Question for Dana Z.

Ingvar

Thank you Dana, for responding to my earlier question. You mentioned adding mass to the system with a buffer tank.
How exactly is a buffer tank set up in a one circulator four zone system?

Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

Sorry for intruding,

but John Siegenthaler has written an excellent article on the use of a buffer tank; you can read his article at:

http://www.pmmag.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,2379,78589,00.html

The system he describes uses a specific kind of buffer tank; it's actually an indirect water heater, but one that uses the coil for domestic hot water and the tank for boiler water instead of visa versa.





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Dana Zaichkin

Thanks Alan!

Ingvar,
Please refer to the article that Alan referred to. It is good, albeit depicting a fairly intricate system. I 've developed a pretty strong understanding of the concepts, but there are folks on the "Wall" that have much more "real" experience and they deserve the credit for the ideas. I think Hotrod has worked with adding system mass quite a bit. You may need to repipe and add a primary loop circulator, depending on how your system is set up now. What you describe suggests a possible scenerio for short-cycling - maybe only one of the four zones calling for heat at a time and then achieving the target temp with a short burn. Maybe some of the other folks have recommendations for how zones might be controlled to address your concern.

Best Regards

Dana Zaichkin

( A homeowner and weekend radiant wannabe)