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Author Topic: Goodbye aquastat  (Read 3251 times)

Bluegrass Wood Burner

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Goodbye aquastat
« on: September 23, 2018, 07:06:47 PM »

I'm gonna change my boiler from the aquastat to an ink bird temperature controller. I have been using one in an incubator that I hatch baby chicks out with this year and am very happy with the way it performs. I decided to mount the thermostat on the side of my boiler to get away from the smoke and heat. It will be mounted inside a electrical box with a clear cover allowing me to still see the temp and keeping the weather out of the electronics. My question concerns the probe. I bought an extra probe that is designed to be submersed. Should I run it down the vent pipe at top the tank and down into the water to get a more accurate reading? I have a mixing problem in my boiler and wander if submersing it would help get more accurate water temps. What's your thoughts on this project.
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mlappin

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Re: Goodbye aquastat
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2018, 08:22:45 PM »

I have three of those little PID controllers running my waste oil gun, reasonably cheap, somewhat easy to program and haven’t had one take a dump yet.
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greasemonkoid

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Re: Goodbye aquastat
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2018, 08:47:32 PM »

I've got 5 on my system, cheap and reliable. Buy yourself a backup just in case. The ones I have only do about a 1.5 degree graduations so it skips a degree occasionally. There are similar units that don't do this.
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E Yoder

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Re: Goodbye aquastat
« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2018, 01:48:06 AM »

Is the aquastat inserted into a dry well somewhere? If so I'd consider putting the new probe there. I guess it could go in the vent pipe, just seems to be a way to damage it. ? I dunno.
Those inkbird controllers are pretty nice for the price.
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Bluegrass Wood Burner

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Re: Goodbye aquastat
« Reply #4 on: September 24, 2018, 07:43:11 AM »

I special order a probe fro it that allows it to be semerged in liquid. So it should hold up ok. I'm wandering if the Chinese tariffs will affect these controllers? I should buy 10 or so for future needs. I may put another one in  for emergency low temp for when fire dies or damper door sticks to shut the combustion fan off . Seems like a good idea??  These things are only 12.00 - 15.00. Great value
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South central Kentucky
Ford F-150
16 ft tandem trailer
3000# winch
Husqvarna 142
Husqvarna 460 rancher
6ft spud bar
Poulan 3314
22 ton lowes splitter
Timberline sharpener
"Worn out body"

mlappin

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Re: Goodbye aquastat
« Reply #5 on: September 24, 2018, 11:35:44 AM »

I’m using MyPin’s, just because the gun already had one in it, so much easier to program em when they are all the same
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Bluegrass Wood Burner

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Re: Goodbye aquastat
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2018, 05:54:54 AM »

What if I wrapped that probe end up in my supply line with some foil tape?
Insulate it good and control that temp rather than the temperature in front of boiler. My water temps are hard to monitor because of the mixing problem I have.
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South central Kentucky
Ford F-150
16 ft tandem trailer
3000# winch
Husqvarna 142
Husqvarna 460 rancher
6ft spud bar
Poulan 3314
22 ton lowes splitter
Timberline sharpener
"Worn out body"

Bluegrass Wood Burner

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Re: Goodbye aquastat
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2018, 06:23:15 AM »

I just realized another feature that would be helpful. The high and low temperature limit setting would be nice when something goes wrong it would automatically shut everything down. My power comes from a cord that iruns thru my insulated pex water pipe and plugs into an outlet by my air handler. I could mount one of these in a box by the outlet and let it be a main controller with hi and lo temp spikes and falls. Also it has an alarm feature that could also be incorporated into this. These are handy little devices. I'm gonna order 5 or 6 to allow me to have backups in case of failure. Now if I could find a cheap wifi monitoring system
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South central Kentucky
Ford F-150
16 ft tandem trailer
3000# winch
Husqvarna 142
Husqvarna 460 rancher
6ft spud bar
Poulan 3314
22 ton lowes splitter
Timberline sharpener
"Worn out body"

greasemonkoid

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Re: Goodbye aquastat
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2018, 02:56:54 PM »

You might be referring to the ITC-2000? These have a second output control, a normally closed relay good for 10 amps, once active the push of a button disables it. Handy units. Good protection.

Be careful or you'll wind up with this:



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