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[mw10737]

Hello everyone,  I been reading lots of post here and looking for more info on hooking up my new " 20 " Plate for my DHW.  I have a Empyre 250,  heating my garage and my house,  i have 1" pex for main feed going to basement,  then I put t fittings in the main line to heat my garage. 

First question is:  Can i use T fittings again in my basement to go to the plate exchanger?  the t's will be in the line before it gets to my furnace coil..
Socond:  seen alot of disscussion on before or after the hot water heater..  Would my 20 plate be big enough to use as a "ON DEMAND" heater,  or should i put it before and let the warm water stay stored in the water heater? 

I would think if it had the capacity that it may work good after the DWH,  plus if need be could a guy turn on DWH and if fire went out or have to be gone it would slightly keep boiler water above freezing?

My main concern is using "T" fittings of main feed line and not taking too much away from coil...  right now as it sits garage and house work great and i have more than enough capacity with OWB.  Im amazed at how little wood this unit uses. 

I would appreciate any help i could get....  diagrams and pictures are good too.  Im very new to this all so please be descriptive as you can

Thanks
Matt- Northeast Iowa
Plainfield, Iowa

[RSI]

It works best to just cut the line that comes into the house and connect the 2 sides to the in and out on the plate. A 20 plate shouldn't restrict your flow too much.

Before the tank is better. If your fire goes out you still have hot water. If you put it after, you have to turn off the water heater and then have no hot water if the fire goes out. It also keeps it more constant temperature. You will never run out of hot water with it before because it is putting hotter water into the tank than you are taking out.

[hddmax66]

I have a 20 plate that i got from freeheat4u.com . It heats my water very hot and i use it as an on demand system. I use no tanks or anything jus the plate exchanger. This is how mine looked when i first installed it. As the boiler water comes in the house run to this and the out to you furnace heat exchanger.

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[Bull]

I agree with RSI and welcome to the site

[mw10737]

I think what im going to do is..  Hook up both ways and put valves in-line so i can either run through cold side of water heater, or if i want run it as a ON Demand system,  i will have a few extra valves and "t"s but atleast i have option either way.  And going to try to shut off water heater....  Im really hoping that it works great as on demand and i dont have to do anything with my current water heater till i turn it back on this spring..

Another question,.  How long do you guys leave OWB on for water heating?  I would think that if im no longer heating house this spring that i could leave OWB going just for water heater?  I wouldnt think it would use much wood at all?  Let me know your thoughts

 

[donahuej]

Matt,

I have vales after my plate exchanger (I put a 50 to not restrict water flow) that cuts the supply to my water to air exchngers in the warmer months.  I'm set up after my tank in an on-demand fashion and have never ever run out of smokin hot water.  I run this way till about June here in NJ and fire it back up in September because I heat my pool May-June and Sept-October.   If it were just DHW I don't think  l'd load the stove but every three maybe four days.

Jamie

[mw10737]

My main feed lines are 1" PEX  Do you guys thing a 20 plate with 1" opening is going to restrict my flow?  Everything is working great right now... I hate to mess up a good thing.   

[RSI]

It should work fine with a 20 plate (5x12").

[mw10737]

Got the 20 plate   hooked up today.... after getting all the air out of the system seems to be working ok,  i plumbed it so i could use as a ON DEMAND and also can shut a valve off and also run through the water heater.  Seems when i run it as on demand that i lose a ton of heat coming out my registers in the house.  Maybe this is normal. I was expecting that to happen a little bit but not to the point of almost blowing cold air.  Any ideas??? or is this just normal?

 But i tell you what its got a endless supply of hot water to use.   Would it be a good idea to raise my boiler temp(OWB)?  Its set at 175 degrees right now... Just looking for ideas.  And i do realize that there is only a short time that furnace and usage of hot water would be used at same time.... Guess i thought that i wouldnt effect the furnace coil that much..... any ideas are appreciated..

[RSI]

What size pump do you have? That 20 plate can take a lot of heat out of the boiler water if you have slow flow rate. If it is a problem with the colder air at the registers when the water is running you might need to get a larger pump.

[mw10737]

RSI:  Here are the specs

Three Speed High Performance Circulating Pump

•Removable Integrated Check Valve
•Built-in motor protection for longer life
•Quiet and low power consumption
•Prevents thermal siphoning
•Pump Housing: Cast Iron
•Voltage: 115 V, 60 HZ. Power: 100/70/55w. Motor: 2 Pole, Single Phase
•Min Fluid Temp: 36° F (2° C). Max Fluid Temp: 230° F (110° C). Max Flow: 21.9 (U.S. GPM). Max Head: 19 feet (head). Max Working Pressure: 145 PSI
•Insulation Class: H 356° F (180° C)


Vendor: Stiebel Eltron

I have a 12X12 air exchanger in my garage, 18X22 in my house furnace and a 20 plate exchanger for DWH.  I hooked up the garage coil just "T" into the hot and the return.... works great.  Then the lines proceed to the house,  when I  hooked up the 20 plate i ran the hot feed into plate then back out main furnace coil.  The return is still hooked up to exchanger in furnace just how it always was.  I still wonder if I would have just "t" into the hot feed and the ruturn with the 20 plate if it would have worked better....but im sure it wouldnt have got the heat i need. 

Im thinking your right though if i could get more volume of water therough the system then i may be able to retain more heat...  What are your thoughts on turning boiler temp to 180 degrees insted of 175?  U think that may make any diffirence? 

Its 26 degrees this morning ,  really strong east wind,  filled stove last night and checked after 9 hrs and still 2/3 full Garage is at 64.... House is at 74 and got hot water....  And when not calling for DHW the house registers are very nice and warm.  Maybe im to worried about it.  Hot water usage is only a small part of time.  All 5 of us took seperate showers last night and never ran out of hot water.... and the temp in the house never dropped ...  Just concerned when it gets down to -10 to-20 below if im going to be dropping temp in house when calling for hot water..  Let me know.... sorry for rambling on....
Matt

[donahuej]

Do you know the return temperature to the boiler?  If not I recommend spend you few bucks and put temp probes on the supply and return lines, they will let you dial your unit in.  I have probes on the boiler supply/return and in my crawl when I exit my thermopex to copper.  Having readings at these points has really helped me understand how I'm using the available BTUs.  Many on here say you want to see a 20 degree delta supply and return as the sweet spot.  There are a number of factors that come into play but the 20 degree delta T has worked for me.  In the colder months Dec-March I crank my top to 185 to meet the demand of my 50 plate at two 18 x 24 air exchangers never have a problem.

Good luck,

Jamie

[RSI]

The garage heater is really cutting down the flow to the house. Do you have any valves on the garage heater? If so, I would close one of them down part way and see if it helps with the heat in the house. If it does, I would close it as far as possible and with it still heating the garage ok.

If it isn't too hard to do, you might want to try putting the garage heater in series too. That might work better. If that doesn't then a larger pump is the only other option to keep the temperate up.