Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - Basic Operations Type Question

Hi!
I live in Southern New England where the temp is currently 29 expected to hit 45 today - I don't have a problem, just need to understand the system better.

I have a propane fired Trianco DBC 100 furnace - radiant heat (which I love) in a 50 year old house. I don't understand about the pressure in the system. After the furnace had been running for about 4 hours this morning, it shut off and I checked to see what the water temp and pressure were (no reason, mostly curiosity and I'm OCD). Temp was about 175 and pressure was about 40. I seem to remember some professional telling me the pressure should be between 10 and 20, but is that when the system is idle or when it's circulating? And if the pressure is too hight, how do I remedy that? Unfortunately, a manual didn't come with the house when I purchased it 3 years ago, but I probably wouldn't comprehend it anyway!

Thanks for any insight you can give.

Duchess

Somewhere on your boiler there is a safety relief valve. It opens at 30 psi. You are either reading the wrong scale on the pressure gauge or it is inaccurate. It is highly improbable for your pressure to be over 30 psi. Look closely at the gauge again and you will notice that you may be reading the total vertical height that water would be lifted. That scale is there so one can know what pressure would be needed for different applications. For example, a one story house would only need enough pressure to lift the water about 6 feet if the boiler was in the basement. A 2 story house needs enough pressure to reach about 15 feet. There is another scale on the gauge calibrated in psi. Read that one and you will see that you are in range. Don't worry too much about it unless it starts acting up. Just have maintenance performed annually and your boiler will last longer and run better.

Ken