Hello All,
At the request of Jwood I am going to post my progress in this message thread and attach photos for all to critique. Normally when I take on a project that is not my area of expertise I like to do it quietly, under darkness at the witching hour, without mention to my family and friends so I can plow my way through mistakes and no one is the wiser. This time I am offering up my humble project and its photos for this community to critique. I am interested in doing the best install I can and will appreciate any information anyone has to offer.
Before anyone pipes up I know the Empyre 200pro may have been a mistake. There is very little info available on it and I was not privy to some of the manufacturing defects and negative service points they may have. My parents came home with a Beta VCR in the early eighties, we all know how things work. I chose the Empyre 200 for two reasons;
A: Cost. I purchased it from a dealer at under 60 percent of retail value
B: Two Zones and BTU output. I have a 2 story farmhouse with great room addition. Not including the basement it is 2000 square feet and well insulated. I had holes drilled in walls this winter and insulation injected between studs. I also had roof re-insulated and 2" of foam sprayed on my brick foundation in the basement. My shop is 2100sq feet with 13' ceilings and is well insulated. I know I am on the upper edge of the BTU output for the whole system but I do not plan on heating the shop throughout the week and a system that is running hot is cleaner and more efficient.
So here is my plan: (note to slim, no point in emailing you now on my intentions for plumbing schematic, here it is!)
*----------------* Pex grid in boiler slap and walkway
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Zone 2 ---- *----------------* 35' X 60' Shop. Water to air heat exchanger
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Boiler I
Zone 1 *----------------* Great room water to air heat exchanger/radiator/baseboard radiator
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* --------------- Hot Water Heater
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*---------------- Furnace plenum water to air
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*---------------- Kitchen Slate Floor radiate joist heat. (I can make breakfast with ice skates on it seems)
So as you can see its a medium project. I can supplement heating requirements in the shop with the wood furnace I installed two years ago. Should the radiant pad put too much load on the system I can shut it down. It's easier to put pex in concrete BEFORE you pour it.
The exchanger in the great room may seem odd but the guy who did the addition did not provide a link to the HVAC system and the addition is built on a slab completely concreted and insulated in.
I have struggled heating my home for a few years now. Originally I had a pellet stove in the great room and although it was pour/dial auger speed/walk away for a continuous BTU output I never fully trusted the thing after I came home one day to a house full of smoke and a few burn marks on our hardwood floors when the doors popped open after a backdraft. I thought it a better idea to install a propane stove in the corner with a handheld remote. Unfortunately it was better on paper. The propane stove fights an air mass with the oil furnace and it is impossible to balance out.
I also have a wood stove in the basement. It is certified and works great in reducing fuel consumption but getting wood into the basement when there isn't a cellar door is a pain in my ass. The bugs, soot, odd down draft and my wife constantly nagging me that the house is on fire at 2am every night is not worth the effort. I would rather stuff a few hundred dollar bills on the 1st of every month under her pillow to shut up.
So here are three pics for you to view. The first is basically a shot behind my shop where prying eyes can't see my boiler. I decided to put it here because of a few reasons. It is 165 feet from the edge of the house and with the technology of insulated pex I don't think there will be much heat loss. I do not have any neighbors. I am the only home on this side of the concession road (thus the lack of natural gas, high speed internet and cable TV) but my family doesn't want to be smoked out when the fire gets fat on those mild days.
The second photo (while sitting on my tractor) is the area cleaned up and excavation lines drawn out. The third photo is the 8" of topsoil removed. Luckily for me after 8" it is mostly clay.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123605823@N05/13911506286/https://www.flickr.com/photos/123605823@N05/13934664793/https://www.flickr.com/photos/123605823@N05/13935051854/ So I am off to pick up a few yards of gravel today and some other odds and sods for around the house. I plan to complete the forms this weekend and hopefully pour next weekend. Like I said, I am totally open to criticism be it positive or negative.
Hope everyone has a wonderful easter and you find all those eggs under your woodpiles next winter!
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Topic: Empyre 200pro Install (Read 11363 times)