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[WoodMOJoe]

Now that my stove is finished (see pics in "Homemade" section) I am trying to get my parts list together for my plumbing fittings.   

My system will consist of OWB about 50' from the house, 20-plate HX for DHW and water-to-air hx in the plenum of my upflow furnace. 

Pump will be mounted in the basement near the furnace and water heater.  OWB will be the high point of system, and I am guessing there will be a difference of 6-7 feet from the high and low points of the system.

Was wondering:

Where should I place ball valves on the system?  I thought it might be a good idea to have them on all the hx ports to facilitate removal/replacement but without a "union" type fitting to break the piping down, do they do any good?  I figured I would need ball valves on the supply and return line out on the stove also, of course.

What about fill/drain ports and/or bleeder valves?  Was planning on doing most of the filling through the top of the stove (2" pipe) but wondered if I needed a hose bib or something on a line down in the basement, that I could use to prime the system?

Any thoughts or advice on the tricks you have learned on plumbing are most welcome.

Here is a pic of my equipment in the basement:




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[RSI]

You will want a valve on both sides of the pump. You can get valves that have pump flanges built in.
I would also put a valve on the return line before it leaves the house. The reason for this is if you ever have a leak in the house, you can shut it off easily without having to run outside.
There really isn't any need for valves at each heat exchanger unless you are doing bypasses at them. If you need to shut off to remove a heat exchanger there will be a valve back at the pump and on the return line.

[WoodMOJoe]

I have seen those flanged valves somewhere in my searching but had forgotten about those, thanks RSI.  I will get a couple of those to put on my pump.  And a regular one

Bypassing...when is that necessary or desirable?  I don't plan on heating my DHW unless I am also heating my house, so do I need to bypass either of my hx's?

Thanks for the great ideas...keep them coming.  This is my first OWB install, and the first time I have ever plumbed with pex so anything about plumbing you can think of lay it on me, no matter how simple it may seem!

[RSI]

Bypasses on the furnace is nice if you run the boiler in the spring and fall when it gets fairly hot during the day and cold at night. Other than that they probably won't ever get used.
You could put them on both heat exchangers and it would allow you to remove either heat exchanger from the system without shutting down the system. Unless you have really bad water, you won't likely have to remove them very often. (mine are 8 or 9 years old and have never been disconnected since installed and still work fine)

For the plate heat exchanger, you might want to look for swivel pex fittings. You can get them with 1" threads and either 1" or 3/4" pex barb. They will work like a union at the plate.

[WoodMOJoe]

So I guess if you bypass the hx in the furnace that keeps that heat out of your ducts that would radiate through the house on the warm days/cold nights when you don't really want the excess heat.  That makes sense, I never would have thought of that.   

Our water is pretty hard and we don't treat it.  I will look for those swivel fittings, figured they had to make something that would serve as a union without having to go to cast iron.

It seems like most of these online sellers don't have everything that a guy wants, some have most everything but going to have to go to 2 or 3 of them to get it all.

[RSI]

The swivel fittings are kind of hard to find. I think Ace Hardware might carry them though.

One other thing you might want to add is a Y strainer. Only put one in though if you plan on maintaining it. I used to suggest them for everyone but they never touch them and then it plugs and they are getting little or no heat. The junk will build up in the heat exchangers eventually that it would catch but will take much longer till it causes a problem.

[WoodMOJoe]

I'll see if I can sleuth up some swivel fittings.

Y strainer was definitely on my list, I have a spreadsheet that I have been noting pieces and parts on after combing through the threads here for a few months.   

Is once a year enough to clean them?

[WoodMOJoe]

Here's another greenhorn plumbing question:

For a ball valve, is it better to get a threaded ball valve and put male thread/pex adapters in each end of the ball valve...or just get the ball valves that already have the pex ends as part of the valve?

Any difference...or is there a situation that one setup works better than the other?

[RSI]

If you are just connecting pex to pex, there is no reason to use the threaded valve. Just more joints that could possibly leak.
You can also get valves that are threaded on one side and pex barb on the other. They are available in either male of female pipe thread.

[WoodMOJoe]

More joints to leak, that was my guess, thanks RSI.

I am trying to get my fittings order together now, trying to count up all the pieces I think I need...then I will double it!   

Am going with the iso flange valves at the pump, and I will get a couple of the double pex-ended ones to cut into the lines on the back of the furnace, and for the HX bypass. 

[RSI]

Why not just screw a pex x threaded valve on at the boiler instead of a pex fitting and piece of pex between the valve and boiler?

[WoodMOJoe]

Why not just screw a pex x threaded valve on at the boiler instead of a pex fitting and piece of pex between the valve and boiler?

Why not indeed, good idea. 

Just like so many other disciplines, there are usually several ways to get a job done...but some are just better.

I am going to redraw my project using these new pieces, just from what you have already told  me I can already see I was using too many/improper fittings in some of these conditions.   

[RSI]

If you need help finding any of the parts, let me know and I may be able to help.

[WoodMOJoe]

I think I have found everything so far but appreciate the offer.

In my searching I have seen some check valves...is there any need for these on a typical system like mine?

[sheilmolson]

Well, for this I would like to tell that you consult to any professional plumber as he will guide you in this matter. I had recently installed a water purifier in my home and I also took help from the members of the company to install the purifier.
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