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[kayakerski]

Hello everyone,

There are alot of posts here stating low return temps are bad but I'm having trouble figuring out what to do because there are alot of different causes and solutions.

So generally I have about a 20 degree difference between supply and return at AT MY OIL FURNACE. This morning I noticed the return was at 125! I'm going to closely monitor the temps now to see how often it occurs.  While this happened, my oil boiler temp was about 165, owb supply was at 182(at the top of the oil boiler) and outside my owb was at 184.

Any suggestions? I'll save decribing my setup because I think many of you already know what I have based on my posts over that last 2 weeks but i'll certain give more details as needed.

Maybe I need a larger pump at my owb? (Currently I have 160-170' of 1" pex line and a Taco 009. There is about 6 feet of drop from my owb to my oil boiler that I'm derectly tied into)

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Gregg

[slimjim]

Do you have any idea what your heat load is when all your zones are calling for heat, the 009 should be keeping up when all zones are calling, a larger circ may help but you may also want to look at the new Grundfos Alpha or Taco bumble bee as they are both head sensing circs and they self adjust speed by the demand.

[victor6deep]

Get the taco 011

[kayakerski]

slimjim,

Any idea how I can determine heat load? I only have one zone for my whole house and I also heat dhw.

Gregg

[slimjim]

Does your oil boiler heat the house well, if so look at the service record on it and it will give you the firing rate of the nozzle, it will be something like .85- 80 w, this would tell you that you are firing at .85 gallons of oil per hour, at 144,000 BTU per gallon of oil that would be 122,000 btu which in my rule of thumb =12 gallons of water per minute required to match the max output of your oil boiler.

[willieG]

Does your oil boiler heat the house well, if so look at the service record on it and it will give you the firing rate of the nozzle, it will be something like .85- 80 w, this would tell you that you are firing at .85 gallons of oil per hour, at 144,000 BTU per gallon of oil that would be 122,000 btu which in my rule of thumb =12 gallons of water per minute required to match the max output of your oil boiler.

your oil burner will be oversized as the sizing of your oil burner would have been for the expected coldest day of the year plus a little "wiggle room" if your boiler is set to burn .85 gph that would be 20 gallons for a 24 hour period..if you are burning this much you are a rich person

where i live the average btu rating they say is 40 btu per square foot. i live in a 2000 square foot home with a basement and and 2 floors and i have never had a cold night where my stove cant keep up and i am moving about 6 gpm at 165 to 175 degrees (less than 60,000 btu per hour)

[slimjim]

Thank you, most of us here in southern Maine figure on 33

[kayakerski]

Ok thanks guys. I will look into this asap. Im not sure on the service records because I just bought the place last year and that's when I installed the owb. I'll see what I can do though. The previous owner did say they burned 1500 gallons a year though.

The owb seems to heat the house good when its cold out. It will go several days without the oil burner running when its cold out (<20f).

Thanks guys.

Gregg

[willieG]

Ok thanks guys. I will look into this asap. Im not sure on the service records because I just bought the place last year and that's when installed the owb. I see what I can do though. The previous owner did say they burned 1500 gallons a year though.

The own seems to heat the house good when its cold out. It will go several days without the oil burner running when its cold out (<20f).

Thanks guys.

if you burnt 1500 gallons of heating oil (WOW) and we guessed 150 heating days thats 10 gallons a day! at 4 bucks a gallon that is 40 bucks a day...also in wood that is over 20 cords of hard wood per season!  (you live in arena??)

Gregg

[willieG]

1500 gallons at 4 bucks a gallon---6000 dollars...i been burning wood for 15 years...i have lost touch with the true cost of home heating. (thank god)

[kayakerski]

No doubt Willie. We couldn't have afforded this old place without the owb.

I spend about $2k now between wood and oil. I also cut wood for our indoor stove on my property. If I counted my labor I would probably be right back at $6k but I like doing the work.

Gregg

[slimjim]

Yes and the savings is pretty good pay is'nt it.

[kayakerski]

For sure!