Removing DHW coil from the old oil burner

[MrEd]

HI again. I am really ramping up my install so I am going to have a lot of nit-picking questions over the next few weeks - hope no one minds too much!

My oil burner has a coil in it to heat DHW. I will be installing a superstor with its own zone valve soon. SUperstor seems pretty easy to install as I will be using a zone I no longer need - question is, what is the best way to de-commission the coil in the oil burner. Can I simply cut-off the hot pipe coming out, and the cold water coming in an essentially leave an "empty" coil in the oil burner? Will that cause any problems down the road?

Here is a picture of my old oil burner setup:

 

[Sting]

Just unhook it! Clean back the water lines to a more acceptable location and reconnect as nessasary. I wouldn't cap off the coil in the boiler but if you do, drill a small hole in one plug or cap to balance the pressure. if it begins to leek it will be a small leek out of a small hole - then plug/cap it tight as it is balancing internally then.

 

[seige101]

I know nothing about boilers, but here is an idea that i think would work in theory anyway. Disconnect the aqua stat so that it won't call for hot water, but plumb it in series with your super store tank? That way when the boiler is fired anyways it would preheat the water going into the tank? I am sure someone who knows a lot more than me will chime in, and possibly tell me why my idea won't work if it well won't work.

 

[MrEd]

That actually was my original thought, especially if someone here chimed in and said that its not a good idea to leave in the unused coil...but I like to keep things as simple as possible and there is already so much going on on that old boiler I am looking forward to peeling back the layers to a more simple layout...I also suspect someday I will rip out the entire boiler and replace it with something else, so now would be the time to take out unnecessary loops.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I would just cap or plug both ends of the coil like Sting says. Instead of drilling a hole, I'd leave one of the plugs or caps a tad loose to let any pressure out. If the coil ever springs a leak, you'll have a little dripping that can be fixed by simply cranking down on the loose fitting.

 

[Sting]

I ahhhh assumed ---- that you were still going to use the oil appliance for back up for the load, and you were just abandoning the DHW coil of the oil boiler!

 

[MrEd]

That is what I am doing...adding a Superstor indirect which will fire off a zone, so the zone will heat the superstor - which makes the DHW coil obsolete. Right now my oil burner kicks on every time someone opens a faucet :>(