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[haflinger]

My woodburner is located about 125 feet from my house and about 25' down a hill. It has worked great for almost 2 seasons. After the supply pipe enters the house black 3/4" heater pipe is run to my water heater. Lately the black pipe is collapsing badly - appearing to cut off water flow significantly. What is the cause and what can I do to remedy the situation. Will a vacuum breaker work and if so what kind and  how should it be installed? Thanks

[ITO]

Is it possible that your plate exchanger is plugging up and the pump suction is causing that? Not sure of your setup but that's my first thought.

[haflinger]

It's possible. At some point I'll have to pull it and try to clean it out. Thanks

[juddspaintballs]

Hot heater hose usually gets fairly soft, especially with age.  Go squeeze an aged radiator hose and a new one at the auto parts store.  A little suction on a soft hose will collapse it easily.  You might want to replace the heater hose with PEX.

[racnruss]

Is your pump on supply side or return side?  I would assume supply side since you are pumping uphill.   If so, pump could be getting weak and the gravity pull of water going downhill back to boiler could cause collapse of heater hose.

I too use heater hose in utility room and like it for flexibility.   My original pump died this year, it lasted 2.5 seasons.  This could be a cause.

[haflinger]

all good suggestions/possibilities that I will investigate. Thanks

[Sprinter]

I just don't know what to say........but wow.    Are you way out in the bush by chance....?  That is from negative pressure, but why is it even in the system. I'm sure you will find a thin black greasy film in all the pipes too.

[haflinger]

I am in a rural area - out of the way. I've got to get to the bottom of this. Will shut it down soon and check some things out then. Thanks

[juddspaintballs]

Seriously, PEX is cheap, connections are easy, and it was made for boiler installations.  With the little bit of heater hose you have there, I'd even be tempted to just run it all in copper. 

[Sprinter]

Yup, I agree. Copper always looks the best. Prebuild a manifold with unistrut to jig it up.take your time and it'll look like a pro.  Just connect it up with some unions or circ flanges. Repairing the pipe is only part of it. You have to fix the negative pressure part or you'll have other issues. You know how it goes, fix one problem then you find the next weakest link.