Moving Buderus Intake Outside?

10 years ago

We made an 'investment' in this furnace a few years ago, or at least that is what we thought. Has been nothing but problems, it's not easy to find someone to service them, serving and parts are twice as expensive, and HVAC guys at home shows cringe when we say we installed a 'Blue Flame' unit. I live in New England, US. The furnace is a Logano G125 and if I remeber correctly the computer has already gone dysfunctional and remains on its manual setting.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd105/pinkfloydeffect750/IMG-20131227-00164_zpsb437b657.jpg

We have an old classic house, used to run a coal fired stove in here about 100 years ago. The Buderus was suppose to be so efficient that it no longer needed a traditional cheminee to vent because the exhaust is so cool, so we had a wedge shaped vent at ground level right where they knocked out that window and boarded it up. Problem is there is a bedroom window above the vent on the first and second floor, my window on the second floor is always open in the summer and the fumes would rise up against the house and get sucked right into my bedroom with the fan I run in the window pulling in air. It was bad some days it smelt really bad upstairs and began to make me light headed so we called the lousy installers back to now install a full length stainless vent that rises up above the roof line at our cost and so overall cost was now about $1,000 higher then first quoted. That is the pipe on the right side you see connected and lousily sealed with foam rather then mortar like used on their original vent.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd105/pinkfloydeffect750/IMG-20131227-00161_zps67836642.jpg

We stopped having the installer service it since he never wants to come out and fails to make appointments, we had another company service it not long ago and right after they left it started smelling heavily like furnace fumes in the house....they incorrectly installed a gasket. Then the night they left the second time we stopped getting heat in the middle of the night turns out they forgot to turn the oil supply back on. Only one floor of our house is heated with baseboards using the furnace the other is propane, however both floors sinks/showers are ran off the furnace.

It kicks on and off quite often but does not run long, I work in the basement and it is very annoying when listening to music so I did some investigating. From the first floor it is louder since it was recently cleaned when it turns on and I assume that is because of greater air flow they did say it was pretty dirty...if I put my hand over this white intake tube in the red circle when it is running it gets at least 50% quieter! Is there any reason I can't connect this inlet tube to the already existing wedge vent outside that is not being used anymore?? Right now it draws really dusty air from a shop environment basement but the temperature is never below freezing....if it draws outside air it will be much cleaner but can reach sometimes below -0F in the winter BUT it would be so much quieter!!
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd105/pinkfloydeffect750/IMG-20131227-00162_zpsbcacf86d.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful: Moving Buderus Intake Outside?

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Comments (5)

mike_home
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Sorry to hear you have had so many installations problems. I am not an expert on this boiler, but I can imagine how much money you spent on your initial investment.

I have attached the installation manual in case you don't have it. I think the manual applies to your boiler.

The manual states (see Section 7.2) the intake combustion air can be either indoor or outdoor air. However if the indoor air is used, then the furnace cannot be vented horizontally. This was the first mistake the installers made. The manual says the exhaust vent must be 3 feet higher than any air intake closer than 10 feet. This was the second mistake the installers made.

I believe you can use the opening in the side of the house for the air intake, but I am sure you can use the current vent termination. At the very least you want a new termination that does not have any soot. It should not be too difficult too rework what you given the hard part of making a hole in the masonry of a 100 year old house is already done.

It does not matter that the air intake is cold. The boiler is designed for this.

It sounds like the boiler is short cycling. This usually means the boiler is too big for your size house. Did you know the BTU rating?

Have you gone to the Buderus web site and searched for qualified installers in your zip code? I suggest you keep looking for a qualified service company. The first two are not qualified and unprofessional in my opinion.

Here is a link that might be useful: Logano G125BE Installation Manual
energy_rater_la
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I dont know about boilers either...but
what is the story behind your user name?
just call me curious!
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jonnyp
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Just had high eff. gas boiler installed. It is obvious from your description the installer did a poor job. Did they pull a permit and was it inspected by a city or town inspector ?
Add the outside air intake. That boiler is sucking cold outside air thru every nook and cranny in foundation which results in a much colder basement. Not to mention dusty cellar air.
Did they install outside thermometer and carbon monoxide detector ?

There are quite a few fly by nighters out there who are in it to make a quick buck. They all know there are sizable rebates and large savings on running HE equipment .

I am also in NE, Ma. The guy that did my installation was a former employee of National Grid who specializes in HE equipment. He works primarily on the North Shore and Southern N.H. If you are in that vicinity I can get you his contact info.
jonnyp
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I did not read your post thoroughly. Your boiler is oil fired. Call your oil man . I know that in Ma. if you sell oil you must provide service
by a licensed burner tech
jackfre
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
The man JohhnyP is talking about is Denny Reardon. He can make your Blue Flame unit sing any song you want it to. He is a hand! He was a very good cusomter of mine when I was back east. A real gentleman as well. Calling your oil company could or should get you satisfaction, but apparently has not so far. Blue Flame units are terrific, but they MUST be done properly and not having outside combustion air is ridiculous with these units, imho.