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[wonderwhy?]

hello all, I am green here and looking at a hardy H-4.  its used and was professionally removed from where it was sitting and replaced with propane due to traveling keeping home owner away.  I went and looked at this thing yesterday, its big. My uncle and several of his neighbors have hardy stoves most of which have been in service 12 years or more.  My uncle told me to pressure test the unit before buying it.  I purchased fittings to pressurize this thing and want to know if its possible, i know that a leak is a bad thing.  second question, this thing has two pumps, does it run both pumps off of one tank? third question is how do you hook up the line for the water heater, that line is different and does not come from the 130 gallon tank?  the main tank used for heating just keeps reusing the same water over and over doesn't it? Couple of things my uncle has an H-2, thats really my only experience with these things but i really like his. No one has really been able to explain how this thing works, i have read Hardys PDF file, and there sales pamplet.  Oh this is a H-4 made in 2009, and it was unhooked last november, and drained.  Last question the condensor tank top, it will hold pressure without damage?  I did notice the 6 ash grates were slightly warped, not sure if it came that way or the ashes were not emptied when they should have been.  OK let me have it, pictures would be great, help me understand this stove and what i am looking at.

[mtoll]

Just curious, what do they want for it?

[wonderwhy?]

 He is asking $3600.00.  I think that is more than fair.  I am finding it hard to find information on these stoves, other than a parts list.  I am more interested in knowing cold in, hot out and DHW in and out.  I believe the DHW was never used, and that tells me that the auto fill was not working either.  I was looking to get a good stove at a great price.  I have spoke with the owner,  he is a good person he told me if something is wrong with the stove he doesn't want to sell it to me like that. 

[JO42281]

Where is the second pump located at. I have two pumps as well. One pump is installed on the Hardy. The other pump is installed on a plate heat exchanger located under my house this heats my hot water.

[wonderwhy?]

both pumps are on the back of the stove, Iwill have to take a picture and post it next time i go.

[Farmer Blue]

 I have an H-4. I have two pumps. One to pump to the heat exchanger on the furnace (base board heat) and one to the swimming pool heat exchanger. The DHW heat exchanger in the H-4  is a copper coil that sits on the top of the firebox in water reservoir. My DHW comes to the stove and then goes back to the house electric hot water heater (set @ 105, just in case the fire goes out) . The longer you shower the hotter the water gets. Comes into the house about 135. I have added a mixer to regulate the temp. It is set at 125. Nobody ever runs out of hot water and it make for LONG showers for the Mrs. and son.

[JO42281]

Farmer blue is spot on for the H4. That is exactly how the domestic hot water is supposed to be installed on the H4. I have a H5 it dosent have the coil in the reservoir. I have a three way valve installed before my heat coil box in my duct work. It sends water to a heat exchanger that is installed before my hot water heater. The water going into my hot water heater is around 160°. I have bypass valves installed so that if I need to I can bypass all of it and still use my hot water heater if I need to.

[wonderwhy?]

thanks for the reply guys,  My question about the DHW is what plug on the back of the stove is the hot water out of the stove to the water heater on your stove?  the stove i am looking at has the inlet to the cold in side of the DHW plugged, which also cuts off the auto fill on the big tank.  I called the guy yesterday, he doesnt know much about it.  He did know that he heated his house and DHW with it, I asked him if there was a heat exchanger around his hot water heater, he said he didnt know. Thanks guys.  would anyone post a pic of the back of there H-4 so i can see how its plumbed?

[JO42281]

I wish I could help you more I know several people with H4 but I haven't seen them. Have you looked at the Hardy Manual?? Here is the link for DHW in that manual.      http://www.hardyheater.com/Pdf/H2%20-%20H5%20Manual.pdf  page 19

[AirForcePOL]

It's been a while since I looked at the back of a Hardy, but the connection you are referring to with the auto fill valve will be your cold water inlet.  I don't remember what size they are but I believe they should be 3/4"?  To be honest with you, I wouldn't recommend using the coil on the furnace.  I would put a HX on your water heater in the house and be done with it.  It doesn't make any sense to me at all why you would send water out to the furnace to be heated and then send it all the way back into the building to be used.  All of this could be done from inside the home. 

[wonderwhy?]

I came home with it yesterday, it held water for 4 hours. i also filled the DHW coil with 40lbs of air and it held that for 3.5 hrs.  I pulled the shell off of it when i got it home, its actually in great condition. It was used to heat for three winters.  I will have to put one shaker grate back in place where it fell on one side. I feel like i got a great deal. I plan to get many years of trouble free service out of this stove.  I am planning to have dual zone heat and ac in the house i build, my question is how much heat will be pulled from the water after passing thru the first water to air HE?  Should each zone be fed by its own line, or can they put in series?  AirForcePOL I see what your getting at, but i think that is the way it is for the auto fill, without the auto fill you run the risk of running the stove low on water and doing damage.  I also have the Hardy manual, its helpful but doesnt list things i have questions about. its more of a broad overview of there product line. I know a man locally that sells and installs these but he acts like he is too busy to talk to me, guess its because i have not bought anything from him.

[d conover]

You got a great buy, I had an H2 for about 15 years, moved to a new house and put in a H-4 3 years ago.  I use one pump to heat our house and the other to heat a 1500 square foot shop building.

I personally like having the domestic hot water heated as Hardy designed it.  The big deal is keeping the boiler close to the house and very well insulated pipes.  I have hot water going into the water heater that is hotter than the water heater even heats it within 5 seconds more or less.  And I don't have a pump running 24-7. 

I know there are arguments both ways on the pump running all the time, I just feel better if its not

You should not need much help hooking it up,  The folks on here will probably give you more info than you can stand....
Anything I can tell you, please ask.
I installed my H2 twice by myself and the H4 for its first and hopefully final install...

[Farmer Blue]

 I agree with hd5. The idea of the pump running 24/7. There is no cost to get the water from the house to the stove and back. It is all done by the pressure of the water system. My lines are in an insulated pipe with the lines to and from the furnace. The other thing that I would think is that to have  water running to the side arm heat exchanger during the summer would make the basement very warm. That warm air rises to the floor of the house and with or without AC it is either a warm floor or extra cost for the AC. We don't have AC just lots of fans. In our old farm house the basement is not finished. Just a place for furnace, HW heater, water softener and some storage.

[willieG]

just a thought...heat your hot water with a side arm or heat exchanger and keep the loop in the stove intended for your domestic hot water  for possibly a work shop or other building where you might like heat part time. you could use the loop in the stove for an antifreeze mixture that would allow you to only run this loop when you wanted to heat that building (it would require an expansion tank)

[wonderwhy?]

ok thanks for all the ideas, my question is? i am going to build a basement and two stories on top of that, i already know i am going to have two seperate air handlers, so i will have two zones calling for heat, does this stove produce enough hot water to heat both off of one pump, or do i need a pump for each zone in the house? I plan on using the DHW as it is intended, to me that is free hot water.  I plan to heat my shop with it also but not all the time, just when i want it.  this is why i joined this forum, its good to hear from actual users of these stoves so i can hear the likes and dislikes.  I got the stove i had been wanting for a couple thousand less than it shoulda cost.