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[Robcally41]

This is my first post and first time owning an outdoor furnace so please bare with me....

Just bought a home with a Hardy H4 and fired it up for the first time to test it out.  The furnace ran for about 20 minutes and then the cold water supply line burst just below the solenoid for the automatic fill.  After I got the water line valve in the house turned off I realized that the pump wasn't plugged in and wasn't circulating the water.  Could that have been what caused the pipe to burst?  I'd like to know for sure before I fire it back up. 

Thanks!

Rob

[RSI]

Did it have a proper pex connection or some hose barb and clamps, etc? Can you post a picture of it?

[Scott7m]

What was the pipe made of?  If your furnace is installed with good stuff you should have 2 3/4" pex lines at your stove as well as 2 1" or 3/4" pex lines, 4 total....

Pex won't burst like that so has me wondering

[Bull]

The pump does not effect the DHW on your Hardy.

[Robcally41]

Hi guys, thanks for the quick replies.  Attached is a pic of the burst.  I'm not quit sure what kind of pipe it is...

Thanks for any suggestions.

Rob

[attachment deleted by admin for space issues]

[Scott7m]

Cheap old black water line with hose clamps is what it is, if I were you I'd install a new 5 wrap 4 line pex system and do away with that junk, if that's how there doing it I can guarantee your underground pex isnt properly insulated and you'd be money, time, labor, and headaches ahead in the future. 

[RSI]

Does there happen to be a check valve at the other end of that pipe?
Is that pipe running against the hot boiler lines? If so, I would get rid of it asap because it is not rated for the temperature.

[Scott7m]

Does there happen to be a check valve at the other end of that pipe?
Is that pipe running against the hot boiler lines? If so, I would get rid of it asap because it is not rated for the temperature.

Yep that's how a lot of hardy dealers do it, it's a disaster waiting to happen.  Most of them slide all 4 lines down into schedule 40 tile and that's it, sometimes they have slip on foam insulation on the pex lines.  I've checked 70ft runs before and saw a 15-20 degree drop in temp before it got to the furnace

[Robcally41]

Thanks again for the quick replies:

There is a check valve inside the house.  I had to turn it off in order to stop the water from pouring out of the hole. 

Because this is a supply line that's purpose is to fill the tank when low, could I still run the furnace and manually fill it when needed?  Does anyone have an idea what could have caused the pipe to burst where it did?  Remember that the pump was not running when then the rupture occurred and when I turned off the water I could feel hot air coming out of the opening.

Much appreciated!

Rob

[RSI]

The check valve is probably the reason. When you started the fire it got hot and expanded the water in the pipe. That was probably the wamest spot so the weakest.

[Robcally41]

I may have been wrong about the check valve.  It's actually just a regular switch valve that you can open and close.  Does that matter?  As you can see in the pic, there is also one right above where the pipe burst.  When these furnaces are operating correctly, should both valves be open?

Thanks again.

Rob

[HandyMark]

Someone more familiar with Hardy will surely be along but I do not think there should be any reason you should have to use that line to refill. I keep my boiler topped off by dragging out a hose on the rare occasion it needs water.  As for the check valve you need one to keep boiler water from being drawn into your potable water system.

[Scott7m]

Mark, hardys don't work in that fashion at all....


Hardy's use water all the time and that line is what keeps the stove full of water, they have an auto fill system so to speak. 

However, that line set has valves so in the summer your not sending your water out to the stove before it comes back to the house, inside the stove itself is a copper spiral coil that pulls heat right from the water jacket and sends it back to your home.  Not safe, but that's how they do it, and most do not use mixing valves

I think it would be a good idea to upgrade the line set on that unit

[RSI]

Someone more familiar with Hardy will surely be along but I do not think there should be any reason you should have to use that line to refill. I keep my boiler topped off by dragging out a hose on the rare occasion it needs water.  As for the check valve you need one to keep boiler water from being drawn into your potable water system.

You can not have a pipe that is closed off at both ends and heat it and expect it not to blow up. If you have any sort of valve that will keep the water from backing up when it gets heated, something bad will eventually happen. The black plastic pipe might be able to expand enough but it will eventually cause it to fail. If it is necessary to have the valve at the house end of the pipe it should have some sort of expansion tank or at least a pressure relief valve on it so it can vent.
If the pipe is not against the boiler lines it might be ok without.

[Scott7m]

Your right rsi

The H2o lines are right beside the furnace Lines in the underground pipe, when that water gets hot, something has to give