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Author Topic: Manifold diagram or pics  (Read 2982 times)

Flyboy206

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Manifold diagram or pics
« on: January 16, 2018, 01:01:29 PM »

Going to collect the pieces and parts for my manifold this week. Looking for pictures or drawings to follow.

This will be the closed  loop coming from the heat exchanger to the 3 floor zones. From earlier discussions on here, 1 1/4 copper to and from the HX. Mixing valve and pump for each zone. Expansion tank and air vent. Suggestions on placement of ball valves and drain and fill? Will the check valves in the circulators be all that I need?

Appreciate the input


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Flyboy206

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Re: Manifold diagram or pics
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2018, 01:07:33 PM »

Sweat or threaded fittings easier to work with?
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Jon_E

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Re: Manifold diagram or pics
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2018, 02:45:34 PM »

I can take a couple pictures of mine and post them, I will warn everyone that it is NOT a stellar example of plumbing but it works and that's what counts.  My plumber was not the sharpest tool in the box and at the time, I knew next to nothing about plumbing and piping heat manifolds.  He used a lot of black iron pipe, and his explanation was that it was a lot cheaper.  Well, yes, but it looks like crap.  The main loop is black iron and everything else is copper or brass.

I am doing my own manifold for my garage heating and my connections are a mix-and-match of sweat and threaded but all of it is 1" copper.  Most of the high-dollar stuff (valves, Spirovent etc.) are threaded because I am scared that I will overheat the valve while soldering it and ruin something.  I used sweat X MNPT fittings to connect the pipe sections. 

If you wanted to spent the money and has a good way to support the heavy stuff, you could use Sharkbite and PEX, but for a manifold I think it looks unprofessional.
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wreckit87

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Re: Manifold diagram or pics
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2018, 04:47:28 PM »

Kind of depends on the setup. If all manifolds are up or down (in the basement or above grade) for ease of piping, you could just screw an elbow on the HX then a nipple, union (for future HX cleaning or removal), nipple, ball valve, nipple, air separator with exp tank underneath, nipple, tee, nipple, tee, nipple, tee, with a bushing and boiler drain in the end tee. (supply manifold) For the return manifold same series of nipples and tees without the air separator of course, with just a nipple and ball valve in the tee branches, to isolate the whole loop if needed. In the branch of each supply tee screw a short nipple and then a Honeywell AMX 1" mixing valve, nipple, isolating pump flange, pump, other isolating flange, then out to the system. All nice, neat, and straight. The AMX series cost a little more but they're awesome and save a bunch of money in fittings, not to mention the space savings due to their straight through design. Black pipe is definitely easier to work with, but the looks can leave something to be desired. Copper fittings though, have slop in the cups so unless you're very careful and have a lot of hangers, copper can look awful snaky. Personally I prefer copper most of the time but I also do it every day, and my employer buys the fittings. If you're okay with the look of iron I'd honestly go that route. It keeps itself straight and is a lot easier to fix leaks if there are some as well as add on to in the future if need be, not to mention the cost savings and time spent putting it together.

Do your tubing manifolds have valves and/or drains on them? This would help purge air from all floor loops, but not 100% necessary. I have drawn a rough sketch of what I'd do, but I'll need to log in from my phone to upload it. I did not draw in a Y-strainer, but if you want one (not a bad idea) I would put it in the return main between zone 1 return tee and the ball valve to the left. I would also add a few temperature gauges that I didn't draw in, unless your tubing manifolds have them on which most do. If not, it's not a bad idea to have one on each supply and return so a total of six. I like the Watts temp/pressure combo gauges but if you don't, you'll want 1 pressure gauge somewhere also to keep an eye on system pressure. Between the air separator and expansion tank works well
« Last Edit: January 16, 2018, 04:56:01 PM by wreckit87 »
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wreckit87

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Re: Manifold diagram or pics
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2018, 04:51:31 PM »

The little bowties are valves, the bigger bowties on the branches of the supply header tees are mixing valves. End of the headers on the right are boiler drains or ball valves with hose adapters. XT is expansion tank and the thing above it is the air separator. The 3 line things just to the right of the plate exchanger are unions. Circle things on top of the supply header are pumps, the triangle indicates flow direction
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Flyboy206

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Re: Manifold diagram or pics
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2018, 07:27:37 PM »

Thanks for the diagram, I was overthinking this.

Another question, I have a 50ft run from the OWB to get inside, once inside, I need to go vertical 12ft, 40ft across the truss, and down at least 6ft to tie into the HX. Any issues with this run other than initial air purge?

Plan to use Logster then transition to PEX for the inside run.
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E Yoder

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Re: Manifold diagram or pics
« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2018, 01:50:58 AM »

My thoughts (and wreckit's got great advice too)-

Other than air it's just the resistance in the piping. Initial purge may need house pressure teed in to do, tee in just after the flat plate so you can back flush if ever needed and can use it to boost an air bubble that might accumulate in the hump over the summer. Probably never need it though other than to fill the stove.
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wreckit87

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Re: Manifold diagram or pics
« Reply #7 on: January 19, 2018, 08:25:28 AM »

Funny you say that actually. My exact setup at home is Logstor with a 12 ft rise to the floor joists, 40 ft across the house and a 6ft drop to my exchanger in 1" PEX haha. I had a B&G NRF-36 on my old boiler and a Grundfos 26-64 on this boiler, neither of which had any trouble pushing the air out, I have 170ft underground. Get a good size pump on there you'll be just fine. It wouldn't hurt matters any to add a bleeder valve on the top elbow of the return line above the furnace. Just put in a tee with a valve instead of a 90 so if it does for some reason airlock, you can open that valve to shove all the air through and make a circuit
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