polaris feedback?

Royboy2

there's some mixed reviews. I confess I'd be stretching my skills some in tuning gas pressures. "plug & play" is more what I'm hoping for. (along with "quiet, long life, & reliability", of course).

Roy

Royboy2

polaris feedback?

I'm considering using a Polaris for a combined radiant floor space & water heat system. Have no direct experience with them and googling turned up a bunch of comments at the HVAC forum at HVACware.com about people having problems with ignitors failing and rough start-ups.

I'm trying to put these comments in perspective - anyone here done Polaris installs and care to comment?

Any thoughts on the Voyager unit as another comparable option?

Thanks - Roy

Heatermon

Polaris

I've used Polaris off and on since they came out about 10 or so years ago. I remember a problem they first had with the L.P. burner and how well they got us replacement parts and instructions on how to replace. The rough start ups I've experienced had to do with venting. They can be corrected easily depending on situation. I've just installed a unit for combination radiant and domestic hot water (separated by a flat plate plate heat exchanger of course) and the clincher to my customer was the 10 year warranty on the Polaris compared to the 3-6 years on everything else he was considering. I know they're pricy (just had a price increase when they introduced the more powerfull one a couple of months ago), but for the long haul, I think they're a winner. Good luck with your project.

Heatermon

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Royboy2

thanks for the encouragement

'mon. Any generic advice on the venting to avoid problems up front (beyond "follow the instructions")? I'm hoping that this possible installation pans out (and since I'm pretty much spec'ing the system, it should ...) Glad to have you and others here to turn to should I run into problems.

Anyone else?

Royboy

Tom Bradd

First I'd

put it up on a stand if you can so you dont have to stand on your head to service it. Second make sure you vent them right.short if you can. make sure you use the tempering valve for domestic. But I'd never use one again Ihave a bad bad taste in my mouth about them. If Im doing the spec it would be a boiler and indirect tank..Good Luck

Chris_4

roy

if you don't have one, get a magnehelic guage or hire someone to come and set the pressure on your polaris AFTER it is installed. the pressure is set at the factory, but after shipping and installing, I have found that they need to be set again. the pressure should be about -.02 (negitive pressure) and can be tricky to set.

be sure to follow the venting instructions, and make sure you have a minimum 6 feet of venting on both the exhaust, and intake pipes.

they are a nice unit, not for every application, but work well.

good luck.

Chris

Bill Clinton

Polaris

Have installed maybe forty of them. Reliability is FAR greater than Voyager, but still leaves a bit to be desired. Occasional ignitor failures averageing 5 to 7 years apart: Not too bad, but when they do fail, be prepared to be the only one around who knows enough about them to do repairs; yup, on Christmas eve too.

Have recently had noise problems with Polaris ( eight out of the last ten). Seems to be unstable flame fluttering. Solved problem by adding some resistance to exhaust pipe. (gas pressures were right on.)

Polaris now has a new blower/burner. Said to be real quiet and less temperamental on gas adjustment. "Plug and Play" they say. Haven't tried one yet, but hope its true.

Assuming quiet, long life, and reliability, you couldn't ask for an appliance better suited for radiant heating. Time will tell.

Bill

Wayco Wayne

Have had problems

over the years. I do not have any originals in place. Some have been replaced more than once. I have one in my own house and it works OK. Had to replace it under warranty 3 years ago. Been OK since. Hopefully they have worked the bugs out over the years. The idea of putting them on a stand is a great one. The are hard to work on from the bottom panel. I'd go munckin or Monitor and use an indirect.

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Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

Polaris

I service quite a few of them here in The Bay Area along with Bill Clinton and have to keep plenty of igniters, stat boards and ECO's on my truck. Their owners love them when they're working and hate them when they're not since a few of my customers have problems once or twice a year.

Make sure you get one of their laminated troubleshooting guides and 800 phone number.

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john bastin

That Polaris

I sort of inherited one and installed a new one here in Gualala. They both had rough starts...woke the neibors up...in my opinion the book is wrong...the cure to rough starting seems to be to increase the length of the exaust pipe to at least 10 feet. at ten foot the gas pressure seems not to be too important aand one gets quiet starts all the time. i would buy and install again but USE 10 foot..john bastin