Heatway Help

GW

I have a customer asking me questions about Heatway- i missed the Heatway wave back in the day (I did Stadler then Viega)

can anyone tell me if this has O2 barrrier or not? This is the lettering on the black tubing:

"Heatway Radiant Floor Heating and Snowmelt 3/6/97" and is black

Thanks, Gary

hot_rod

Black colored of that vintage it should be the Entran Onix product. It was a multi layer design with an aluminum barrier for O2.

It was sold as a DIN standard tube with less than 0.1 mg O2 per liter/ day.

Lifetime residential and 20 year commercial warranty

kcopp

I have a couple customers w/ Onix in their homes. Had some real issues w/ it at first. Rusted circs, loads of leaks, bad extrol tank, etc.... I ended up flushing it, cleaning w/ Rhomar and then adding 922.
I just went back there this past weekend to replace an HSI. The system looked great after a couple years.

hot_rod

There have been a number of posters here over the years with sludge problems with the barrier rubber tube. There was talk of starting a discussion list for rubber tube owners to get some stable data, compare experiences and find a workable solution.

The ones I worked with have run cleaners, imported DI water, added treatment, and still have lingering problems.

Some insist it is the rubber inside breaking down that forms the sludge. But if the sludge sticks to a magnet it is the ferrous components dissolving. It takes O2 for that to happen, from what I understand.

A recent caller is a professor at a nearby University, he was going to take a sample to a lab on campus for a complete analysis, never heard back. I believe clay is one of the "fillers" used in the formulation of rubber hose, if the hose is degrading that would be a different sludge compared to ferrous metal breaking down.

Pin holes in the expansion tanks are the early warning. I have noticed that some tank manufacturers now have coated "radiant" tanks, a bandaid treating the symptom, not a solution to the problem.

GW

Ok thanks, so the Onyx had some concerns? Kcopp, what is 922? Is that Romar? Can you briefly explain the process you applied (run time, flush time, etc). Thanks

SWEI

hot rod said:

I have noticed that some tank manufacturers now have coated "radiant" tanks, a bandaid treating the symptom, not a solution to the problem.

For old systems with questionable tubing, we need all the band-aids we can get

The cost difference (for an RX-15 or RX-30 versus an EX-15 or EX-30) is under $20, so we've starting using them in new systems -- especially those with little to no other ferrous components.

kcopp

The 922 is a Rhomar product.
Since then I have switched to using Fernox products but Rhomar is a good product.
With that job I had to replace the circulators, mix valves and PRV the expansion tank.
After that I flushed out the entire system w/ water.
I do believe that having the system
next I added a 1/2 gallon of the cleaner and let it circulate for a couple weeks.
(from what I am told now a week is really the longest you should leave the cleaner in. After that the cleaner stops the junk from being in suspension)
I returned and flushed out all the yummies.
I then pumped in the inhibitor...
When I go back I will test the water to see what the condition of it is.
I should get them on a yearly schedule.

I honestly think that w/ all the mod/cons entering the market that water quality is going to become a real issue.