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[slowtime]

Finished building my house finally. Now its time to get my OWB and get it setup. I have a few questions though.

I have decided a long time ago to buy the BL2840 and i have talked with Rory at P&M but also talked with a Dealer about 2 hours away from me. Wondering if anyone has found any benefit to dealing with head office rather than a local dealer. The other question i am wondering is why head office didn't tell me there was a dealer fairly close to me.

So i have a 2 story house about 1950 square feet above ground and 850 square foot basement. Main floor and 2nd floor are well insulated R22 and R60 in the attic. And the basement is ICF bloc so its pretty good to.

My wife did not like the idea of raddiant floor heat (not sure why) so i have duct work installed and an Electric furnace for an air handler. I purchased an HTL18x20 Water to Air Heat Exchanger and it is installed in the plenum.

My stove is going to be about 100' from the house and i will run some 1" logster about a 18" underground from the stove to the house.

This is kinda the setup i had in mind : http://media.wix.com/ugd/61224a_815f12f5b7ed26a24492ae0e98dd8931.pdf

So questions i have are.
1. I want to heat my domestic hot water and i planned on using a plate exchanger but not sure what size i would need? i have a 60 gal electric hot water tank.

2. What size circulation pump should i use and what kind would you recommend?

3. What else will i need?

Any help would be great

[slimjim]

OK let me see if I can shed some light for you, First our stocking dealers have a protected area of 50 miles, if your local dealer did not come up then he is more than likely outside that area, with that being said if I were in your shoes I would be doing business with your local dealer!
  As far as the plate exchanger, 20 plate is typically fine but pay attention to flow restriction, if you follow my posts I prefer to use the sidearm system but they both work well if properly set up.
  Circs, I use Grundfos on all my installs, typically the 26-99 3 speed, low setting on low demand and high as it gets colder and you see the temp differential creep wider.
  What else do you need, Purge ports and temp gauges, don't cheap out as it helps a great deal to diagnose an issue later on.

[mag1266]

 Put some beer in the fridge and I'll come help with the install.

[slowtime]

Thanks Slim

And Mag1266 I already counted on you helping me out. And there is always beer in the fridge.

[Sloppy_Snood]

As far as the plate exchanger, 20 plate is typically fine but pay attention to flow restriction, if you follow my posts I prefer to use the sidearm system but they both work well if properly set up.

Would it be any "advantage" to design a system with a sidearm and a plate exchanger?

[slimjim]

The only thing about the plate is that it only works if the domestic water is moving unless you put another pump on it, it could be beneficial to do both but you had better put a mixing valve on it or somebody is bound to get burned.

[CountryBoyJohn]

You'll get enough hot water through a 20 plate with 1 shower a day.  Any less than that and you'll be better off with a sidearm.  Using both would be needed if you have intermittent high/low usage.  The sidearm would keep the water hot during low usage and the plate would take over in a high usage situation.  I have a family of 4 and am 100% satisfied with my 20 plate.  We were gone for 3 days with no water running and when we got back, I ran the shower for 3 or 4 minutes and I was back in business. 

[slowtime]

We are a family of 5 so i think we wouldn't have a problem with the use of our hot water. I have also read on there forums of using a 20 plate like an on demand water heater. Which is the better way to do it?

[CountryBoyJohn]

I have mine set up before my water heater.  The "on-demand" set up, like you mention below, is for the exchanger to be after the water heater.  I like mine before and my water heater is basically a storage tank.  I can't testify to the other setup, but I like mine. 

If something malfunctions with my stove or pump, I still have 50 gallons of hot water.  If your pump goes out or something, you'll have no hot water at all in the other setup.

Placing before also allows you to leave your water heater turned on as a backup.  I don't leave mine on, but you could.  If you put your exchanger after, you'd HAVE to turn off your water heater. 

[Crow]

 I'll second CBJ's post. I have mine set up the very same way except a 30 gallon tank and family of 4. No problems keeping hot water.

[slowtime]

Just put my deposit down should! I'll pay for it and hopefully receive everything in the next couple weeks!

1 less BL 2840 on the market.