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Re: Observations on my old, rotted out wet return.
I noticed that most of the best professionals were using copper, so I decided to follow their example, and now that I've seen the difference it makes, I'm a convert. To be clear: the underwater portion of the return is the only place where copper should be used.
Re: Packing Heat
How cold does it get in the summer where you are?
The key to heat flow is temperature difference. To cool the crawl space down to 60F it would have to be even colder outside. If that's the norm for summer weather where you are it would seem that just opening the windows in the evening and closing them in the morning would keep the house cool.
Re: Packing Heat
@BTUser Don't take my word for it, I'm just a random dude on the internet.
You have to sit down and do the same math @DCContrarian did, figure out building loads, size solar collector/storage and heating system. I doubt you will come to a different conclusion once you look at BOM cost, never mind installed costs.
There is simply no way around the fact the PV is cheap and electricity is much more useful. It is actually cheaper to use a PV array to run a resistance element directly to heat water than a solar thermal collector.
Kaos
Re: Balancing
The motor falling off the zone valve may have something to do with this…
Re: System 2000, nearly double the cost of Weil McLain, is it worth it?
@riny Very good. Any fuel receipts from this winter post HPWH?
My concern is that between insulation and DHW you'll be in the 800G a year range. That won't pay for an EK. Not saying you shouldn't get one (it's your money, they seem great and Roger is responsive) but that contractor is lying to your face on the investment side. There's a lot of ways to bet on the future price of oil and the future weather which is what effectively is happening, this just isn't a good one.
Re: System 2000, nearly double the cost of Weil McLain, is it worth it?
@riny said: "The boiler couldn't make enough heat to cover both the DHW demand and the radiators at the same time, so we were getting cold showers whenever there was a zone running."
That was not the fault of the boiler or the coil. That happens when the wrong control logic is implemented. The proper control logic is to have the central heat circulator stop running whenever the boiler temperature falls below the minimum temperature to sustain DHW demand. The plumber that disconnected the storage tank did not understand the control wiring logic for the system you have (had) so you found fault with the oil boiler incorrectly. The fault was with the person who wired the controls incorrectly.
Of course the professional would not admit to this due to not knowing what they don't know, or perhaps wanting to provide a reason for selling a new appliance to fix the problem they created. I can't count on all my fingers and toes the number of incorrectly wired circulators on tankless coil boilers that I have rewired to solve the "Cold Shower" problem with the addition of just 2 wires to existing controls.
Caused many a plumber from selling a new electric water heater over my career.
Re: Packing Heat
Hi, I'll add that I went a few rounds with Martin Holladay on this and ultimately, it depends on the assumptions you make going in. I have been able to greatly reduce the cost, complexity and labor involved to build solar thermal DHW. I'll add that there is no one-size-fits-all. My system works in a temperate climate. Martin had a hard time accepting the measured data I gave him, so continues to believe solar thermal is dead. I'm seeing it give a rate of return around 25%, with a life expectancy of at least twenty years. Blanket statements only keep some people warm.
Yours, Larry
Re: Observations on my old, rotted out wet return.
You're missing the whole advantage of copper: it doesn't rust. Since I replaced the black pipe with copper, my boiler stays much cleaner. I never realized how much rust was forming in the wet return before I installed sight glasses on the drips and could see that it's perfectly clear, clean water before it gets into the wet return. With copper, it stays that way and my boiler water stays clean all winter.
Re: Observations on my old, rotted out wet return.
Copper is fine below the water line simply because there's no negative for it there, and there is a good reason to use it, its corrosion-resistance.
The dead men were just men
Re: Observations on my old, rotted out wet return.
What's your speculation. Was the pipe rotting from the inside out or from the outside? I have seen both. Bet you have too.
Intplm.