Not enough heat from a SYSTEM 2000

teablender

Update from Tea Blender: Installation technicians were here Monday afternoon, Feb 19th, to make the changes to our System 2000 heating system. I believe they accomplished everything they were planning: replacement of the circulator, replacement of the air scoop with a Webstone air separator, and addition of a cleaning chemical to the system and then flushing it. The solution they added produced very dirty water and a substance that looked like mud. The technicians weren't sure what that stuff was or where it came from. We have town water here and have never had a problem with staining or contaminants. The water coming out of the system is clear now.
The results so far:
1. The “jet engine” noise is gone. What a difference. Thank you! The technicians heard a high pitch sound coming from the circulator and thought it was probably the source. I'm not sure since the sound only started shortly after the burner started up and stopped when the burner turned off, The circulator was, of course, running all the time. Anyway, it's gone but see 3 below.
2. Because it’s so warm out, I can’t check if there’s an improvement in the heating performance yet. I’ll let you know about that after more cold weather.
3. There is once again a very loud "bubbling/gurgling" coming from the boiler itself which as of today, five days later, has not decreased any at all. There is no noise coming from the heat registers in the house, only from what sounds like the boiler itself.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to what is causing this? If it's air, why isn't the system eliminating it? I will give it until Monday (one week) and will call the installation company again. I have someone coming next week who has a System 2000 installed in his home and we are going to compare experiences. His system works fine. I want the same for mine.

the_donut

I imagine that sludge was in your old circulator and restricting flow.

Roger

Thank you for your post, teablender.
I’m glad specific items were addressed, and that your boiler is much quieter and the “mud” was cleaned from your system.
I still think your best path to an expedient solution for your site specific issues is to continue to work with the heating professionals already involved and our territory manager. I’ll let them know about your post and concerns.
Best,
Roger

Jersey2

I was thinking of getting an Energy Kinetics boiler and read that getting parts might be problematic which may or may not be true. Would you recommend a EK System 2000?

SuperTech

<blockquote class="Quote" rel="Jersey2">I was thinking of getting an Energy Kinetics boiler and read that getting parts might be problematic which may or may not be true. Would you recommend a EK System 2000? </blockquote>

The only proprietary parts that may fail prematurely for whatever reason are the energy manager and it's sensor, both can be easily bypassed by installing the dummy board that is usually supplied with the boiler. I haven't had to replace either of those components for a couple of years now and I service a bunch of EK boilers.

They make a fine boiler, I always recommend them without hesitation.

JoeHNJ

Thank you for your question, @jersey2 , and for all the positive comments!

Nearly all component parts are available through wholesale distribution, and heating professionals can order all parts factory direct at (800) 323-2066. You can see more information here:
https://energykinetics.com/system2000-parts-trade-list-price/

Nearly all systems can run without those parts for emergency heat by moving a few wires.

We have a deep inventory of parts, supporting all of our heating systems dating back to when we were founded in 1979.

GBart

MY GOD THIS IS A CRAZY THREAD


First off if a System 2000 is not going over 160 on a call for heat THE HIGH LIMIT IS SET TOO LOW, IT'S THE GREY BOX ON THE BACK OF THE BOILER NEXT TO THE CIRCULATOR, IT SHOULD HAVE A DECAL ON IT THAT SAYS SOMETHING 205=215


TAAA DAAA

GBart

netsurfer said:

The red LED bars never get to 160 F 120 to 140 is about max and the furnace runs almost continually. It go to a balmy 27 F outside today and the house did get to 69...bearable. The Control Manager is not blinking any codes. As long as it stays 25 +F outside it seems to be able to keep up. My oil co knew what ws there before they installed the System 2000. I am not home till April but my son is at the house. I do not know what size boiler they installed but theyare a huge regional company on the east coast. They stopped installing these systems due to parts availability. Am tempted to replace it with a cast iron wet base Weil McLain.

The red LED bars never get to 160 F 120 to 140 is about max and the furnace runs almost continually. The red LED bars never get to 160 F 120 to 140 is about max and the furnace runs almost continually.

Seems to run continuously, but not the burner, now it could be something else BUT why didn't anyone point this out??

If that isn't it ( simple things first) we have to wonder if this boiler was sized correctly, if it was piped correctly which it seems to have been.

Heat load calc next, size up the baseboard, etc

heatingnewbie

@Jersey2 I can't give you feedback on performance of an EK System 2000 yet because it is being installed in the basement below me right now, but I can provide you some feedback on my experience so far.

First, I was hesitant to get an EK boiler because of the question you are asking. I posted something to that effect on this site and received a response from the president of EK (@Roger). To make a long story short, their sales department reached out to me separately from a web inquiry I made, I discussed my concerns and all of the answers seemed legit. The regional rep for EK has been to my house with the installer for the initial quote, and came by today to see how the install is going.

The technician at my house right now (a sub-contractor, which is important because I don't think he has any skin in the game to rave about the system) said his last company used to do a lot of System 2000 installs (he's done over 100). He mentioned that he has only had one major warranty issue with EK, and EK covered it despite being 6 years after the install when the customer hadn't done proper maintenance.

As @SuperTech said, the parts are all standard with the exception of the system manager. That can be bypassed so the system will run if there is an issue with it. Worst case, the system is bypassed and EK overnights a part to your servicer.

I am hoping my experience with the system will be as good as the pre-install experience. Either way, I am very confident that EK has amazing customer service and will be there if I ever have an issue.

Jersey2

Okay thanks guys. @heatingnewbie is the install complete? May I ask how much it cost? I most likely will get an EK unit. Am waiting for the weather to warm up before contacting them.

HVACNUT

Theres no price discussions on this site but an EK boiler is a good choice. And so must be the installer.

Jersey2

@heatingnewbie how do you like your system?

Jersey2

Where did heatingnewbie go?