Print

5

4 (19%)

4

3 (14.3%)

3

8 (38.1%)

2

2 (9.5%)

1

4 (19%)

Total Members Voted: 20

[RSI]

Well my first attempt was a failure. Was not reliable enough.
I am on the second attempt now and it is working fairly well so far. Still needs some changes done but I am working on it. This one only has one sensor and it only has about a 2 ft cord on the sensor. But the controller can connect to wifi or lan connection so you can put it out at the boiler if needed.
Right now it looks like I will be selling it for around $125. If anyone here is interested in one now they can get them for $75. I don't plan to start selling them anywhere else for a while to make sure no problems come up.
I currently just have the sensor strapped to a copper pipe in the basement. You can see it here. (I was doing some testing on it today that made the graph get screwed up around noon Saturday
http://rsiboilers.com/temp.htm

[Ridgekid]

Ours gets installed Wednesday. There are two ports for supply and two for return. I am initially only to be using one (each) of them. With the angle of the stove to the back window I too will be using binoculars. I think my wifi would reach that far, need to confirm with my IPhone.

In short I have some interest.

[Ridgekid]

RSI-  Whats the status of selling this? MY wifi signal does not seem strong enough to put the sensor at the boiler. Would you recommend it to be attached to the inlet side of the HTX?

[RSI]

If you want it at your boiler I can include an outdoor enclosure antenna for a little extra. It would need to be mounted outside the boiler.
You would want to put the sensor before any heat exchangers. Otherwise the temp would drop every time they are drawing any heat.

I am having some trouble getting the email alert part to work. If you want one, it will take a couple weeks to get some ready to go. Just let me know and I can get it going.

To get access to it from the internet you will need to setup port forwarding at your router. If you don't know how to do this, send me a PM and I will explain the steps. It varies depending on brand but should be real easy to setup.

[Ridgekid]

We lost electricity yesterday and the wife and I decided to go out. Prior to leaving (and losing the electric) I was searching sites for alternatives to monitoring the water temp. A favorite seemed to be the Maverick Redi Chek Remote cooking thermometer (ET-72). In short I ened up buying one.

When I got home I decided to connect it to the inlet side of my HTX. To ensure accuracy, I uses a small piece of foil tape over the probe. I was seeing a 5F differance between boiler temp and inlet temp to HTX. When the furnace fan came on I was seeing a 15-20F temp differance. This didn't make sense. Then I figured it out (As you probably did reading this). My dealer installed the inlet and outlet pipes incorrectly. I was reading the outlet temp. According to all the information I have read installing a HTX, the inlet is supposed to be the bottom port and the top the outlet. I work in an industry that uses HTX and of course it makes sense to connect to the bottom port. This assures the air is pushed out of the HTX.

This will be an easy fix since SS clamps were used. (I'll swap the lines).

In short, I think I'll use this method to monitor for now.

[RSI]

What kind of lines are going to the heat exchanger?

[Ridgekid]

ThermoPex from the boiler to the house, PEx lines inside the house.

http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?action=media;sa=media;in=30;preview

[oldchenowth]

You must have Consumers Energy Ridgekid.  What? Did you or your wife sneeze and your power went out?  thats all it takes at my place!   @#$%^&*()!@ power company! 19 hours and $35 worth the gas in the gennie. @#$%^&*()!@#$%^&*() power company!

[RSI]

ThermoPex from the boiler to the house, PEx lines inside the house.

http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?action=media;sa=media;in=30;preview

I can't tell from the picture what the clamps are.
Are they the cinch clamps that are one time use or do you use a wrench to tighten then? Are made specifically for pex?

You will probably have to cut some off the end up the pex to keep it from leaking. The fittings leave permanent groves in the inside of the pex and even if you get them lined up again it won't be the best seal.

[Ridgekid]

Wow...never answered your question did I RSI. They are clamps you tighten with a wrench.

[Ridgekid]

RSI-

I would like to revisit this. Is there a way to make this work using a surface mount temp sensor (on copper pipe)? I like my current setup but the remote monitoring would be better suited for me.

I would like to monitor the water temp coming in from the OWB, and the water temp going into and coming out of my HWH. Three senors. All tied into one Ethernet switch. (Or wireless to my router) When displayed I would like to pull up one webpage showing all three temps.

Is that doable?

[RSI]

RSI-

I would like to revisit this. Is there a way to make this work using a surface mount temp sensor (on copper pipe)? I like my current setup but the remote monitoring would be better suited for me.

I would like to monitor the water temp coming in from the OWB, and the water temp going into and coming out of my HWH. Three senors. All tied into one Ethernet switch. (Or wireless to my router) When displayed I would like to pull up one webpage showing all three temps.

Is that doable?
Yes but anything I could find what can use multiple sensors and get remote access is around $500

You can do it cheap running the sensors directly to a computer but then the computer has to stay on and I don't know of a way to get access from the internet. I suppose you could use a program to remotely view the computer screen but that is kind of slow.

[Ridgekid]

I leave my computer on 24/7 because of the webcams. So that's not an issue. $500 is. I was thinking about something about half that. Senors for about $75 each and a $100 switch or converter. Probably wishful thinking.

How do you get the remote access?

[tbone]

I would be interested in just knowing the temperature of my OWB from inside my house. Does anyone know of a transmitting temp gauge with receiver?   

[Ridgekid]

Look up the Maverick Redi Chek. They offer both the single and double units.