Weil Ultra with Calleffi Hydrolink

hr

of this type. the Hydrolink serves as a neat., compact P/S loop, and hopefuly as an air seperator. The bottom port is used for drain, fill and expansion tank.

It is also supplied with heavy duty angle brackets to fasten the 'link to the wall.

This is a 4 pump 8 zone job. Erie ZVs split the four pumps into 8 zones.

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bobbyg_2

That's a lot of stuff packaged in a small area. Great job. What type of tubing/manifolds did you use there?

How do you handle the pH situation with the Weil Ultra boiler (aluminum heat exchanger). Looks like you used mostly plastic/copper/pex (non-ferrous). Was that done intentionally to control the pH from fluctuating?

As always great job!

ScottMP

Nice looking work

Next time take your thumb off the lens

I like the Calleffi also, really makes for a neat job.

Scott

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Paul Rohrs_4

Hydrolink

What vendor did you get the Caleffi Hydrolink from? I am wondering if my nearest distributor is Able Distributors out of Chicago?

Regards,

PR

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Bob Sweet

Nice job hr

Sure would take a lot less labor than sweating primary/ secondary's. How many secondary circuits can be run off the Caleffi?

One other question if you don't mind. What's your thoughts on using an air seperator such as Spirovent, over traditional vents?? Worth the added cost??

hr

More data

this job has 3 zones in the basement slab, and the rest (5 zones) is Watts Radiant transfer plates (Radiant Engineering ThinFin) with 1/2" Uponor Hepex

The system will be flushed and treated with Rhomar to handle the multi metal mix, and protect the AL HX.

There are several versions of the Caleffi Hydrolink up to 4 secondary branches. 11 GPM on the primary, 26 GPM on the secondaries I believe Caleffi is gearing up a big PR campaign. Get a copy of their binder they have a nice line up of quality components.

No way I could buil;d and insulate a compact PS loop for what this component cost. And have it look this nice

It is a heavy piece, and provided a very stable mounting for the circs. It's hard to get that on a T-drilled PS loop, as the copper gets real soft after silver soldering. Takes lots of unistrut to keep it all solid.

The slotted Caleffi bracket spaces the link from the wall nicely to allow room behind for piping runs. i like that they include their logo into the heavy angle bracket. Those fashionable Italians

Normally I use an air scoop or Spiro. I'm testing the ability of the link to also act as the purger. Fingers crossed! I did use those large port Webstone purge cocks to get a good bubble free manual purge of each zone. The 'link should be able to scoop any remaining errant, rouge, air bubbles.

Paul, I would agree Able Distributing, in Chi town as your closest source. They keep a good Caleffi stock.

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clammy

compact

Really nice compact and neat as usual what tempered you to use the ultra over a munchkin .I installed one not long ago and found there where a few things i really didn't like it's a good unit and ran well .I also would like to try one of them but it's hard to find any supply house in my area that even know what i,m talking about i can see it really makes a p/s piping much more compact i'll have to keep it in mind for future projects .Again nice work peace clammy

hr

They all have pros and cons

What I do like about the Ultra...

I like the top flue connections, and wall hung ability. I really like a solid steel case, even though the outer cover is plastic. It is much easier to service, although I have yet to do anything to any of the Ultras I have installed. I can't say that about other brands

I like the 190° boost, built in, for DHW recovery. I like the choice of top, bottom, or both S&R connections. A nice selection of BTU sizes. Aluminum is a much, much better heat conductor than stainlesss. It makes sense to build a HX out of a great conductor They ship in a totally excellent crate. Very freight worthy.

What I don't like about the Ultra...

The cover gasket sucks! It sticks to everything but the door or case! I'm shopping JC Whitney for a rubber bulb type, automotive door weatherstrip product. It's important to seal the case from the enviroment. I've learned that the hard way also with the "loose" Munchkin cases

The knockouts to use the bottom connections, don't. You need a holesaw or electrical punch. I hate those compression fitting on the near boiler piping. I had one split and flood this week. A compression fitting on sch 40 pipe doesn't seem logical. They work on soft material like copper or pex. I remove them on the return side and screw a 1-1/4" nipple right into the block. The wiring junction blocks are in the worse possible location.

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Bob Sweet

hr, I'm not going to sleep tonight

Can you explain, when you screw the 1 1/4 nipple into the block, how do you transition to the aluminum riser.

I really like the Ultra, fine piece of equipment. I've got just enough of them in to keep me awake at night worrying about it, didn't realize they had compression fittings, I could think of better areas to cut costs on.

hr

That's not an aluminum riser

It's plain old galv steel! Here is the connection they use. They screw a 1-1/4" npt to compression adapter into the block. Then this bent and welded galv tube. I remove the entire assembly and use a threaded 1-1/4 nipple and I will use a ProPress 1-1/4 MIP adapter on the next.

Looking up the bore of one of theses tubes you see part of the MIG weld wire, and a bunch of corrosion from water testing, I suppose. That wire could raise heck with a high hes ad pump impeller I hate to have galv in a HW system, the zinc may react with cleaners, glycols and treatments. perhaps not the multi metal types however.

Too bad you can't do much with the supply side tube as it has wells for a variety of sensors.

Amazingly this nut split as Scott and I watched the unit run. Shortly after it kicked into 190° DHW mode the nut stressed and split. I'm just glad we were there. I imagine it could easily take out the computer module. The nut that split was on the supply connection.

Perhaps it is a one time deal, maybe an overtightened nut. All my other installs, about 6, have been running fine.

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hr

The riser is actually galv steel

not aluminum. The adapter is a brass 1-1/4" NPT to compression adapter. The brass ferrule doesn't bite into the steel pipe as it would on copper. Every one I have removed slides right out, with the ferrule intact.

I remove the whole adapter and tube and screw a 1-1/4" black nipple into the block, and pipe from there. I'll try a 1-1/4 ProPress adapter on the next one.

Too bad not much can be done with the supply tube, as it has a bunch of sensor wells into it. It was the supply side nut that cracked as Scott and I watched it kick into 190 DHW mode. Probably and over tightened nut. I've not had a problem or leak on the others.

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