Munchkin piping

Mark_46

Dave,

I am dealing with a similar issue. I own a Munchkin 80M that is not P/S or Vision 1 controlled. (installer issues, etc) We're working through our differences now.

The fact of the matter is the boiler should be piped P/S as per Heat Transfer's specs. Furthermore, a Munchkin without Vision 1 control doesnt make much sense.

As far as efficiency/heating bill, you have more to gain by adding the V1 control than switching to P/S. But as I said, the P/S is standard install for a boiler of this type. Its all clearly laid out in the install manual.

dave_18

Munchkin Piping

Greetings all,

I have a question/concern that I'm hoping someone out there in wall space can address.

My wife and I moved into a house not too long ago that has hot water radiant heat. This type of heat is new to us as we're used to forced hot air. All the radiators are 2-pipe cast iron. The heat is wonderful and evenly distributed throughout the house. No cold radiators. Toasty warm throughout. What a difference between radiant and hot air!

The boiler is a munchkin 140M that the previous owners installed in 2002. They told us that it works great and is very efficient. It was one of the major selling points of the house. This is our first winter in the house. In my search for info about this boiler I have discovered that our boiler does not have vision 1 control, nor is it piped primary-secondary. Despite this, it seems to work fine.

However, I feel that our heating bills are a bit on the high side even though we keep the thermostat set at 68*.

My question/concern is:
Can the way that our system is piped effect efficiency and more importantly our heating bill? Is it worth finding a reputable contractor to re pipe this P/S ?

thanks

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Hmmm....

Munchkin 140M. Is this a quite large home or are you in an extremely cold climate? Or is this an old home with little or no insulation and lots of leaky windows?

Primary/secondary with mod-cons is certainly recommended and often the only thing recommended in their manuals. That said, primary/secondary is not a true requirement with mod-cons. The main reason for primary/secondary seems to be to ensure that flow volume through the boiler does not go too low.

If you have an unzoned system (single thermostat), you're [probably] OK without primary/secondary. It's multiple zones that can make primary/secondary an utter requirement.

Since you're very pleased with the comfort, I would venture to say that flow is OK.

BUT, you feel that the fuel bills are too high. Some possible culprits:

1) The boiler is extremely oversized, e.g. it was sized via "monkey see, monkey do" and NOT via a heat loss calculation.

2) The operating temperature of the boiler is set too high. If you have the manuals and some reasonable understanding, set the operating temperature lower.

3) You could be comparing between a big, old, leaky house and past experience with a newer and more energy efficient home.

Wayco Wayne_2

To add to that..

A vision control could give you outdoor reset which could give you better efficiency. WW

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Bryan_16

925 control

That Boiler may not have the 925 controller built into it. The older Munchies came with an analog control and were not Vision 1 compatable. If this is the case, you can replace the controller and add the Vision package. Be sure to weigh the cost of the conversion against the fuel savings you expect to get.