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[caper]

hello all, minor issue,heatmaster 5000,works awesome, and we had a very cold winter here in nova scotia ,home is 4000 sq feet including garage and bonus room,very simple system I believe,in floor in basement and old fashion cast rads on main floor ,each on its own loop, so both floors do consume a lot of water,my issue is that from time to time both zones come on at the same time and when it does the temp gauge on my elect furnace which shows the water temp drops instantly tp approx. 70 or 80, I do realize that there s a lot of demand when the floors call for heat but i just thought that there must be a better way or maybe the system just needs alil adjustment,other then this issue everything works perfect,75 degrees inside whole house all winter and it was a cold one,used about 10 cords,which is nothing..thanks guys for your help again

[hondaracer2oo4]

The guys that know this stuff best will respond shortly. I am going to guess they are going to tell you to either have a priority zone which would give priority to one of the zones so that they can't both call at the same time or they are going to tell you that you need a bigger pump to move the water faster so that your Delta T isn't so crazy.

[slimjim]

Those cast Iron rads have a lot of cold water in them, a Priority zone will certainly help, make it the Cast Iron, good call Honda

[caper]

thanks guys, I haven't heard of such a thing,however a good heating guy prob has tho,in any case what does this require and how does it work,and if theres any other ideas out there ,keep them coming,thanks again,and like I said it isn't too much of a issue but I just hate seeing the furnace working so hard to recover from such a drop in heat ,plus it jus eats the wood when this happens...

[Sprinter]

Cast iron rads are awesome, they also have a lot of mass which should help maintaining a steady temp. Unless they are on setback or very long intervals between cycles. Either way they should never drop below 120 unless the zone is turned off.

The circulator should have been sized to handle one zone to all zones on at same time and maintain a proper 20DT. This is where an Alpha or VDT/bumblebee circulator makes the system very efficient and comfortable with variable speed pumping.

First you need to identify where the temp loss is coming from. Is it lack of flow, heat exchanger not delivering enough btu on a multi zone call, is supply temp holding steady? Also are your rads one pipe or two?

[slimjim]

It's a simple circulator relay, Taco makes a good one that is priority equipped, with as many zones as you need.

[caper]

I think im going to look into the priority zone way guys,i don't think I have an issue other then the rads and in floor just drain the system of hot water and the flow jus cant keep up,so hey ,lets just make it so the two wont come on at the same time,seems easy,but then again im no heat guy,lol...thanks again everyone,im just trying to learn as much as I can about my system,little at a time and along the way make it more efficient...

[Sprinter]

Just out of curiosity why can't the stove handle both at once? Unless you have a 150kbtu load or bigger , the stove should handle it

[Scott7m]

He never said it couldn't keep up, he was just worrying about the sudden drop in temp due to such a huge load all at once, when he gets it prioritized it will help with that.

[caper]

lololo. old betsy can keep up with it no problem even when its minus 20 with a wind chill,i just don't like seeing the temp drop so much and seeing the furnace work to get up to temp when theres a solution to get it more efficient that's all,and with the wealth of knowledge on this site,why not...

[Sprinter]

By running a priority zone, only the priority zone gets satisfied. Everything else has to wait, further cooling the zone off. If the stove can handle everything, then the system equipment needs to be addressed to provide enough BTU to everything at once. You only use a priority when it can't keep up or 2 different supply temps are required for different zones thru the same supply manifold.

[RSI]

Does this only happen if they both come on at the same time? If one is already running and then the other comes on is it ok? If so, I would put a strap on aquastat on the return from the radiator loop that disables the other zone till it gets back up to temp.

You will need to also use a relay so it will only kill the floor loop when the other is running.

[caper]

hey there, im startn to doubt ole betsy now, should the temp on my inside gauge not move when two large zones come on at relatively the same time or should there be a drop as so much water is now tryn to get hot so fast, so should I get this priority zone or not or should I see if the furnace needs to be looked at by someone who may hook it up better,once he heats my home no problem, I just see this happening to often and I hate seeing the temp drop so fast and the furnace taken soo long to recover.bye the way most times the temp on the outside gauge stays faithfully at 180 or at least close to it maybe 170 or so,but the inside one drops hard,anyway if someone could give me some simple solutions that would be great and remember im not a heating guy,however I am learning a lot about the system as we go ,thanks guys..and if yer ever in nova scotia drop in and have a brew...

[Scott7m]

I don't feel were getting a good feel for what your even trying to describe now, are you saying the loops to your rads drop fast or the stove itself?

On one hand you say Betsy is doing fine and can handle it, then hear ur worried, then you say the stove is staying at 180 or close to 170

Clarify this so we will have a better idea what's going on