ghost heat

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JK_3
JK_3 Posts: 240
in THE MAIN WALL
I am wondering if it has to do with constant flow through the indirct(pump size,short loop,Tee spacing). Maybe some pictures would help.

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  • joe_130
    joe_130 Posts: 11


    where to begin. the call was that the customer always got heat in one of her zones all the time. It was a four zone hydronic burnham boiler. There is an indirect hw heater, two 3/4 zones which were part of the addition, and the main 1 1/4 monoflow zone which was the original zone of the heat for the house. All pumps are on the return except the pump for the indirect. All pumps are taco 007. The t stats are all working properly. The indirects heat exchanger is gone and it is constantly calling for hot water which means the pump is almost always on. The zone that was always hot was one of the new 3/4 zones. After having her explain it over the phone i thought it would be a bad flow check and i replaced the one on that zone. She called me back the next day saying it was still happening. when i got back she had closed the feed and return valves for that zone off. When i opened them up i grabbed the return side and could feel that it was heating up rather quickly going up the return side the the opposite way of flow. i put a flow check on the return side and that seemed to cure the symptom. can anyone tell my why this happened. sorry for the long post
    joe
  • billtwocase
    billtwocase Posts: 2,384
    Is there

    A kick space heater somewhere on that loop?
  • rjm
    rjm Posts: 60
    possible leak?

    could there possible be a leak in the system that is allowing the water to be replenished through the return
  • Joe Mattiello
    Joe Mattiello Posts: 753


    It is times like this where you go right over to a positive shut off in both directions, and install a zonevalve. This will eliminate the ghost flow, and the time spent trying to diagnose the root cause of the ghost flow.
    Joe Mattiello
    N. E. Regional Manger, Commercial Products
    Taco Comfort Solutions
  • Paul Fredricks_9
    Paul Fredricks_9 Posts: 315


    I've seen this situation before. We had a number of houses that had a main zone on the first floor that split to serve the front and back of the house. There was one supply, but two returns. When another zone called the flow past the returns would pull the cool water out of one return and push the hot water up the other. Took a while to figure that one out. We'd put a swing check on each return and that solved the problem. Saw this 5 or 6 times.

    I'm sure this is a similar issue. If your curious, you need to follow the heat back up the return and see where it goes to. That should give you the "Why" it's happening. Happily, you already found the cure.

    And Ghost Flow is what I call it too.
  • joe_130
    joe_130 Posts: 11


    yeas i was thinking that also. the return header is set up very messy with the spacing all un even and the returns tapping into the header at all different levels
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