Well she has been burning (mostly) since Monday and I am hopeful the worst part of the learning curve is behind. Fire went out first night and I am still not sure how that happened as it burned for nearly 4 straight hours getting to temp so it should have had a heck of a coal base. No hot water on morning one was not a good start. Wired my Tstat wrong on day two as I finalized it's install and had the AC and boiler competing. That was big fun as I had cut the condensation line on the A-coil for the HE install and haven't fixed it back yet. Who needs AC in January? Thanks to prior posts here I learned about the power backfeed issue on the fan wiring between 2 Tstats. On day three as I was still trying to figure out the Tstat I told my wife to just turn the fan on manually if it got cool in the house and she fell asleep with it on and it got pretty toasty by the time she woke. None of the pets died or plants wilted so I guess no harm no foul.
I noted that my hot water went from 115 at the tap from my DHW heater to 140 coming in off the brazed plate HE. But with the bypass valves I installed on the lines in front I was able to mix some cold water to temper it down and now I get 130 at the tap so I am kind of smiling realizing that I have endless hot water, I am using no electricity to heat it, and I can loosely control the temp with the bypass valves (and I figured that out without reading about it). I think I am going to like this thing!
A few observations / questions for you guys who have been doing this a while. First off on the fire going out. I realized that if the fire sits idle too long that the chances of it going out increase like it did night one. I first thought about programming little temp spikes with the programmable house Tstat to pull some heat off of the boiler here and there to stoke the fire but that seemed a little nutzo. I started with my boiler temp at 160 with a 10 degree difference but have gone to 170 with a 3 degree diff. I am thinking with the smaller range it will stoke the fire more often but burn for less time to get to heat which may be better on keeping coals. Do you guys think a longer or shorter burn cycle will help keep it lit?
Also I put a couple of analog thermometers inside on the supply and return lines so I could observe the heat usage and I have noted that there is a consistent difference of 9 or 10 degrees with the Ranco on the back of the boiler. It could be that I am losing heat between the boiler and house but I have some pretty well insulated lines on a fresh install so I am more inclined to believe that the digital and analog thermometers just are not in sync. Any similar experience with these?
She has been burning maybe a bit more wood that I would have guessed but then again with the mishaps and only a few days I don't think I have a good feel for the true usage. But at this rate I will be busier cutting and splitting than I ever imagined but maybe that will help me get to that svelte, boyish figure from years past. Yeah right!! But it sure is nice in warm in here these days. Last week on one of the cooler mornings and we were still burning the inside stove I got up for work and took my morning shower at 55 in the master BR. No more!!!
kc