Control recommendation

antman

Could use some advise on a control for 4 space heating zones. Boiler is an existing Weil McLain CGa 7 I'm going to be doing primary/secondary piping and adding an indirect fired water heater with outdoor reset, could use some advice on a Tekmar or similar control that would be ideal for this type of situation. I'm not very familiar with this so could use all the help and suggestions you can give me.

thanks, ant

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Boilerpro

Two very good choices

are the 370 and 371. 370 is a four zone and the more basic model. 371 is 5 zone, and more advanced. I believe both can also control cooling equipment if desired as one of the zones. If you want to upgrade further, use a 362 mixing control tied to a 369 zone control.... all digital, different setback schedules for each zone...the reallly good stuff. Installed the 370 last year , a 371 last week, and have used the 369 in larger light commercial applications. Hope this helps!

Boilerpro

antman

When using these controls is it necessary to replace the TT's with RTU's or will it still work with the T87 thermostats?

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kevin

what are the......

heat zones? Baseboard, radiant,hydrocoil??????? I have had good sucess w/ the Taco zone controls. If you use the EXP relays you can add a PC 700 w/ OD reset and prioritize the Hot water, do a zone purgeand pump exersize. Nice clean, SIMPLE, set up. kpc PS- you can keep the old t-stats.

Boilerpro

Yep, you need RTU's

because they sense indoor temps and adjust the heating curve of the sytem accordingly, so you have indoor feddback due to ch;nages in internal gains (sunlight, larage number of people, cooking etc.) Anything using only themostats cannot sense indoor temps and only operates with outdoor reset, so provided much more limited control and comfort, but a far cry from sstaight on/off control.

Boilepro

antman

I have 4 zones of which 3 are copper baseboard and 1 cast iron. I am going to set up primary/secondary zoning with circulators and flo checks, Installing a Phase III indirect also. I looked into the Tekmar 370 as Boilerpro had suggested and i am leaning towards using this. HO were looking to replace TT's so i'm not sure if there is a big difference in price for the RTU's but would probably install them if you feel it would make a big difference with the use of the 370 control. I am not all familiar with Tekmar controls, I've only installed 1 Wirsbo PRO-MIX 101 and havent even programmed it yet, just installed it last week. Will the HO be able to control room temps with the new RTU's or are they just a sensor? Are the Controls difficult to program? How about failure, are they likeley to go bad?

Thanks for all the help, Ant

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antman

I have 4 zones of which 3 are copper baseboard and 1 cast iron. I am going to set up primary/secondary zoning with circulators and flo checks, Installing a Phase III indirect also. I looked into the Tekmar 370 as Boilerpro had suggested and I am leaning towards using this. HO were looking to replace TT's so i'm not sure if there is a big difference in price for the RTU's but would probably install them if you feel it would make a big difference with the use of the 370 control. I am not all familiar with Tekmar controls, I've only installed 1 Wirsbo PRO-MIX 101 and havent even programmed it yet, just installed it last week. Will the HO be able to control room temps with the new RTU's or are they just a sensor? Are the Controls difficult to program? How about failure, are they likeley to go bad?

Thanks for all the help, Ant

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Boilerpro

Tekmar 370

Requires the use of RTU's. Typically, I think you would use a regular adjustable RTU, that in the homeowner's eyes is just a thermostat, but is actually a sensor. Temperature settings are turned up and down just like an analog thermostat. The 370 is quite easy to program because it still has the analog dials for most settings and dip switches. I've yet to have a single control go bad, had one bad display recently, though, right out of the box. If they do go bad, you can bypass the controls and still provide heat until control can be replaced.....I believe this is a great selling point over controls that are part of a boiler package like,I believe, are used by Buderus and now Burnham and others. I beleive when you lose a control in many of these boilers the boiler goes down and is nonfunctional until the control is replaced. Others here have more knowledge about this boiler equipment than I, though.

Boilerpro

todd s

Logamatic

Buderas' control does have a manual overide switch right on the front. If the control was to fail this would become a simple aquastat. Even if it completely failed beyond this you can easily swap out for an L8148, wiring is simpler than you may think.

Boilerpro

Thanks Todd

I've been wondering how many boiler manufacturers have been taking this concern into account, at least one.


Boilerpro

todd s

controls

I really like the advanced controls such as buderas tekmar and so many others, the problem is as you pointed out that people get nervous that these will only break on christmas eve and there is no hope but an exact replacement. I feel that the way in which the controls operate make for a much less problematic system. I remember an article(I think M.E.)talking about "bang bang" controls. These types of controls (on-off) seem to cause many more problems than these new fangled blue boxes. But I'm just a kid so what do I know.