Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => Plumbing => Topic started by: automan77 on February 16, 2013, 08:54:23 PM
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I'm gonna be doing my own install and need some input on pump location. Is it better to install in my basement or at the boiler?
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not sure if it matters or not, but i put mine in the basement 11 years ago...figured when it burns out it will be on the coldest night of the year so i have my replacement ont the shelf right beside it...i will be able to stay warm and dry when i do have to replace it!
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Ya thats what I was thinking to. Do those pumps make any noise when there running? can you hear the water circulating thru the lines?
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if you are in the same room you may here it but not if you are not in the room with it. I would say they are pretty quiet. mine is in my furnace room and i would say i hear the furnace blower and not the pump
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The pumps I've primarily used the past 2 seasons are darn near silent, you literally have to hold your ear up to them.....
If you install n the stove and it does go out in mid winter, it still only takes maybe 4-5 minutes to switch if it's installed properly
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I might be just as easy to change it at the boiler. wont have to worry about making a mess in the basement
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I might be just a easy to change it at the boiler. wont have to worry about making a mess in the basement
There won't be no mess inside either if it's installed properly, just use isolater flanges, they have ball valves built into the flange and you can close them and change the pump and barely get your hands damp
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thanks for that info I might install it indoors. I hope it goes good I dont do much plumbing work. I'm sure menards of home depot will help me out with the correct fittings i need.
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i have ball valves on both sides of every "appliance" and the main pump
i run all my "appliances" of fa feed and return header and can isolate any one "appliance" at any given time. you guys that run things in series and don't have by passes..what will you do when one "appliance" plugs up or springs a leak, you will have to shut the whole system down to fix one thing.
what will you do if you pump into a side arm and then to your furnace and then to maybe a baseboard heater and all of a sudden you find there is a leak in the side arm and your domestic water and OWB water are mixing together....you will have no heat in your home while you are working on the side arm. no matter if you use a header system or everything in series you should have by passes on everything as far as i am concerned
and if you have your pump in the basement you should valves on both sides of it as well ,so if you have to replace it you can shut it off and not lose any water out of the lines
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thanks for that info I might install it indoors. I hope it goes good I dont do much plumbing work. I'm sure menards of home depot will help me out with the correct fittings i need.
They don't even carry those things.... You'll have to get those from a plumbing supply house or a dealer.
The folks at home depot wouldn't even know what you were talking about, I can email you some links of the ones you need if you pm me your email addy or something...
It's super easy to install this thing where it's to complicated and possibly a thorn in your side all the time, I think you said you were using logstor which is a great choice, but the other components need to match and be installed correctly, it's not hard at all but there is little tricks I've learned installing these that are lifesavers
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putting your pump in the basement, i would suggest a hose bib at the boiler so you can hook a garden hose to it and push the air out of the system
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That's all good Willie, all things we offer to do as dealers but extremely rarely does the customer want to pay for thr extra plumbing, I always isolate the pumps though.
Installing your own as a DIY project and understanding thesystem is far different from a job out in thr field, there your under time constraints and working for someone else under a tight budget lol.
Today was an example, had a guy come by who was gonna run multiple loops off of one pump, no zone valves, just t's, he couldn't understand why he needed to isolate the pump or do anything correctly, he was like, "you mean to tell me you don't think water will flow through a t". I gave up, took his money and went on about my day... What can you do when the guy who is asking you questions already has all the answers
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i like to think...what can go wrong will evenutally go wrong...so lets make it fixable now while we are building it, so it is not a hassle later.
i guess there are alot of folks out there that figure they dont have the funds at the time but i thought of it a preventitive plan when installing them all
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i like to think...what can go wrong will evenutally go wrong...so lets make it fixable now while we are building it, so it is not a hassle later.
i guess there are alot of folks out there that figure they dont have the funds at the time but i thought of it a preventitive plan when installing them all
Yep. That's the difference in a lot of folks, some just wanna get it working as fast as possible. As to where you think down the road, that's a rare thing these days
Also, as a dealer, if I start saying things like we can install a bypass here in case this fails, they start panicking and think I'm selling junk and there gonna have to work on it all the time, therefore I just try to use the best components my customers can afford and go from there. Thankfully, I've had very few issues and a lot of happy folks
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i can understand your situation...like when i buy something and they try and talk me into the extended warranty...i tell them if they think i need the extra warranty they must either think the thing is gonna break down OR they think it wont and try ing to get some extra cash from me..either way i tell them if you think i need that, you keep it and i will shop down the street..lol
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i can understand your situation...like when i buy something and they try and talk me into the extended warranty...i tell them if they think i need the extra warranty they must either think the thing is gonna break down OR they think it wont and try ing to get some extra cash from me..either way i tell them if you think i need that, you keep it and i will shop down the street..lol
My point exactly.... If i start justifying all these extra valves that aren't in the manual or other designs they've seen, they think I'm trying to sell them added insurance or "warranty" and there flags go up fast
I would say 1 out of every 20 customers can appreciate isolating everything and actually think it's a smart move :thumbup:
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I completely agree with you. Better to be safe than sorry. Unfortunately, I'm one of those guys who usually falls in to the catagory of "just need to get it going fast" or "I'll add the extras later" or "I don't have the money to do it right at the moment". When that happens I do try to make it right later. I am a believer in this, "Do it once, do it right, and never have to do it again." Sadly, It just doesn't always work out that way.
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When that happens I do try to make it right later. I am a believer in this, "Do it once, do it right, and never have to do it again." Sadly, It just doesn't always work out that way.
Amen
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When that happens I do try to make it right later. I am a believer in this, "Do it once, do it right, and never have to do it again." Sadly, It just doesn't always work out that way.
Amen
This is one of those situations where if they can't afford to do it right, then maybe they shouldn't have one at all. There's plenty of stories where it was all supposed to save them money and it doesn't or it takes to long to pay back. When you have problems with a striped down system it's always more problems or more expensive to repair than if it was done right the first time. Valves or $50/ isolation flanges at each circ shouldn't be the determining factor, if you can afford it. Never heard of anyone complaining about them when they changed a circ or device.
Pump location is all preference, it doesn't matter to the pump where it's at as far as performance. This includes that no part of an open loop zone should be above the waterline.
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When that happens I do try to make it right later. I am a believer in this, "Do it once, do it right, and never have to do it again." Sadly, It just doesn't always work out that way.
Amen
This is one of those situations where if they can't afford to do it right, then maybe they shouldn't have one at all. There's plenty of stories where it was all supposed to save them money and it doesn't or it takes to long to pay back. When you have problems with a striped down system it's always more problems or more expensive to repair than if it was done right the first time. Valves or $50/ isolation flanges at each circ shouldn't be the determining factor, if you can afford it. Never heard of anyone complaining about them when they changed a circ or device.
Pump location is all preference, it doesn't matter to the pump where it's at as far as performance. This includes that no part of an open loop zone should be above the waterline.
Haha you need to come to ky a while. I was cussed like a sailor about an hour ago for pricing a guy a stove for $5995. He said ok, thats not bad someone else told me $9000. Im like ok but this is just the stove price, id have to come see your place or talk to you in great detail to price it all to you.
oddly enough it infuriated him and he used an analogy ive heard a few times, he said u dont sell someone a blankity blankin new car without the wheels. I tried to explain but gave up, he left cussin like a sailor...
Thats the kinda customers you don't want anyway. Had another lady here saying she would never buy a water furnace because everyone she knows says they freeze up when you need them most.
if my customers have the option of buying all unions and all the valving I think they should have, most always skimp, but they end up paying for it later one way or the other, and to them, its usually fine because they didnt have it to begin with.
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Well, I'm a DIY'er and did put in a bypass and unions at the furnace heat exchanger. I also put in unions at the boiler inlet and outlets and isolated my pump which is in the basement. I also will be hooking up a sidearm to the DHW and left in place a by pass to hook that up when I get my new water heater, hopefully this week. I also put in tee's with dry wells for in and out of the boiler temp gauges.
This was all due to research and help from this site and the very helpful people on it.
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I did mine myself and isolated everything I could think of. Just like any other plumbimg job, I put a few extra shut offs in line for future expansion or failsafe.
Scott, you are right that noone at Home Depot or Menards will know what you are looking for, but they do sell the stuff. All of mine were bought at Menards, but I had to search 4 different places for the components. Ball valves in 1 area, flanges in another, pex fittings two aisles over. I laid mine out right on the floor of the store to make sure I had everything and bought extra this or that to cover my sorry butt when I was neck deep in the basement. Thank God for a good return dept.