Best Of
Re: HVAC in New Construction in 2024
I took a quick look at the DOE study. Almost all the units were undersized (HP bellow Man J):
No $%& efficiency is going to suck when you need to run aux heat.
Around me code requires the heat pump to meet design load without Aux heat for new build, seasonal efficiency will be much higher.
Kaos
Re: 1-way Steam radiator leaking
Actually I always try it. I have been surprised several times. 1 1/4" spud unscrewed out of 70 year old steel coupling. Sometimes smaller spuds will unscrew....1/2 to 1".
If not then the cut chip method.
JUGHNE
Re: AO Smith Gas Water Heater Warranty Replacement
or make them fix it for free. that didn't happen by itself, that has existed since it was installed.
mattmia2
Re: Looking for advice on sizing 2 pipe baseboard
I find that making a system over complicated never ends up realizing the benefits you were hoping for. There are things to consider when you have to commission the system, and perform service from time to time.
- How do you get the air out of the loops?
- The more loops the more steps you have to do to get the air out.
- Piping the double row of ¾” piping piped parallel means that you have to have some sort of valve at each radiator to divert the flow from one pipe to the other pipe in order to purge.
- How to pipe the series loop to get the correct size in each room?
- If you have each room isolated then each radiator will have a lower temperature as you move down to the last radiator on the loop.
- If you have all the tops connected together then loop the last one to the lower pipe and series them all the way back to the beginning, then you will have a consistent temperature in the entire loop.
Then each purge station at the boiler room would be easy to purge using this trick I learned from a Class that Dan Holohan taught and that I included in the classes that I taught.
In this illustration there are there loops, (that could be 3 zones or just one zone)
1. To purge each loop of air, you just close the full port valve on the common (to all loops) supply pipe.
2. Place a garden hose on the Purge drain valve
3. Close the three isolation valves on the return near the boiler.
4. Lift (or bypass) the fast fill on the feed valve to build up boiler pressure. No need to worry about the boiler relief valve here because the boiler is isolated from the full bypassed potable water pressure.
5. Open the purge drain valve.
6. Open one of the three isolation valves on the return and watch the air purge right thru the boiler (or on a primary secondary system, it may not need to go thru the boiler)
7 Close the return isolation valve and build up pressure then repeat #6 above on another loop, repeat until all zones are purged.
8. Place the auto feed fast fill back to the auto position (or close the bypass on the fill pipe) and then close the Purge Drain valve.
9. Open the three isolation valves on the return pipe and the full port valve on the supply pipe.
Now you are ready to fire the boiler with no air problems on the water side of the closed system.
Re: Circulator or pump?
A circulator is a specific type of pump designed for use in closed-loop systems, primarily for moving fluids like water in hydronic heating, cooling, or hot water recirculation systems. While technically a pump, a circulator is specialized for low-pressure, high-flow applications where the primary goal is to maintain continuous fluid movement rather than to lift fluid against gravity or generate high pressure. Unlike general-purpose pumps that may need to overcome significant static head (elevation changes), circulators operate within a pressurized system where the fluid is already at the required elevation, so they only need to overcome friction losses in the piping. this means that you already have Taco circulator pumps that circulate water in a closed system. All circulators are pumps, however, not all pumps are circulators. here are some pumps that do not circulate and can develop much higher pressure than a circulator:
As far as changing an existing circulator pump on your system, you are often better off replacing like for like as @GGross mentioned unless someone specified an incorrect circulator pump for your needs. This does not seem to be the case here. I have often found that you can purchase a new circulator pump of the same model number, and just replace the motor housing and impeller cartridge without needing to take the pump casing off of the connected piping. This saves time and labor hours.
Re: Circulator or pump?
it's typically easiest to replace like for like, taco has replaceable internals that can be cheaper than a whole new pump, either way worst case if you change the whole motor with like for like you just take the old motor off the volute and replace, no need to swap the body unless its leaking. I think most would probably agree for residential circs Taco, Grundfos, Wilo are typically considered in the same realm as being good products. Taco and Grundfos are definitely the most common in my area, can pretty much guarantee local wholesalers all have the 2-3 common models on the shelf. I like Wilo as well they just aren't stocked in my area.
GGross
Re: Ever use an off brand press tool?
We've been selling uponor in northern michigan basically since they had a rep here. I've seen 2 "failures" the first installer didn't mind the min pipe distance to fittings and stuck the expander in the 90 that was already installed, 2 weeks later several thousand gallons dumps into a ladies apartment at a senior living facility (she was super nice, even baked us cookies since she knew we were coming to look at it) the second one was a mystery when we looked in the field. we sent the pipe back to uponor and they cut it open and kind of laid it out flat, you could see the grooves from the expander head were only in one cross pattern, we investigated the customers tool and sure enough the thing did not rotate itself! it was plain as day to see when they cut open the pex
GGross
Re: Boiler plumbing questions
here is the common way to use a hx for dhw
A small flow switch on the cold feed turn on the pump or zone valve
Sika and Harwill are two brands I have used. Trigger point at .35 gpm flow
Of course the boiler will need to be maintained hot all the time. With a solid fuel boiler you cannot wait 20-30 minutes to fire it
You can generate 120f hot water with boiler temperatures around 140f. Even lower if you up size the hx
Generally a small electric tank is used in summer months i had solar thermal heating that 500 gallon tank so 90% of the year wood or solar worked
hot_rod
Re: Boiler plumbing questions
So I can be clear in my understanding of what @Forge _Fixer88 is attempting to do here. There is a log cabin with some additions that may not be logs but possibly uninsulated frame walls (or possibly uninsulated log walls. I have seen both). There is no heating system at all yet, but there is electricity available. Fixer wants to use repurposed cast iron radiators with TRVs to control the heat in the rooms. There will be no other fossil fuel or electric boiler system, Only the solid fuel boiler. And he is starting from scratch. Does that about sum it up?
My thoughts on this:
In the later 1800s and early 1900s this is what we did as an industry. We took homes without heating systems and installed them using solid fuel boilers and cast iron radiators with no other existing heaters or systems in place.
All the literature on solid fuel boilers is written to install them next to the existing boiler as an alternative heat source, not the primary heat source.
Fixer needs to look at the installation instructions that the Dead Men used (all the plumbers and pipe fitters before us) to install those old boilers and design the heating system according to those manuals that you might find in the here.
There were no TRVs back then, there were no circulators back then, they were not designed using a buffer tank, there was a wife that kept the home fires burning just right while the husband was out working the fields or earning a living or bringing home the bacon so to speak. Once you use @leonz's idea and learn to stoke the fire properly, you will then know how to keep from overheating and under-firing based on the weather of the day. Wouldn’t it be great to find some great-grandmom’s daily diary of how she fed the coal boiler? Times, temperatures, pressure, amount of coal and damper settings
But that would only work on that home, your home will need its own diary.
Regarding the DHW heat exchanger, That would be nice to have for winter use of hot water, but how do you heat the DHW in the summer when you don't need the heat? You are going to need something to heat water in the summer. Back in the 1800s indoor plumbing was not in everyones home and the cooking stove would be the place you got your summer hot water from.
Just some random thoughts.
Re: Boiler plumbing questions
The worse condition to run a solid fueled boiler is short cycle conditions. These are inevitable unless you have a full load always on the boiler. Their sales slick cautions against that. Any idea what your heat load is for the home?
Usually a manufacturer will show some piping options in he manual??
https://www.energyking.com/manual/energyking-furnace-user-manual.pdf
I had a similar boiler that I heated with. I started with a 160, then 300 and ended up with a 500 gallon buffer tank, an old repurposed LP tank.
Only then was it completely manageable.
Dry wood is a must, no green wood or garbage.
Some piping ideas here.
hot_rod