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[Rob 165]

Russ is there any chance you could send me or post a picture of the solenoid setup that you can order from Shaver's.  I just gave all my parts to my neighbor and he's interested in setting up a solenoid on his stove.  Thanks Rob

[Russ Brumit]

 I think they are using a chain now. Still works the same.

[willieG]

russ do youknow how many CFM the blower is

[Russ Brumit]

yes, Mine is 50 and now they come 75cfm    I think 50 is plenty though.

[smoak]

Second, a cheap $10.00 thermo disc for an aquastat is almost criminal.  They will inadvertently stick, causing extreme temperatures and severe water loss. 
The only way this stove works, is if you run your pump 24/7 to keep the water circulated and in turn waste wood.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
Hmmmm, the cheap "criminal" therm-o-disc on my 165 has been doing OK for almost 3 years non-stop..the 2 spares I got just in case are only collecting dust on the shelf so far.And I don't run the pump 24/7 and the stove works fine, so that is an inaccurate statement...This farmers 4500 sq. ft. shack has been kept nice and warm and had plenty of hot water year round with a 165 shaver whose only modification was to thread the overflow nipple and attach a 1/2" tee with a thermometer in the run of it...and since it paid for itself this summer in heating oil savings I like my shaver alot...Basic design is what I would build myself if I had the time..and it is a very basic design that works as is... But I did pick up a solenoid at Grainger today and i'm gonna do a powerflap on the blower,think it is a good improvement worth doing.My 2cents..............

[Russ Brumit]

I tell you, I had my house pump running on demand and my shop pump 24/7 . I did this because my shop has 2 hanging heat exchangers running in series. I just switched it to on demand and its working perfect. Way less wood. Should have done it a long time ago.

[willieG]

I tell you, I had my house pump running on demand and my shop pump 24/7 . I did this because my shop has 2 hanging heat exchangers running in series. I just switched it to on demand and its working perfect. Way less wood. Should have done it a long time ago.

i run my system the opposite my house is 24/7 and my shop is on demand  My shop is a home made closed system with an expanshion tank and i run an antifreez mix in it. when i am not going to be out there i leave it off. then say if i am planning on going out there saturday morning to work i turn it on fiday night and it is warm for morning. I can't see why i would waste wood running the house 24/7 there should be minimal loss on teh underground lines and any heat loss inside the house is not really lost.

[Russ Brumit]

Well a couple of things for me . My shop is 225' away from the boiler. Then theres 65' inside the shop and i just keep it 40* until i go in there. I dont want it to freeze. l dont feel like winterizing stuff.So most days when I"m not out there it doesn't even need to turn on. Before it was just constantly running and going through the exchangers it loses heat . I know its inside but remember thats 515' of pex round trip. I made my own pex up also. two 1" and two 3/4 with a foam strip to seperrate the supply /returns,wrapped in solar gaurd and placed in 4" pvc .  36" below ground. 

[yoderheating]

I agree with WillieG,  with quality insulated underground pipe there is very little difference between on demand pumping or 24/7. 

[Scott7m]

I agree with WillieG,  with quality insulated underground pipe there is very little difference between on demand pumping or 24/7.

I couldnt agree more..   With the quality of underground pex piping thats available.  I see a lot of benefits to a continuous feed.  I use a triple wrap that comes in a very flexible white pipe and yesterday I was working outside with it and a home-owner was running his stove at 165 and his line was laying on the ground with snow on it. 

Also, when you consider there is a lot of line options out there where you can have water exiting the stove at 180 and arriving at a source 100ft later and still being like 179.7.  Whats the difference? lol

[Russ Brumit]

When i installed mine the cheapest i could find was 12.00/ft . There was no way i could have paid that. It would have been a lot easier trust me. Last year i had to load every 12 hours now I'm at 24 hours plus. I just cant believe  the difference.I did build a building around the stove. I wired it with a switch to go back to 24/7 in case i need too.Was worried a little about hot spots but so far it seems fine.

[Scott7m]

When i installed mine the cheapest i could find was 12.00/ft . There was no way i could have paid that. It would have been a lot easier trust me. Last year i had to load every 12 hours now I'm at 24 hours plus. I just cant believe  the difference.I did build a building around the stove. I wired it with a switch to go back to 24/7 in case i need too.Was worried a little about hot spots but so far it seems fine.

Yea if your not running top quality underground line I'd say you can tell a difference. 

A friend of mine has a hardy and just has pex in the ground, it loses 30 degrees before it gets to his heat exchanger.  It's nuts!

[Russ Brumit]

I need to check my lines with a heat gun.  I can use one from work. Should be ok , I  used schedule 40 pcv.  20ft lenghts.   I still think with a short run would be ok to let run. With 515 ft and running through 2 big hx there has to be heat loss. Its working perfect now.  I just went out to load it and it had been 26 hours. Still had wood in it . I was amazed. I'm afraid to touch it now its working so well. Its been real windy here and in the 20's at night.

[willieG]

Well a couple of things for me . My shop is 225' away from the boiler. Then theres 65' inside the shop and i just keep it 40* until i go in there. I dont want it to freeze. l dont feel like winterizing stuff.So most days when I"m not out there it doesn't even need to turn on. Before it was just constantly running and going through the exchangers it loses heat . I know its inside but remember thats 515' of pex round trip. I made my own pex up also. two 1" and two 3/4 with a foam strip to seperrate the supply /returns,wrapped in solar gaurd and placed in 4" pvc .  36" below ground.

well  russ i am 250 feet one way plus all the pipe in the house that is 500 feet of underground pipe adn i know from experience about underground pipe. i can tell you that 12 bucks a foot is cheap and something you should not cheap pout on. back 11 years ago i bought "the best" available at the time pex wrapped in bubble wrap insulation shoved down a 4 inch sewer pipe...worked great for a few year then my wood consuption went up like crazy and the ground never froze over my pipes. this year i saved up and bought the good stuff for the 12 bucks a foot (yes 250 feet of it) i should have done it 5 years ago! I am back to 14 and 16 hour burns with wind chills at -10 and 24 hours if the temp stays above freezing and calm.

by a cheap furnace and but the best pipe you can find!

[Russ Brumit]

Well that was just for my house.If i spent 12.00 /ft  back then it would have been over 7,000 for just the pipe. I just couldn't swing that much then .I must be ok for now because I'm getting good burn times now. I did a few things recently though. Built garage around stove,ranco thermostat at boiler and in garage Hx, and changed garage to on demand. So maybe It is all of this combined making the difference.