Thought I'd post to say my install is working well. We built a new house including a detached garage. I bought the BL3444 (no shaker grate) to heat both. I have about 200' of z-supply 5-wrap from the boiler to the house, and about 30 feet to the detached garage. Line is buried about 3 feet deep, but for the run to the garage it comes out of the ground and into the side of the garage. I'm getting no snow melt on the exposed line. I planned on doing logstor but the nearest supplier didn't have it in stock when I needed it, and I found a supplier on the z-supply 5 wrap for half the price of logstor. When we've checked the run to the house, it's lost at most 1 degree from the aquastat on the boiler to the in-line thermometer on the copper pipe in the basement. So for $6.35 per foot, I'm impressed with the z-supply. I honestly thought it wouldn't perform this well.
I've got the SP at 187 with a 10 degree diff right now. It's been hitting 189-190 at times after a blower burn. Burn times have been great. When we've had sub-zero temps (-7 at night, wake up to -10), I'm getting 12-14 hour burn times (I go outside to load every 12 hours and there's always a couple logs or more that are still 3-6" in diameter, so I'm guessing it could've lasted another couple hours before hitting a critical point). Burning hardwoods when this cold. I add in junk wood (lots of big tooth aspen here) when it's warming, such as in the 20s.
Have a forced air furnace with an in-line heat exchanger. The plumber set up an aquastat near the plenum so that if the water temp drops to 130 or less, the furnace burns propane. Over 130 and the blower only kicks on when the thermostat calls for heat. We're heating 4000 square feet in the house and keep the thermostat at 73 24/7. 20 plate exchange for the DHW, and the 80 gallon water heater is set to kick on and use its electric elements if the water temp in it falls to a specific temp (can't remember what it's set at). Have a mixing valve coming off the water heater tank and it's all performing well. The detached garage has a hanging blower to heat it. Haven't wired in a thermostat yet, so I just plug it in and unplug it once it's in the 70s.
All in all, it's performing quite well. The only bad part is I didn't have time to cut up all the wood before the blizzard hit on November 11, so I've been shoveling snow and ice off the logs and cutting them as I go. Next year I'll be better ready as I plan on doing a metal carport for shelter.
Thanks to those of you who've answered questions I've had, especially slimjim. Also been very helpful just to read what others have been posting.
Happy 2015!
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Topic: New Install Working Well (Read 2058 times)