Before and After- 1913 Gravity System Re-Pipe

Brad White

Mikey asked me to post some pictures of my heating system re-work. My Susan and I bought this 1913 American 4-square last summer, finally consolidating our respective pre-marital homes into one.



Naturally, this was a cause for celebration in the form of not being satisfied with the heating system and setting about to re-work it. :)



The boiler is a 1990's W-M Gold Series at 100 MBH input. Attached were (3) 007's to very low head-loss zones, (2) baseboard and (1) gravity iron circuits. Given the low head losses and measured temperature rises, the boiler had over 42 gpm water flow through it when all zones were calling.  It took 45 minutes to get nearly any appreciable heat to the house when fired. Could not have been a good thing. Further, the 80 gallon system volume was served by a single #30 expansion tank. The basement was auspiciously dry when we closed in late July and I wondered about the dehumidifier. When the system did get to temperature, thar she blows! Need more tank.



The largest piping is 3" and splits into 2.5" and 2". It had been converted years ago I am sure. This boiler was probably the third one, my guess. Last one was oil-fired.





The budget did not permit a change-out to a mod-con, so I set about re-working the system as will be posted. Here are "before shots".

Brad White

In Progress

I had the absolute delight to treat myself in both speaking with and doing business with Lee Brooks of EarthLee. I sent her a sketch and she and her family fabricated a stunning U-shaped P/S header exactly as I sketched it. I had a different vision when I started, of mounting this on a wall. But to save the additional expense of re-piping the DHW heater and a decision to use that wall space for my new shop, I elected to install the header on a Unistrut stand closer to the boiler.  My regret is that the EarthLee header is not more visible in the final installation!

Brad White

More Progress

My final setup includes four zones plus provisions for future zones, part of my experimental nature. The core of this system is the gravity HW zone (40 MBH capacity), powered by a Wilo Stratos-Eco at a very low RPM. A Taco i-Valve performs ODR control on the zone and a Taco PC-700 works boiler ODR but to a narrow band. I only need 160F boiler water on the coldest day and my supply minimum is 140F to protect the boiler.



The boiler loop also has a Wilo Stratos-Eco, 8 gpm also at very low head. A Taco 4900 Pall Ring air separator is upstream.

Brad White

Near Completion

Well, the system is complete now, this is just where the photos were when taken. Not perfect I fully admit but satisfactory for our uses.  I particularly like using refrigerant grade fittings. The Master Bedroom suite in the attic also has an i-Valve.



The gravity zone which does the first and second floors, eventually will have TRV's installed on what are original Gurney radiators. Orifice plates were probably once installed because the first floor radiators get significantly less flow. TRV's on the second floor (which over-heats), will be the first step, this summer's project.



Part of my re-work involved re-supporting the big iron with clevis hangers, leaving room for insulation. Only the copper near-boiler piping was supporting that weight for the first 10 or so feet.



New expansion tanks were tucked up out of the way.

tim smith

re pipe up etc

Nice looking work Brad but I think the engineers spec called for balancing  valves with test ports on all zones!!!!  Ps, that video was the funniest Eh?

MikeyB

Gravity System

Great work Brad, nice and neat, love the headers, looks like your enjoying yourself with your project, thanks again for always sharing....

Paul Rohrs_14

Experimental Nature

Nice looking work Brad.   Tell us more about your experimental nature?  Cold fusion? Cats and Dogs living together?  Recent trips to Abbottabad?



Next on Geraldo.....

Best,

Paul

GreggShadduck

Thanks for sharing -- 12d and handled valves

Thanks for sharing, Brad.  I wish I could touch your assembly.  (No! I didn't mean that, er...)  Time for a bigger monitor, so I can see better.



Two questions, please:



Is one function of the creative (sinusoid?  sigmoid?) piping to introduce 10-12 pipe diameters of clean, straight run before, e.g. circs, air separators, check valves... and, anything else?



Are the handled valves -- so traditional looking -- evidence of globe valves, to introduce resistance as needed?



Thanks!

Robert O'Brien

Nice Work!

Don't you miss the Vitodens?

Brad White

Missing the Vitodens

Hi Robert!

You bet I miss it.  Still, I figured if I had this W-M boiler even at 82% I could make it better than the prior owner had it (with too much flow). By taming the boiler circuit and letting each zone play independently must have made a difference. The data is not in yet though and we only had a years worth of gas usage before we bought it. Work to do!

Brad White

Sigmoid Freud and my Assembly

Walked right into that one, Gregg! 

Good eye and good question. That piping was for thermal trapping recommended for the Taco iValves to reduce gravity ghost flow. The main CI zone circulator (the Wilo on the rack), runs constantly based on ODT so there is no real opportunity to test the theory.



The iValve rules that roost. When the other zones call (infrequently), this allows boiler water to be available for the main zone by default so nothing is wasted. The main house zone forms a nice baseline of heat for our schedule. Quite comfortable overall but still have to work on balance.



The downstairs is cool and I suspect the covers on the first floor coupled with missing orifice plates on the second, are contributory. Part of the next project!



The blue handled valve, that is a Macon balancing valve, half-inch, as a manual mixing bypass for what will be a radiant kitchen zone. All in progress. (Kitchen has only one piece of baseboard which was off of the cast iron zone so got bupkes for flow and heat. Now it is on its own zone. Overkill for sure!)



Thanks for checking in!

Brad White

Putting the Mental into Experi Mental.

Hey Paul- leave it to you, my friend. Thanks for the compliments and encouragement. My next boiler will be a Knight, but that is maybe a few years away at least. I want to keep going on air sealing and insulating what was missed over the years. Getting there!



My experimental nature left all kinds of ports and circulator-ready flanges I had kicking around. One may go to the side-stream filter, another to an on and off line buffer tank. (I have the tank.)  I insulated the basement walls in my shop (where the boiler is) so I no longer need heat down there so have yet another spare... I need a real hobby, no?



Hope you and yours are well, Paul!

Thanks



Brad

Brad White

Mikey

Thank YOU for the nudge. Not my best work, it was done on the fly, but I all the more appreciate every one of you that does this for a living and tries to make a profit at it. This was a labor of love done in November. It always works out that way!



Thanks goes also to Lee Brooks and her family at EarthLee. If you are doing a project that demands something nice and specific, I suggest you treat yourself. Worth it and good value.