Noisy gas main & optimum boiler temp
This is actually two questions which may or may not be related.
1. We recently bought the 1908 four-square next to us. It has hotwater heat with a 5 year old Weil-McLain combination boiler / hot water heater system. While we remodel the house we have the thermostat set to 60 and yet our gas / electric bill for the house last month was only about $14 less than the one for the house we actually live in.
My father-in-law thinks that with a hot water system you can actually use more energy by keeping the thermostat too low. He contends that the system cycles more and uses more gas in the process. I don’t have a clue since this is the first house I’ve ever owned with radiators.
2. The gas main on the outside of this same house is rather noisy; actually quite a bit noisier than the main on our house. I don’t smell any gas odor, but it’s at least 3 or 4 times louder than the main on our house which is 10 feet away (a shared drive way runs between the two houses).
Any advice would be appreciated.
Replies
"He contends that the system cycles more and uses more gas in the process."
The more often it cycles, the more fuel it will burn. Because you have to heat up all the metal each time, not just the water. But that isn't a function of the set point of the hysterysis (sp?) or dead-band. i.e. on at 120 off at 125 will cycle much more often than on at 115 off at 135F. (think of an air compressor.) New HWH are required to do this so they burn longer, more overall efficiency. But the HW produced does vary in temp more, so a tempering valve ($60 or so) can be a nie addition to stabilize the HW temps at the fixtures.
"The gas main outside of this same house is rather noisy"
Tell the gas company. Might be the pressure regulator, not unsafe, just some vibration in the valve during flow conditions hitting the harmonic of the assembly. Them looking at it (and if they replace it) is free.