Energy Kinetics Resolute issues

fjd10595

I am in New York.  I had an 18-year-old conventional Weil McLain gas boiler handling five zones: 1) indirect domestic HW/superstore, 2) large first floor area, 3) small first floor area (two small rooms), 4) large second floor area (bedrooms) and 5) small bathroom/ radiant heat. All of it is baseboard except the radiant. The WM boiler gave me good heat and hot water, circulating water to the zones between 155 – 180F.  The WM boiler was rusted and had pump leaks, so I recently installed the Energy Kinetics Resolute RT.  It runs at higher temperatures; output water is 210F, and return water is 195.   Apparently, hotter water is the best efficiency of this system.  Here are the issues.  First, the house is much dryer.  I have central AC with a humidifier that I run all winter.  Previously, I had good humidity, and I changed the humidifier heating element once per season.  Since I installed the Resolute, the house is very dry, and the heating element fails every 10 days. I can’t get the humidity close to where it was with the old boiler.   I think this is due to the hotter water the Resolute is circulating.  If I turn down the Resolute's water temperature, I think it will fire more often, dropping efficiency. Already the Resolute fires much more often than my old system.  The old boiler kept circulating water at lower temps- this meant less firing.  Second, the house is not as comfortable as it was with the old WM boiler running 180F max water.  The Resolute’s hot water gives me heat that seemingly is less comfortable than the heat I got with my old boiler water running between 155 and 180F.  With the old system, half the time I was heating with relatively cooler water. It turns out that this was very comfortable. Third, when the small zone wants heat, it forces the Resolute to fire and run often, and I get return water from that zone that is hotter than the boiler output water.  Not sure why. With the old system, the small zone probably was satisfied with cooler circulating water (and the boiler didn’t have to fire). Fourth, much of the time we have winter temps of around 45F, and I now realize I will be running 210F water (unless I keep manually adjusting the boiler) when it is relatively warm outside.  That can’t be efficient, and it creates dryness.  I got my first gas bill (Dec-Jan) since installing the Resolute and it’s the highest I’ve ever had (but we had a colder than normal month).  Not sure how any of this can be resolved with the EK system.

NEMatt

Is the burner cutting out on high limit. Aka burner light stays on? I have an EK1 so not the same, but same operational philosophy. I never see water temps that high because the energy manager turns the burner off when the return temp is below that (I want to say about 170ish?). 210 sounds like you're bouncing off the aquastat.

fjd10595

Yes, the burner stops at high limit, Boiler seems to operate in a 15 degree range, output verses return. Output water high limit is set to 210. Just now with zones calling for heat, the output water got to 206 and return water got to 192 at which point burner cut out and circulator kept circulating. I can heat with cooler water by dropping the temp on the output water. It's a dial on the Dualguard. I did that a week ago- turned output down to 190. With that, my output water was 190 and my return water was 175. But, when I did that it seemed that the burner cycled on and off more often and took a lot longer to heat up the rooms.

neilc

you sure the circulator is working?

can you hear the water in the house? air in the system?

let's see the boiler and piping around it, show the circs, everything floor to ceiling, a couple angles,

neilc

are the pipes hot away from the boiler and circ, as they go upstairs?

Robertw

@fjd10595 Yes, your return temperatures do seem to be running at the high limit setting. This can be caused by a bad circulator, lack of circulation. or a bad return sensor. It sure sounds like the manager is running in what we call classic mode, meaning it's by passing the system managers temperature sensing ability and control and just using the high limit control. Are there any error messages on the manager display? This high limit is a safety device and should be used to control the water temperatures. There is definitely another issue here causing your system to run like this.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Changing the boiler will not affect the humidity. The boiler water temp or baseboard temp will not affect humidity. The humidity is determined by the air temp in the space. If you're heating the house to the same temp, you previously did the humidity will not change.

What will change is that this has been a colder than normal winter this year, so the outside air is drier than in other winters. That air infiltration into the house it likely what is causing the drier indoor air.

HVACNUT

If it's new, where is the installer? You haven't mentioned reaching out to them.

You mentioned "turning down the Resolute water temperature…" That control you're referring to is the High Limit. It's not an operating control. Leave it at 215°

If it has the 007e, what color is the status light?

What type humidifier needs a new "heating element" every 10 days?

fjd10595

I thought that, if I am now heating with hotter baseboard water than before, this means dryer air in the house. That seems obvious to me but I guess it isn't. It's an Apriliaire steam humidifier that uses the 80 canister. I can only say that previously the canisters lasted the entire season and since the boiler install they last 10 days. I took this to mean that the humidifier is overworking. Perhaps it is overworking due to the colder winter (so far). The comments are helpful, thank you. I will speak with my installer.

HVACNUT

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1842121#Comment_1842121

I find it hard to believe the steam can is spent after 10 days. Check the humidifier.

What is the humidifier connected to, an air handler, or Fan Pack? If air handler, does the fan come on with a humidity call?

What humidistat? Where is it mounted?

120v or 230v?

Is it definitely making steam?

What color is the light on the circulator?

Robertw

I would be more concerned at this point as to why my heating system was running at such high temperatures. I would look at circulation for starters, what my high limit control was set to and why you felt the need to adjust this control. We have a setting in the manager called smart boost that would increase the outgoing water temperature if the zone calling doesn't reach set point in 25 minutes. Is this feature enabled?

Seems to me the best approach would be fix the heat first then see what it does to humidity levels and address the humidifier issues after.