before the instal. Even my co that
is great on boiler repairs-instals, and that is all they do. I just
found they have been over pressuring my system to run less efficiently
and still feel correct going to 3 lb vs 14-16oz. There are alot of
basics he should learn and do himself, www.heatinghelp.com is a place
to get good answers and a few books written by D. Holohan that are
well regarded to teach him the basics of getting the most of what he
has. If his set up is like mine was-is, the books will teach him to
get an efficent well running system.

Might work. Or, it might heat the exchanger unevenly, and stress the heat
exchanger. Leading to early breakage. I'd try to get ahold of the
manufacturer, and ask their opinion.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Mikepier" wrote in message
...
A friend of mine has a Weil Mclain gas steam boiler that was put in
about 15 years ago. Apparantly whoever put it in oversized the job and
put in a 300,000 BTU unit, when it should have been a 200,000 BTU unit
according to a heating specialist that recently surveyed the house.
One suggestion he made is that since there are 12 venturi burners
under the boiler, is to remove 4 of them and cap the nozzles, thus
leaving only 8 burners. He said each burner outputs about 25,000
BTU's, so that should reduce the output.
My question is does this make sense? Theoretically it sounds like it
does, and from a safety standpoint, as long as the gas outlets are
capped, it does not seem unsafe.
Any thoughts?