Cross hydronic manifolds

Gordy

Anyone try them yet?

They look pretty slick. Wondering about nois, and longevity. Reminds me of how a printer works.

Zman

It looks like a great high tech solution. The question is, what problem is it solving?
Too many moving parts. Too many proprietary parts. What are the chances they can't sell this to the masses and go out of business? Anyone that bought one will end up tearing it out when they need parts...

Harold

I have also looked at them. They seem interesting. I believe they are pretty new on the market. The comments below are from reading there info and some communication with a person at the company. I can be completely wrong. Take it with a grain of salt (well, maybe a shaker).

They do seem to have a novel approach to the control of loops.
There is only one item that actually moves around. There is a double rail the width of the unit. On this rail there is a servo motor driven mechanism that deals with the valves. When their controller is given a change of state command from the heating system, the device on the rails goes to that valve and turns it on or off. My understanding is that the valves contain no "rubber" seals. I think they are ball valves. Not subject to the type of problems with internal failure as some of the existing controls (like what I have now).

A result of the approach means that the valves will be turned on and off sequentially instead of the normal bulk state change in normal manifolds. This has the side effect of possibly reducing thump when there is a call for heat in a number of valves.

Servo motors are very reliable. Very widely used in all kinds of stuff. So you have a processor (I assume; who does not use processors any more) and assorted electronics on a board. Generally speaking solid state controls are also quite reliable.

The units are significantly longer than normal manifolds. I would have a problem with replacing my existing closet mounted manifolds. Using 2 of their manifolds to replace one existing manifold to allow fitting in the closet gets more expensive. Their pricing per additional valves is not bad, but you would have to buy two units. So to get 10 valves it would cost more per valve. Most of their cost is in the basic mechanism. And you are basically paying for that with the smallest unit.

Some comments I have seen:

Makes noise when valve selector operates - my understanding is that that has been resolved.

Mechanism is slow. As I mentioned above, that can actually be a plus.

A user broke off one of the nipples to the Pex - I believe that that has been addressed with a more with an upgrade to the structure of the attachment point.

So, given the reaction to problems, I believe they are a new company. I think bought by someone else. Still getting some bugs out, but appear to be quite responsive to fixing things.

I am still undecided about what I am going to do.

duffy_4

I have used the cross manifolds on quite few jobs in past six months. Like I stated on previous thread they save considerable time with the low voltage wiring when you have multiple zones.they look to be made with high quality nothing cheap or flimsy in the construction.you have variety of piping options of the manifolds.only had one issue so far with an install and after talking to Malcolm and Matt up in Canada they were extremely responsive and helpful in resolving it .in short I’m impressed and pleased with these manifolds .last job was a 6 unit apt where I removed massive original cast iron boiler (50 yr old) installed new Weil McLean boiler and just used the return part of the cross manifold for the 6 individual 3/4 copper returns from each apt (fin tube baseboard). Hopefully they come out with larger size in future.

hot_rod

The folks manufacturing that products have a long history in hydronic manufacturing, I'm pretty sure they will stand behind it.

Like any hydronic "wetted" product, crappy system fluid will be the test.

Be interested to see if it was cycle tested, and with typical hydronic fluid

watercourse

Just installed this cross manifold in conjunction with my old school Weill McLain Gold CGA boiler. For some reason now the boiler is not sending power to the pump. Any ideas?

hot_rod

Is there power at the molex plug for the pump on that control?

duffy_4

Maybe internal boiler relay pump contacts went bad. There's 24 v contacts built into that cross will tie into rib relay to run a pump. I just installed a linear X they mfg. On a job works similar to the cross just more compact that goes on a existing manifold to control the loops.

nosirra1Arrison

Cross Manifolds can use a 24v relay to power your system pump. They have a relay they recommend (part #CR24 crossmanifold.com/accessories/ ). I have seen an Uponor 1 zone switching relay used successfully.
The connection is located on the lower right corner of the cross control board right next to the boiler TT connection. In the picture the system pump connections are empty due to the use of an Alpha2 system pump.