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[brandontravis]

i have a portage and main optimizer 250 boiler apx 100 ft from sidearm exchanger i have the supply going to the top of the sidearm exchange with 1" pex then i have 3/4" copper from top sidearm exchange to alt pop off place on top of 80 gal hot water tank. the temp going into tank is about 175 degrees coming out of tank is about 90 degrees after 1 shower its about 60 degrees coming out. i had a taco 009-f5 pump and taco 5004-c2 mixing valve, i removed the mixing valve and replaced pump with a taco 2400-20-wb pump and still have same problem. any ideas i am running out of options?

[cantoo]

Brandon, I don't know pump numbers or speeds but maybe you are moving the water too fast? It will take quite awhile for 80 gals of water to get hot but once hot you should have lots. My water going in is at 160 at the max and coming out(after mixer valve) is max 120. Can you post pics of your setup? Something must be plumbed wrong to loose that much heat that quick.

[brandontravis]

 Here are some pics the supply hooks up at top of sidearm exchange the bottom goes to my supply for furnace exchanger

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[hondaracer2oo4]

I am not a good reference on this thread seeing as how I have had my own issues with my shell and tube sidearm but I do have a question about how you plumbed it. I have always read that with sidearms you want to ideally go into the side of the tank as to not force the water to fall back down into the tank after its been heated. Whats the reason that you didn't go in through the blow off valve on the side of the tank?

[cantoo]

Brandon, I can't tell from the pictures but it looks like your hot go into the center of your hot water tank at the top. Some heaters have a diptube on the cold supply inside that runs to the bottom of the tank, maybe your's is like this? I hooked mine to the pressure relief value outlet incase mine had this tube.
If you look at this picture you see where it is labelled "dip tube" this would stop the water from thermosiphoning properly.
 If you look at my pictures you will see in the last picture where I hooked the hot on the sidearm to the T at the pressure relief outlet.

[cantoo]

Brandon, this quote is from another site. "If you plumb into the hot water inlet DO NOT extend the heat exchanger any higher than 3-4 inches above the hot water heater. Try to stay as level as possible to the top of the tank. Anything higher than 3-4 inches will disrupt the thermosiphon and the heat exchanger may not work. Important Tips

Newer hot water heaters have an anti syphon valve installed in the top of the hot water exit. It is a blue plastic valve that needs to be ripped out using a pair of needle nose pliers.

 If you do not remove the anti syphon valve the thermosiphon process will not work. If the sidearm heat exchanger is plumbed into the pressure relief valve, the blue anti syphon valve does not need to be removed.

Use as few angles and turns as possible when plumbing in the heat exchanger. Keeping the heat exchanger between the top and bottom of the water heater and using a limited number of turns will assist the thermosiphon process."
"

It looks to me like you are more than 8" above the top of the tank? They recommend hooking into the pressure relief with a T the same way I did.

[brandontravis]

i dont know much about the tank but the place on the top is a alternate place for pop off valve so i thought it would work the same as on the side. all the bends are when i first installed sidearm i didnt realize it was right in front of the tanks heating coils so as a quick fix i moved it over never thought to many bends would cause a problem but that will be my next step in trying to fix.