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Author Topic: A quick pump/piping system question  (Read 2438 times)

juddspaintballs

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A quick pump/piping system question
« on: July 10, 2015, 10:42:56 AM »

I'm looking to do a quick down and dirty install at this house for this winter on the cheap.  I'm not skimping, but I'm not doing a full build out this year either.  I have the money to plant my boiler on a slab, bury the Logstor I just got from Slimjim, and everything else I need to be done tinkering with the outside portion of the boiler for all future buildouts of the system.  All I'm doing in the house for this year is a water to air heat exchanger in my duct work.  I'm not even going to try heating my domestic water for now. 

My old system, I used a manifold system with a big pump pushing water through the whole thing and zone valves on the circuits I wanted shut down when they weren't calling for heat -- like the heat exchanger in the duct work.  It worked well, but since I have several renovations to do to this house, I don't want to put all of my eggs in one basket by doing a full install right away.  I want a single loop into my heat exchanger in the duct work and that's it.  I do not want hot water circulating through it when the thermostat in the house is not calling for heat. 

I have a Taco 007 stainless from my last install (it was used to circulate domestic water) that fits the bill for my heat load, flow rate, and head.  Can I setup the 007 to turn on and off with the thermostat?  If the 007 is off, would water still thermocirculate through the loop?  If I can't shut down the 007 as necessary, my next thought would be to use a zone valve on the heat exchanger and put a bypass just before the zone valve so the circuit would still flow. 

The overall goal here is CHEAP.  What do you think?
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RSI

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Re: A quick pump/piping system question
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2015, 10:52:43 AM »

Is this the only pump in the system or is there another that would be always circulating to the house?
If it is the only pump on the OWB, I would put a 3 way zone valve at the heat exchanger. Most of them are really restrictive though.

If you have another pump that always circulates water to the house, you should be able to do a secondary loop and have no ghost flow through the heat exchanger when the pump is off.
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juddspaintballs

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Re: A quick pump/piping system question
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2015, 06:26:58 PM »

I was planning on it as the only pump.  I have a Taco EBV in 1" that I used in the past for the heat exchanger that worked great.  Open for heat, closed for no heat.  I know the EBV is as restrictive as a regular ball valve (hardly at all).  Can I use the 007 as the only circulator and have it turn off and the EBV close when the thermostat isn't calling for heat?  Would that be the best setup?
« Last Edit: July 10, 2015, 06:35:28 PM by juddspaintballs »
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slimjim

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Re: A quick pump/piping system question
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2015, 03:53:10 AM »

You could use a relay to power both the fan and circ and an aqua stat to interrupt the power on the fan so it doesn't come on until the HOT water is present at the rad
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RSI

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Re: A quick pump/piping system question
« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2015, 03:20:25 PM »

You could use a relay to power both the fan and circ and an aqua stat to interrupt the power on the fan so it doesn't come on until the HOT water is present at the rad
Why not just run the blower off the aquastat instead of powering it off a relay and just breaking the circuit with the aquastat?

What brand of OWB do you have? Are you sure there will not be any problems with it not circulating when the boiler is in a burn cycle?
Also, what about the cold water that will be flushed into it from the pipes every time the pump comes on?

Are you sure it will be a problem just letting it circulate through the heat exchanger 24/7? Most people prefer it that way because they like the small amount of convection heat without the blower running as often.

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juddspaintballs

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Re: A quick pump/piping system question
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2015, 05:28:23 PM »

It's a Heatmor 200css.  Not circulating shouldn't be a problem. 

I guess I could simply plumb it up to always circulate and let it convect some air through the vents.  If I don't like it, I'll toss in a bypass zone valve to shut off the HX and let the water keep circulating. 
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RSI

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Re: A quick pump/piping system question
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2015, 05:39:04 PM »

If you don't like it you could try adding a relay to run the pump only when the thermostat is calling for heat and see how that works out. It would be real simple and cheap to test it. You could also add the aquastat like Slim mentioned but I would try it without first since I don't think it is really needed most of the time.

Some stoves will boil without a pump running especially in warmer weather. I am not sure about that one. I would see if they mention anything in the manual about it.
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juddspaintballs

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Re: A quick pump/piping system question
« Reply #7 on: July 11, 2015, 07:51:56 PM »

If you don't like it you could try adding a relay to run the pump only when the thermostat is calling for heat and see how that works out.

That's what I wanted to do in the first place. 
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RSI

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Re: A quick pump/piping system question
« Reply #8 on: July 11, 2015, 08:08:05 PM »

I would try just running the pump first though and only add the relay if you don't like the way it is working.
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juddspaintballs

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Re: A quick pump/piping system question
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2015, 09:35:49 PM »

Simple enough to do.  Thanks
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