Aqua balance home heating system

photokynetics · November 2

I have got to make some repairs in this system cuz there is a small leak my question is this air compressor tank looking thing that the owner said was installed strictly for a heating reservoir, is going to cause some big headaches and replacing some rusty pipe I want to remove this tank completely cuz it will make future repairs easier, you can see in the picture there's a separate expansion tank so this air compressor is not functioning as an expansion tank, any reason why I should leave this air compressor tank in this system?

You can see in the upper left where the arrow is that's where two connections are leaking that I need to repair.

This system can also double as a domestic hot water system.

Allcomments and thoughts are welcome.

Thank you

hot_rod · November 2

Probably intended to be a buffer tank of some sorts. With all the PVC and non barrier pex, it will create a lot of rust in the system. Hopefully the DHW is not running through that tank?

A buffer is often used when there are a lot of small or micro zones in a system with a non modulating boiler.

Without knowing more about the zones and heat emitters it is hard to know if it has much value.

Jamie Hall · November 2

Is the heating system separate from the domestic hot water? I can't really tell from the photo.

If it is, the domestic hot water needs its own small expansion tank — which is what that small tank may be.

photokynetics · November 2

There are four aluminum heat radiators that are about 14 in, and then there's one big one that's about 24 in the main living room. The domestic hot water system is separate plumbing wise but I don't know if this aqua balance has a separate boiler tank for the domestic hot water and a separate one for the house heating therefore it would have to have two sections in the boiler system. I don't know much about this setup I'm trying to learn. But that white expansion tank is connected to this big air compressor tank they are not separated.

photokynetics · November 2

I believe there are a total of three zones in this system, and there are two heat stages, stage 1 just utilizes before smaller registers or radiators and then stage 2 when you demand a lot more heat actuates a big blower fan with a 24 inch heat radiator

photokynetics · November 2

Sorry there are four smaller heat radiators, this autocorrect turned it into Before but there are four smaller radiators and one large one for a total of five

Jamie Hall · November 2

Are yo quite sure that the big silver tank is an air compressor? I think @hot_rod is correct. Stand further back and take a picture of the whole system, including the Aquabalance boiler — which is off to the right somewhere.

Robert_H · November 2

If you zoom in, the sharpie mark on the right side says "Boiler Thermal Storage/something Tank"

kcopp · November 2

99% positive this system has been posted before. Suggestion was to pull the whole thing apart and start again.

hot_rod · November 2

It is an air compressor tank repurposed as a hydronic buffer tank, judging by the mounting plate. The relief valve line rus under the plate. For protection no doubt :)

It has some custom fittings welded in, I suspect. There are not usually 1-1/4 connections at the end, or the 1/8" air vent port.

It looks like a mod con boiler on the right, the tank may not be needed, or doing much the way it is piped.

photokynetics · November 2

That big dark gray tank is an air compressor tank the previous owner even told me so and the only reason he has it there is to act like a reservoir, and I've seen plenty of air compressors to know that's exactly what it is the writing on the side that says boiler thermal storage buffer tank is written with the sharpie,

photokynetics · November 2

At any rate, I need to replace that leaking plumbing in the upper left and while I'm at it I just want to make the system as right as possible and if that tank is not necessary then I would rather just get rid of it because it'll make the repairs easier. But if it is necessary then I guess I fight through.

photokynetics · November 2

I posted this system a while ago and then I could not find my post or this website for a while but I am just getting to where I need to do some work on it, and it was mentioned by someone to remove that silver tank because it's not necessary, and then others have said to change the plumbing but I can't quite change the plumbing yet right now I'm just patching leaks. But when I'm ready to start thinking about redoing all the plumbing I will put another post out here asking what type of piping to use.

Jamie Hall · November 2

OK,, fair enough. You have what you have. It is, as has been said , something of a nightmare, but — it is there.

So. Do you actually need that bugger tank? The answer to that is a resounding "maybe". The purpose of the tank is to make the on times of the boiler longer and correspondingly longer off times. It is really only needed if the power output of the boiler is significantly greater than the ability of the rest of the system to absorb that power; if that is the case then the tank absorbs the excess power so that it can be released later without the boiler having to run — cycle — too often

From your description of the radiation which it feeds, I'm think it's very likely that you do have a real mismatch between the boiler power and the radiation, and that therefore the buffer tank is serving a very real purpose in your system.

Is it piped in such a way as to do that well? I rather doubt it, but I daresay that so long as the pump circulating water through the system also circulates water through it, it probably is working, if not as well as intended.

Will the system work without it? Probably — but particularly on light loads you may find that the boiler cycles on and off very frequently — which isn't all that good for it.

I'm not going to tell you to replumb the whole setup — you already know that it really needs it, but unless you are in the southern Hemisphere this isn't the time for that. What I will say is that in the replumbed system you really will need a buffer tank, and you have one…

hot_rod · November 2

the white box to the right is that a boiler ir tankless water heater. Often tankless water heaters are used instead of a boiler. The tank may be used to help the tankless water heater act as a boiler?

Looks like small red and blue pex is connected to it?

Im still trying to figure out how heat and dhw come out if a system with a steel tank

Is there a heat exchanger somewhere?

photokynetics · November 5

It is an on demand type water heater, and here's what I don't know or understand, how there is one tank or on demand water heater inside the white bos and yet there are 2 points where hot water comes out, radiator heat water and domestic hot water, hot are they kept separate from each other? The white PVC coming out of the bottom of the white box is labeled hws for hot water system that's what goes to all the radiators and then you have the red PEX that's the domestic hot water comes out of the bottom of this white box and then you have that black pipe or hose that I believe is the return for the radiator heating system and then the blue packs is the return for the domestic water. But I don't understand these boilers and how they could keep the two systems separate.

Aqua balance home heating system

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