Navien NFC-250/200 Combi-Boiler Retrofit #8

[@danherring5676]

"A man who works with his hands is a laborer. A man who works with his hands and brain is a craftsman. A man who works with his hands, brain and heart is an artist." I had to wipe a tear when you revealed the results. Truly a work of art.

[@canuckmechanical6490]

Kind words and thankyou very much

[@gabrielcoutino7277]

Beautiful , this is not just ‘s work it’s art

[@The_headwaters_of_the_Yadkin]

I found this video when I was designing my replacement system about a year ago. You do great work and inspired me to do a super-neat six zone install.

[@matthockman]

Beautiful. Thank you for the walkthrough. Love the personal touch with the memorial at the end. It shows you genuinely care about your customer and your work. This is the pinnacle of craftsmanship.

[@TraderStig]

Wow! That's some nice work with the pride to back it up.

[@kingjulian4014]

Cuz this the cleanest boiler job and I am a HVAC company nice work.

[@issacrobertson]

You're something else man. Beautiful.

[@Nova-ec4hz]

Perfect installation love people being proud of their job! A thing you can do is to use only one pressure gauge and hook them all together with valves.. 👍

[@jezzaandrews1940]

A work of art again.👍

[@6969allgood]

All round a fantastic Job , a pleasure to look at and a fantastic commentary :-)

[@KarlEmig]

looks great. I like the iso's with the gage port. Looking for that on my next job. thanks

[@rhysdavis6525]

Quite literally art. Hopefully one day I can be as good as you!

[@skylinelinyt]

Thanks for your information. Your works are amazing.

[@Sea-Doopilot]

I have a 30x50' shop with a 6-circuit system. I just built it and only have the slab components installed, and the manifold built and pressurized. I don't have gas to the property, So, my options are propane (I will bury a tank) or electric. I also love Navien but wondered if their electric boiler would work as well as the gas? What direction would you go? It's in southern Missouri so it's not super cold there. Thanks for any help, James and great work on this one. The "for Ian" was a class act! Great work! -Brian

[@canuckmechanical6490]

@@Sea-Doopilot electric options always work …and can be clean

[@canuckmechanical6490]

But propane would be the best for efficiency vs cost

[@Alejandrogonzalez-r3i]

Got dam! A bit of passion!!!!

[@mitchmass10]

Absolutely amazing work

[@Deep_Divers]

Great videos! The only question I have is about the use of dielectric unions. Typically copper pipe is bonded to the electrical system. With dielectric unions installed at the boiler won't that break the continuity of the bond, leaving a large portion of the copper unbonded? When filters are installed I usually see a jumper to maintain that continuity or another bond established elsewhere. So, should a jumper be installed around the boiler to maintain the bond?

[@timp.9582]

Great video, clean handsome work.

[@aihf3063]

A work of beauty. You must the owner of the company. Your workmanship is amazing. Can I ask you a question. Where do you get your stickers

[@matthewpingitore]

Great job !!

[@xcmskim4]

James, it seems that you've been watching Mikey Pipes. He agrees that the NFC (fire tube models) are robust and leak free. Water tube heat exchangers in general are problematic; they cannot be sealed 100% due to high temperature and high pressure operation. I personally believe Navien water tube heat exchanger have a design defect. They are an excellent company and I too really like their products. As Mikey Pipes would say, the final install came out TITS! Literally, your installs are excellent.

[@canuckmechanical6490]

Great way to put it

[@johnzournatzis3002]

A masterpiece in my eyes.i would have done different the placement of the expansion tank in the return line to protect its lifetime.and i would have insulation over the pipes otherwise its a masterpiece of craftsmanship congratulations i add it in favourites

[@jorgegaleano6573]

Amazing passion sr.

[@timstriff9870]

Does anyone else think he sounds like Dan Aykroid ? Sweet work indeed !

[@ChuckKarl525]

Fantastic work! Please compare the NFC vs the NCB. I have a new NCB hanging in my basement and currently soldering pipes. Is the NCB a lesser boiler in terms of longevity or quality? Thank you for you videos, you are truly an artist.

[@canuckmechanical6490]

The NCB is a water tube boiler vs a NFC which is a fire tube boiler ….the water tube has more restrictive passages in the heat exchanger which in no ideal in old or dirty systems ….put simply firetubes are superior

[@ChuckKarl525]

@Canuck Mechanical thank you for the education. I am upgrading from oil but will be installing a new staple up system plus existing fintube with a separate circulator. I will be flushing my existing system before connecting to the new boiler. Hopefully, this is the correct approach for this installation.

[@raganriley]

When all the zone two pumps are closed how does the boiler know to not keep running the primary loop? How does the boiler and boiler pump know when to run?

[@PJ-vp4xd]

fantastic design and execution... who makes the isolator flange with port for the pressure gauge? The ones I can find only have purge ports

[@canuckmechanical6490]

Calefacto

[@AndrewNelson-w4o]

Each of your 8 retrofit videos has been incredible. Wish you were in Washington State in the U.S. so I could hire you. My 30 year old cast iron oil burning boiler needs to be replaced, but I have propane available. Is there any reason not to replace my oil boiler and indirect domestic hot water heater with an NFC combination unit?

[@canuckmechanical6490]

Nope …as long as you got good water chemistry ….on propane is fine :)

[@AndrewNelson-w4o]

@@canuckmechanical6490 Thanks. Propane is about $1.40 per gallon cheaper than heating oil in my area. The NFC combi unit install quote I have is about $10,000 more than a new oil boiler install. Can I make up the difference with the higher efficiency of the NFC combi unit and cheaper propane cost?

[@josephthorne848]

For that Nav combi, if there was a domestic hot recirc line, what pump should you use? Would a grundfos comfort pump work?

[@pitaeata8493]

great install. I'm surprised you're allowed to use loomex in exposed area; maybe upgrade to bx (armoured cable) next install.

[@karimkalache712]

Hi, i jave a question. Do you raye these units for reliability? Reason i ask is that i had this same unit installed in my house and less than 9 months later have two issues with it. The first is a 351-00 error code that the company thay installed it always tries to brush aside when i bring it up. The second more annoying pressing issue is a LOUD and frequent whining noise coming from thr bottom left of the unit. This i was told is a inducer motor and they have ordered it to he replaced under warranty. But i dont know why/hiw something fails so quick on a unit that is supposed to be suitable for commercial purposes. Know im just not sure about the quality of the brand and product as a whole, was hoping to get 20+ years out of this boiler. I honestly doubt that will be the case. See my video for a clip of the noise it is currently making.

[@hituw2x4]

Beautiful job! What are those pipe clamps you're using, not the split rings?

[@canuckmechanical6490]

Pipe stays

[@iHecToor_]

I have a quick question, how or where do connect a nest thermostat 😅

[@canuckmechanical6490]

U can put them on each zone but a little expensive for doing that for zoning

[@GlenS123]

Another awesome install. Brass unions far superior over dialectric unions, the gaskets is not serviceable or replaceable. They also tend to leak overtime, yet cost the same. Just my 2 cents...

[@darrenthibault7396]

Wondering if the internal pump comes on when any of the other 7 pumps comes on

[@canuckmechanical6490]

Yes it comes on when there is a call for heat from the taco switching relay

[@TechchnologyGuru]

What model is the circulator flange with shutoff and ports?

[@canuckmechanical6490]

@@TechchnologyGuru calefacto

[@zbess1]

Which thermostat do you suggest with the Navien NFC 200h?

[@canuckmechanical6490]

I use the Honeywell T1 pro

[@ComfortTechMT]

Why did you choose to use circulator pumps instead of zone valves?

[@canuckmechanical6490]

If one pump zone fails then that zone has no heat but if you use zone valves and single secondary circulator and that fails then all zones have no heat

[@keyzielock9970]

Only detail I didn't like was the gas shut off that didn't look like it was full port. Still much better than CSST. Everything else is on point 👌

[@tylero8595]

Looks great. Why don't you use propress? It has made our jobs quick and clean every time. Looks great though. Are you insulating?

[@canuckmechanical6490]

Cuase one mistake I have to start over …with propress I can’t fix and undo a joint soldering however is very user friendly and I can alternate it ….plus I don’t want all my joints to depend on a o-ring …..dont get me wrong pro press has great benefits just not my cup or tea for hydronics ….and lastly I find things like propress, pex and tracpipe, make jobs easier and faster jobs but leads to an overall lack of craftsman ship skills and poor quality of work for younger generations …just my thoughts

[@tylero8595]

@@canuckmechanical6490 Makes sense. I saw some of your other vids. You used the Taco control module on this job. On your others you used Tekmar. Why did you switch? I have only used Tekmar. Let me know. Cheers.

[@canuckmechanical6490]

@@tylero8595 if you don’t try different brands u will never know if there is anything better out there :)

[@abacojack13]

what size copper was used in this build, for the manifolds and to supply each pump?

[@canuckmechanical6490]

1” for main piping 3/4” for the zones

[@HPL5P]

Anyone in Edmonton Alberta watching that does high quality installs like this?

[@RobertKiss-xc1jv]

E R plumbing and heating in Calgary does. For a boiler install they might be willing to go to Edmonton sine its not that far.

[@svenhodaka9145]

@@RobertKiss-xc1jvThanks, I’m in the Calgary area, I’ll check them out.👍

[@scottwidrick1835]

quality!!

[@ms82xp]

Nice clean install. Btw, Taco is pronounced TAY-koh, not TAH-koh.. 😉

[@karimkalache712]

I thought the unit would be 'overkill' for my 2200 sq ft home

[@n121pp67]

The leaves are quite sharp! Did you say it’s made of sheet metal? 🙄 slicing hazard! Home owner will rip that maple leaf out in 2 minutes after the first cut.

[@canuckmechanical6490]

Yap that’s why it is not in a high traffic area :)

[@braideng8069]

Get a different kind of condensate neutralizer

[@commonsense9809]

Going crazy with oversized zone pumps, not necessary for overly expensive and maintenance required systems. Wiping customers like there’s no end. I work on sky scrapers in NYC and a single pump does over 20 stories and over 1000 zones control valves. Poor customers don’t know any better, this is the problem when end users needs a heating system and they rely on a local plumbing company. Thumbs down 👎

[@sudeshramdhanie6216]

Obviously you know NOTHING about pride in workmanship, this is not a 20 story building.