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[kybaseball]

I have a 2 story house with 2 different heating units. I use the wood boiler to heat my downstairs. Getting a little older and would like to add the upstairs. Need some ideals on how to hook it all up. Like do I need to run another pump since it will be going upstairs? Can i tie into the line that is there and have the pump come on as needed to pull the water up? any and all help would be wonderful

[fireboss]

We need more information about your existing heating systems what type hot air, hot water baseboard ex  and how big of an area you trying to heat

[kybaseball]

I have a Heatmaster 10000E. I am heating about 3500 sq feet now and want to add 1500sq feet. I will be putting and heat exchanger in my air handler to get the heat water to air i think it is called. Somebody told me to T off the line and add the pump which would pump the water up stairs. Or do I just add to the line and let the pump do the work.

[RSI]

We need to know if there is enough BTUs available in the existing loop. If you already have a large temp drop on the return then there probably isn't. You may need to run another set of lines or replace them with larger lines. How long is the entire existing loop round trip and what all is in it? What size pump are you using?
How high above the OWB would you be running the new piping?

[mlappin]

We need to know if there is enough BTUs available in the existing loop. If you already have a large temp drop on the return then there probably isn't. You may need to run another set of lines or replace them with larger lines. How long is the entire existing loop round trip and what all is in it? What size pump are you using?
How high above the OWB would you be running the new piping?

 

You may run into air issues trying to pump the water too high above the boiler.

I ran lines in the shop along the rafter stringers to get from one side to the other and haven’t issues yet.

[kybaseball]

Sorry got busy. Here what i have. Stove is a 10000E Heatmaster, Pump is Grundfos 26-99, Line is wrapped 5 layers total loop is 250 feet, 20 plate heat exchanger for water, 2 exchanger for 2 air handlers. The upstairs would be 25 foot up and like 20 to air handler so 90 more feet total.

[GUSWHIT]

We need to know if there is enough BTUs available in the existing loop. If you already have a large temp drop on the return then there probably isn't. You may need to run another set of lines or replace them with larger lines. How long is the entire existing loop round trip and what all is in it? What size pump are you using?
How high above the OWB would you be running the new piping?

Great point!  I ran into this a friends house a few years ago.  His line ran from the hotwater heater to the downstairs furnace to the upstairs furnace before finally making it back to the stove.  Way to big of a temp drop by the time it got returned.

[RSI]

Sorry got busy. Here what i have. Stove is a 10000E Heatmaster, Pump is Grundfos 26-99, Line is wrapped 5 layers total loop is 250 feet, 20 plate heat exchanger for water, 2 exchanger for 2 air handlers. The upstairs would be 25 foot up and like 20 to air handler so 90 more feet total.

You definitely don't want to put it in series with what you already have. I would put a plate heat exchanger in the main loop and pressurize the upstairs part. If you get too much drop on the main loop with the extra heat load, you may need to run another set of lines or replace the existing with larger pipe.

I would use a fairly large heat exchanger to keep restriction to a minimum. Maybe replace the existing 20 plate with a 30 plate too.

[kybaseball]

Thing is I don't have heat up stairs now and i am trying to see if the one pump will push that up stairs or would i be better off adding another pump in the line. The one pump is on the back of my stove. Was told to add another pump in the basement to push water up. Trying to see if that is correct way to do it. Thanks for the help my installer went out of business and left to defend for my self.

[RSI]

What is the height of the highest point in the system (upstairs) compared to the top of the water in the boiler?

[kybaseball]

25 feet

[mlappin]

25 feet

Yah, my stringers are 13 foot high in the shop, but my waste oil boiler is tall, so maybe water is being pump up 9 foot above water level, 25 foot is entirely a different thing.

Might be best to follow RSI’s recommendation and set your upstairs up as a closed pressurized loop.

[kybaseball]

I don't know what he means about pressurized?

[mlappin]

I’m sure RSI can explain it much better than me.

But your stove you have now is a open system, no matter how hot it gets it has zero pressure on the water jacket, think of your car radiator with the cap off.

A closed system is exactly that, it has some pressure in the system even cold and more when hot, think of your car radiator with the cap on and the car at normal operating temp.

A closed system once you get the air bled out of it, it will tend to stay bled out, while with a open system every little bubble or bit of entrapped air will eventually find its way to the highest point in your system and will eventually cause an air lock if you can get it bled in the first place.

[slimjim]

Heck even I got that Marty, great explanation without getting technical!