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Messages - Sprinter

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 32
1
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Adding storage questions
« on: January 10, 2018, 06:31:58 PM »
Extra storage is just like a battery. More btu , means more woood. You can’t have yer cake and eat it too, in this situation

2
all things mentioned above are valid factors, however at the amount your referring too.  Wet wood can effect burn times that much that dramatically.  I would look for a major problem in the system, or use the moisture meter to truly find out wood conditions..    Even good seasoned wood can absorb water depending on storage conditions.

well covered and aged wood, off the ground....

3
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Another BTU question
« on: January 06, 2018, 04:39:39 PM »
a lot of good answers have been pointed out already.  The 20 degree DT is just a very basic design metric more than anything, and most metrics are based off of closed loop boiler designs. All designs are calculated to heat the structure evenly most efficiently. The temp design is derived from type of equipment and type of heat exchangers.
Boiler manufacturer design specs are what you should go by for DT and lowest operating return temp. Smaller DTs, regardless of temp, will have more even consistent burns. Versus big long burn times to recover more btus when using larger DTs.
In the end, is the house comfortable? Is the hot water there when you need it in the shower?

4
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Propylene glycol over time
« on: January 06, 2018, 04:04:13 PM »
I've never used it in an open system, always closed. Snow melt, garage/barns, lots of green houses. Never an issue with slime or debris. I use a test kit from cryotek , just dip strips. On government/municipal jobs we have to send it out to a lab.  Non ferrous systems have a ethylene glycol longer life. Cryotek is the brand most popular here.   You also have to account the heat transfer difference from straight water versus glycol , as it is 10-15% less depending on mix, plus it also has more head. Meaning the pump sized for water only will move less volume with glycol.  Manufacturers are happy to help with tech info....and testing.

5
Plumbing / Re: inslab radiant heat question
« on: December 17, 2014, 12:30:20 PM »
So it's been a couple of weeks since I've been up and running and my delta really hasn't changed. I dropped my supply to 100 and the the return temp at startup is around 60 and never gets much above 80. I do have to say that there isn't a call for heat too often either. Maybe twice a day at the most so far. I'm assuming this is why the return temp is so low at start up. Do any of you see any issues in my future?

Sounds good, but u might have lag time on colder or windy days. It looks like the mixing valve is your limiting/choking factor. Find out what it's flow rate is......meaning I have replaced many of those due to lack of heat problems. They forget that they can only flow so many GPM before the head loss skyrockets. An the circ can't move anymore, even tho the circ will flow way more at lower HL.  If it takes more than 6 hours for return temp to be within 10-20' of supply,and air temp is a problem,  that's where u look. Good luck, looks nice

6
Plumbing / Re: Thermopex line
« on: December 17, 2014, 12:20:22 PM »
More importantly what circulators do you have on each line? What is the flow rate?

I can take bare pex laying on the ground , run 180' water thru it with a big circ and show no heat loss when water velocity is above 5' per second.

Meaning if I turn that circ to low speed and slow the water down it will show a higher temp loss than on high speed moving fast.

A good simple test is does it melt snow, either buried or where it comes out of the ground. It shouldn't.

7
Boiler pumps do not push or pull, that's why they are called circulators.  They move water by creating a pressure differential on either side of the circulator. High on the outlet side and low on the inlet. Physics tells us water always wants to equalize, as exactly why the water from the low side moves to the high side. These don't work like a lift pump.

There are videos here explaining this in very simple detail, or just visit Taco site. "Pumping away" describes the effects and reasons why circ placement can be bad in some locations. It can cause leaks, pressure problems, air into the system, either right away or down the road.

Good luck

8
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Btus
« on: December 17, 2014, 11:51:03 AM »
In a roundabout way, you could figure the btu's used by your house, domestic water, and heat loss on your line, thus coming up with the total.

Easiest and most accurate way would be a heat loss calculation on the buildings ur heating. You would adjust the temps in the calculator for indoor and outdoor temps over the time period your testing. Close monitoring of these temps will give you a number with the lowest error rate.

HLC programs have built in fudge factors, how much depends on which one you use. I recommend using John Siegenthalers , as they are very accurate. But not necessary to spend.  Using other math / wood & water/ time etc, formulas just have more likely for higher error. Good luck

9
Plumbing / Re: inslab radiant heat question
« on: November 12, 2014, 11:31:29 AM »
Set all your flow meters to 75% then balance from there. Make your mix V easy to adjust. I was just servicing a greenhouse yesterday and they run 180 in and 150 out till it comes up to temp , then 150-155 supply.

Their MV was way too small so I put ball valves in instead.( homemade mixing valve) and will handle all the flow the pump can do at a quarter of the price of a MV that can handle the required flow. Now it only take 4-5 hours to come up to temp from a cold start instead of a week. They have 5/8" viega pex @ 9" centers. It's 15 years old and not a crack in it. Not sure if it's better Crete or standard 3000psi stuff. Anyways they now can run much lower temps and get fast response. Their pex is on chairs in the pictures so not at the bottom of the concrete and foam except for the ends of the greenhouse. They have some lag time. Double of the rest of the GH. The FLIR is handy for balancing

10
Plumbing / Re: Street Tee?
« on: November 12, 2014, 11:15:37 AM »
Can't beat that price and webby'z are excellent.    Another option we do is make our own Teez using a pipe port machine. But you can do it by hole saw also. Just have to silver solder the new port joint, like we do on oxygen piping.
You can see examples of this on those cheap manifold tubes where there are no tees. Just a bunch of loop ports on a regular piece of pipe, and they aren't even silver soldered.

11
Plumbing / Re: Taco Zone Control
« on: November 12, 2014, 11:06:27 AM »
Bigger transformer and done. You can add another also, cuz two small are cheaper than the bigger ones. I would suggest sizing to only use 50-60% of the tranny rating. Helps down the road with actuator failure because there are large spikes when turned on.

12
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Pictures
« on: November 12, 2014, 11:00:38 AM »
How about deleting the unnessecary ones? I'm doubting there will be an upgrade but you never know, moderating happened.

13
Plumbing / Re: Primary / secondary design
« on: October 09, 2014, 02:47:29 PM »
A simple adjustment to the pipe layout will solve the issue. Just make sure the first thing the boiler supply sees is the feed or supply to each zone, then the returns. Cuz who cares what temps are downstream of the last supply.
The other option is moose antler headers. There are other ways. A good read on what P&S piping really is and what all the different versions are will answer all ?

14
Plumbing / Re: Taco Pump Making Loud Growls
« on: October 09, 2014, 10:59:02 AM »
AIR!

15
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Indoor boiler question
« on: October 09, 2014, 07:22:09 AM »
T&P gauges should be replaced often, the reading is more likely wrong. It's more likely the gauge is wrong than PRV being stuck. Both should be replaced every 5 yrs or sooner if they fail a test.
By the way was that pressure reading while the pump was on high, or is the gauge close to the pump? There are a lot of variables as to why you have no circulation upstairs. The pump speed should ONLY, control GPM. Not whether it actually flows at all. If their are no checks or zone valves stuck there should be gravity flow atleast, unless there is a heat trap.

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