Outdoor Wood Furnace Info

All-Purpose OWF Discussions => General Outdoor Furnace Discussion => Topic started by: Maxfli on October 29, 2013, 06:41:34 PM

Title: Side arm heater question
Post by: Maxfli on October 29, 2013, 06:41:34 PM
Just got my first two weeks of heating with an owb under my belt.. Now that everything is going great I want to fire up my sidearm heater.

The problem I'm having is I turn the tank breaker off.. Open the valve that is connected between the outlet of the sidearm and the top of the hot water tank.. Let the sidearm do its thing for a day or so.. And when I go to use the hot water.. I get really hot water for about 30 seconds then nothing but cold water after that.. But if I run down to the basement and close the valve that connect the outlet of the sidearm to the hot side of the hot water tank.. I get a full. 50gallons of piping hot water.   So now I'm in a cycle of opening the sidearm valve to heat the tank.. Go down stairs close the value to Use the tank.

Any help or insight would be much appreciated.
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: TLuckoski on October 29, 2013, 07:10:18 PM
Sounds like a vapor lock . Do you have a bleeder valve?
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: Maxfli on October 29, 2013, 07:14:45 PM
Yes.. Have a air bleed installed.. Sidearm is heating tank perfectly.. Just not harvesting the hot water properly.
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: willieG on October 29, 2013, 07:20:52 PM
if you are heating teh tank as the side arm is designed to do but you say you are "not harvesting the hot water properly" then the only way this can be happening is if you are feeding the side are directly with teh domestic cold water. if  the sidearm is working properly you should a hot water tank full of hot water and when you open the tap the cold water should be feeding into the the tank (not the side arm) 
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: baldwin racing on October 29, 2013, 07:24:54 PM
Yes.. Have a air bleed installed.. Sidearm is heating tank perfectly.. Just not harvesting the hot water properly.
is the water tank plumed backwards allowing the cold water that's comes in from well gets pulled right to the out pipe going to  house facet and so on, instead of being put in and gone threw heating process?  does that make sense?
kelly
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: Maxfli on October 29, 2013, 07:29:47 PM
(http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz339/dbesselt/Screenshots_2013-10-29-21-23-18.png) (http://s841.photobucket.com/user/dbesselt/media/Screenshots_2013-10-29-21-23-18.png.html)
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: willieG on October 29, 2013, 07:54:02 PM
there is a very good chance of an air lock. i would try turning the 45 elbow over, put a plug in the galv. tee and put a copper tee where the 90 elbow is and solder in your pipe from the valve there. this would insure the water from the side arm is rising steadily and any air bubbles should move upwards into the house lines. plus this downwards slope you have could work as  heat trap?
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: willieG on October 29, 2013, 07:59:58 PM
another thing i just thought of..if your tank is new it may have an anti siphoning device in the outlet of the tank. that needs to be taken out or find another spot to put  sidearm inlet
try and keep your piping no more than 3 inches above teh top of the tank
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: Maxfli on October 29, 2013, 08:12:12 PM
The tank is a Canadian model GSW about a year old... How would I remove the anti siphoning device.. Where is it..What problems would this device cause.. If not removed..
Just want to say thanks for all the great help thus far.. This forum is awesome
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: willieG on October 29, 2013, 08:37:07 PM
The tank is new... How would I remove the anti siphoning device.. Where is it..What problems would this device cause.. If not removed..
Just want to say thanks for all the great help thus far.. This forum is awesome
if yoru tank is new high efficency it will have this anti siphon device in both the cold and hot  pipes entering the tank

if not removed it will not let  your side arm feed water back into the tank. it is designed to NOT let this happen

i have never removed one so i cant say for sure how to remove it (if it is like a check valve in a wet rotor pump you just yank it out with a set of pliers)

i see in your picture there are a couple of rubber plugs on top of your rank, are there more entry points to the tank under one of these that you could use?
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: Maxfli on October 29, 2013, 08:46:22 PM
K.. I must not have these preventers or they have already been removed when the tank was first installed before I bought the house.. Because my sidearm is definitely heating water and getting back in the tank. Must b something else that's Dickered in the system
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: beeman on October 29, 2013, 08:49:23 PM
i may be wrong still building my side arm like willieg  i think the sidearm is to be instaled bottom to tee at drain top to popoff tee the house lines in as without a sideare it looks as if it is all hooked to the sidearm if so it is acting as hot water heater and the hotwater is holding tank when you turn the valve it forces the water through the tank again i my be wrong just other input were is your pop off valve
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: renoman on October 29, 2013, 08:53:14 PM
Had this problem myself at one point. It seems that when you tee in the sidearm to your hot outlet
the cold flow directly through the sidearm easier than through the tank (path of least resistance?)
What I did was tee the sidearm in where the pressure relief exits the tank so the water will still heat by convection
but when you demand from the tank it can only exit through the supply hot exit to your house. Never a problem after that.
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: Maxfli on October 29, 2013, 09:01:24 PM
Thanks.. Renoman u just explained exactly what I feel is happening... Will have to pull out the torch and do some soldering tomorrow to tap the out of the sidearm into a tee in the relief line.. The relief valve is not at the top of the tank it's about  half way up on the tank.. Will that effect anything
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: willieG on October 29, 2013, 09:03:57 PM
reno makes a good point that is why i also suggested looking under those rubber discs for another entry point
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: Maxfli on October 29, 2013, 09:08:31 PM
Good point willieG have check out those plugs as it may make for an easier job..
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: renoman on October 29, 2013, 09:33:47 PM
may slow the heat rate if you put a drop in it but convection should still make it flow.
I made my own so it would just fit in between the drain and the relief.
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: willieG on October 29, 2013, 09:38:16 PM
if you open teh valve at the top of the side arm just a tad then open a tap you should get lots of hot water?  if you open the valve so (lets say) a 1/2 gpm could go through then at teh tap you opened it all the way (that should be about 2 gpm) you should get cold water pushing water out of the tank...at least this would test  the dam thing? (i think)
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: renoman on October 29, 2013, 09:43:20 PM
on second thought disregard my last post. after going to have a look at my setup I left the sidearm plumbed in to the top
and tee the hot water supply off at the relief valve. This allows the sidearm to flow freely without a trap and the
hot supply can only exit from the tank.
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: cranman on October 30, 2013, 01:00:54 PM
On my sidearms and maybe half a dozen I have installed I plumbed my boiler water through the centre from bottom and out the top straight through the one inch fittings. The 3/4 inch horizontal lower side fitting goes to the bottom tank drain which I replumb to be able to allow a drain if needed. The line should run on a slight up slope to the sidearm. The upper fitting I usually go to the relief hole on the upper side of the tank and move the relief up teed into the tank outlet or a secondary top outlet found on most tanks.. If there are small children in the house I use the side hole to house an aquistat set to 140 degrees F and wire it to run a pump off my primary loop. I just tee in where I want the pump to be and tee in again about 10 inches down stream. In that case I take the top fitting on the sidearm to a tee at the top outlet of the tank. The blueprint for one of the installations called for a check valve just above where I plumbed back in at the top, but I didn't have one so I went without it. Didn't seem to affect the performance at all and the homeowner advised that he was able to turn off the noisy circ pump on his system for the OBW season and still have hot water at his shower and sinks forty feet away. Maybe T have been doing it wrong all thrse years but it has always worked for me....
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: Maxfli on November 02, 2013, 05:00:32 PM
Got really busy with work.. Ended up just closing valve. Then only opening it about a quarter turn.. Working just fine. But only has the capacity for one shower.. Thanks for all the help.. Going to plumb the output of the sidearm into a tee at the relief port as soon as I get the time
Title: Re: Side arm heater question
Post by: slimjim on November 03, 2013, 04:38:55 AM
That WILL solve the problem