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1

Electronics / Re: bad thermostat, or bad wiring????

« on: October 20, 2015, 04:26:55 AM »

I figured it out....what was confusing me was the 24v and the com wire into the switching relay as shown on the tek pic.    What I needed to do was C to Com(which was labeled as 24vav/com on the taco switching relay) R to Rh, W to W1,  and put a jumper from R to Rh in the t-stat.

Initially I wanted the slab to be set at 55, but 65 is much nicer  but we shall see about the consumption.

2

Electronics / Re: bad thermostat, or bad wiring????

« on: October 19, 2015, 06:34:00 AM »

see the schematics

3

Electronics / Re: bad thermostat, or bad wiring????

« on: October 19, 2015, 06:07:23 AM »

ill try, but at work

4

Electronics / bad thermostat, or bad wiring????

« on: October 19, 2015, 04:57:49 AM »

Finally after 2 years I have in slab heat in my garage.....sorta...

I have a Tekmar 519 with slab sensor going to a Taco SR501,  Problem is,  that the wiring pics from tekmar doesn't jive with the switching relay...help?? 

Thanks

Mike

5

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Anyone with me?

« on: June 23, 2014, 11:26:15 AM »

Is there a way to save the information that is within this site as an archive?  There is a HUGE amount of GREAT information that would be a shame to loose.

6

Plumbing / Re: radient in slab install

« on: May 21, 2014, 03:51:35 AM »

What about the mixing valve, and how it is plumbed?  This is the area that i am most concerned with.

7

Plumbing / radient in slab install

« on: May 20, 2014, 06:01:24 AM »

Im having a hard time wrapping my head around what is all going to be needed for a (hopeful) in floor radient install in half of my pole barn.  The insulation, wire mesh, and radient barrier are easy.  I have 900sqft so a 4 loop manifold will be what i should need.  Not sure on the size of the pex and the plumbing for the mixing valve and that stuff. I have a pressurized system, so either Pex-al-Pex or OB pex is what i need to use.

Pictures would be a HUGE help.

Thanks

Mike

8

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: energy consumption

« on: February 12, 2014, 08:35:55 AM »

M, about 3 years old and it is one of those energy saver ones.  It is in heated finished basement in the laundry room.

9

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / energy consumption

« on: February 12, 2014, 04:29:34 AM »

Well I have enough evidence now to say without a doubt that my electric bill is half of what it usually was before this heating season.  All I did was turn OFF my electric hot water heater.  My HWH is a newer(3yr old) unit so I believe that it is efficient.  I am still shocked to see that much of a difference.

These last 4 months my usage and payout have been cut in half!!!

Oh happy days!!!

Now to decide to whether or not to purchase a tankless electric hwh?

Mike

10

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Im an idiot

« on: January 17, 2014, 04:44:37 AM »

Dave, it must have been the moon.  I did the same thing the other night, but with my pressurized system in my furnace room, what a mess!!  Went out at 8:30 to bank it off for the night and decided to take the ashes out, did that but left the ash door open a weeee bit, buy 9:15 my wife heard some funny noise coming from the Pex going into the HX and i went to see, and as soon as i heard that I ran out to see what happened.  It was a steam bath in my furnace room, pop-off did its thing but the temp of the boiler was pegged at 260.  as soon as i could see what the problem was I closed the ash door and shut the flap on the combustion motor, and slowly started to add water.

I have noticed no issues so far, other than needing to tighten up all my compression fittings and dielectric unions.

I know NOT to do that again.

11

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: Anit freeze

« on: January 09, 2014, 05:00:51 AM »

Has anybody looked into RV antifreeze, you know that pink stuff that you put into the RV waterlines and such?  It is glycol, that much i know.

Mike

12

General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Re: -18 here with -50 windchill. My Heatmaster 10KE is laughing and Im toasty !!

« on: January 07, 2014, 07:36:23 AM »

-15 this morning in west central Pa, and my boiler is doing just wonderfully.  Its not a massive unit, with the fire box only being about 20"wide 30" deep and 20" high, and only holding 30 gallons i've had no problems.  I have no issues with 8-9 hrs of burn time, even went 12-13 hrs when temps were "normal".

When the next electric bill comes around i'll be anxious to see my consumption since I shut off my electric HWH, but I estimate a reduction of about 25%.

Mike

13

Equipment / Re: M105 Military Trailer for firewood

« on: December 09, 2013, 10:51:08 AM »

They work well, the only issue that my buddy has is that they don't dump like you figure they should.  His breaks just may need adjusted, but I think we are going to add a hydraulic cylinder to dump it instead of having to back it up to dump it.

14

Plumbing / Re: water to water HX confusion

« on: December 04, 2013, 04:55:12 AM »

Well it's been a little over 2 weeks and everything is working better than expected.  I can go 12 hours before I need to reload, this was verified when we had a couople days of single digits.  My idea of using a lower hot water tank thermostat to complete the circuit for the oil boiler burner works like the expensive strap on aquastats.  I just have it sitting on top of the HX for the bioler and if the fire would ever go out and the temp of the HX drops below 125 the circuit is completed and the oil burner will kick on.  I completely shut off the electric hot water tank, it had a little blinking light that was annoying me(to warn of high temps).  I was pushing 180 deg water to the house, but backed it off to 170-175.

My only complaint is the smoke,  depending on how the wind blows...... I may add a nother section or 2 to see if that makes a difference.  My long term goal seeing that this furnace is working so well, I have made up my mind to do a block chimney next year. 

Mike

15

Electronics / different type of thermostat

« on: November 21, 2013, 05:08:52 AM »

I just got everything hooked up and pumping water to the HX for my Burnham oil boiler.  In reading info here I "broke" the B1 line and ran it to a thermostat that I attached to the HX.  That way if/when my wood/coal boiler would ever have issues and the temp drops below my set points it will complete the circuit and allow the oil boiler to kick on.

Now, the thermostat that i used for this (some say I'm cheap) was a $9 electric hot water tank lower thermostat vs $60-80 strap on aquastat.  It is adjustable from 90-150, as of right now i have it set at 125, so if my HX ever hits 125 oil kicks on and i'll have less to worry about.  As a test I placed the tstat on the HX and had my son crank up the wall thermostat the oild furnace pump kicked on but the burner did not, then I took it off the HX and placed it on the cement flool and the burner ignighted.

I have used a thermocouple on my multimeter to measure the temp of the pex to and from the furnace and under load it was loosing 15 deg, so I bumped my pump the the second speed and now the delta is roughly half now.


Mike