Best Of
Re: Can this install be salvaged?
Why do so many seem to recommend thermostatic mixing valves? I despise them. If the boiler is operating on outdoor reset all you need is a proportional mixing setup to mix in a portion of the water that is returning from the zone. I have done it on many systems. For consistent operation each zone needs its own close tees and bypass valve so that there are no pressure differences that could affect flows depending on how many other circs are running. Doing it proportionally will allow you to still have an outdoor reset temperature instead of a flat temp. Will try to post a drawing.
JMWHVAC
Re: Help running new zone and adding to other
Depending on how much repiping you want to do. A single 1" purge ball valve like shown and you could eliminate the individual purge valves, leave the ball valves in place to isolate the various loops for purging.
Or just use a 3/4 Webstone where you add the new zone. The cost of these makes it a no brainer instead of a multi valve multi fitting assembly.
Yes just refill to leak test. Doing an air test first complicates the procedure. If you have a leak it will be right in front of you.
Webstone has sweat, thread and press options.
you go the press route, sand the pipe, remove the burr, it is very rare to have a leak.
Assuming you press all the fittings :)
hot_rod
Re: K-Flex Titan
"It might he a long shot, but would you happen to know the part number for the High Temp epdm version"
I've tried to find this out before without any luck. The people who install solar hot water systems should know since it's the insulation type they use for the line sets.
Waher
Re: Preferred location for air separator and expansion/compression tank in primary / secondary systems
I would use a good air sep at the boiler, the vent pipes up to the tank fitting
The Caleffi Discal has an npt adapter fitting for remote venting the discharge air
hot_rod
Re: Preferred location for air separator and expansion/compression tank in primary / secondary systems
If using a conventional tank, you can only have one air separator. If you install a second one, The air from the tank will gradually be reabsorbed into the water and the second separator will vent it to the atmosphere. You will eventually lose the air charge in the tank, and start popping the pressure relief valve. WE've seen this problem numerous times, along with its cousin….people keep bleeding air from radiators ( which make great air separators) and the conventional tank loses it air cushion. Air tends to end up in the radiators because the air separator is missing or poorly located.
Re: Favorite multimeter?
I use MCM Electronics house branded "Tenma" meters for everyday things but I don't know if they are still around now that they got acquired by Newark. I have some bench Flukes that i pull out if i don't believe the cheap meter but that doesn't happen very often. What I do highly recommend is spend the money for a good set of long silicone leads. FLuke is the standard but a bit pricy for something that will get dropped and stepped on and connected to something while set incorrectly and such so I reserve the expensive meter for special situations, you only need something close for most HVAC things.
mattmia2
Re: Replacing Old Tekmar Controls
Please edit to remove pricing, discussing pricing of services is not allowed.
I would start by troubleshooting to figure out if the problem is the sensor, the control, or more likely a connection between the sensor and the control.
If the control is bad you could contact Tekmar about a replacement or repair, certainly the controls could be all replaced with a current version. Since this sounds like a complex system, installing and configuring it is likely to take a fair bit of time so it will not be inexpensive.
mattmia2
Re: Can this install be salvaged?
I suspect the struggle had to do with the near boiler piping rather than the size of the boiler but a heat loss of the building and checking the emitter sizes would be needed to figure out where the problem is, especially if it wasn't making 180 f or so water for the fancoil. A good heat loss would tell you if the fancoil can work with low temp water. If it can't you would have to make a mixed supply for the radiant or possible replace the fancoil with a gas furnace.
mattmia2
Re: pex?
This is PEX. ASTM F876 is the standard for PEX tubing in the US, and CSA B137.5 is the PEX standard for Canada, and both of these can be seen. The rest of the markings are a bit blurry, but it's a Watts manifold. The markings also indicate it's an oxygen barrier PEX tested to DIN 4726. I think the production date is 07/13/04, if I'm reading that correctly. I agree that it looks like 3/8 nominal tubing, which is actually 0.500" OD.
This PPI document explains all of the PEX standards
Crosslinked Polyethylene (PEX) Pipe & Tubing Systems (plasticpipe.org)
Feel free to contact me directly with any PEX (or other plastic pipe) questions. PPI is a non-profit, we don't sell anything. lmacnevin@plasticpipe.org
