It's Alive!

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Sat. Sep. 04, 2021 9:33 pm

Sounds good, I bookmarked that site, they have a lot of products.

Post by **Rob R.** » Thu. Sep. 09, 2021 7:25 am

CoalHeat wrote: ↑
Sat. Sep. 04, 2021 9:33 pm
Sounds good, I bookmarked that site, they have a lot of products.

Fast shipping as well. Everything came yesterday.

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Fri. Sep. 10, 2021 11:43 am

Excellent!

Post by **Rob R.** » Sun. Oct. 03, 2021 8:12 am

Progress has been slow, but I finally finished sweating the copper for the DHW heat exchanger. The price of copper has gone nuts, so I did the best I could with what I had leftover from last year. It will be pex from there to the heat exchanger.

franpipeman · Post by **franpipeman** » Sun. Oct. 03, 2021 8:16 am

copper always looks nice especially when nice and shiny and straight. this is how it would look with pex

Post by **Rob R.** » Sun. Oct. 03, 2021 9:36 am

franpipeman wrote: ↑
Sun. Oct. 03, 2021 8:16 am
copper always looks nice especially when nice and shinyand straight. this is how it would look with pex

That looks pretty good. I was concerned about trying to support the PEX when it was hot. By going up with copper and transitioning to PEX for the straight runs it worked out pretty well. Some of the copper I used is 50 years old, reclaimed during our remodel.

Post by **Rob R.** » Sun. Oct. 10, 2021 6:31 pm

No leaks! Boiler is coming up to temperature. Will report back after I take a shower.

ziggy87 · Post by **ziggy87** » Sun. Oct. 10, 2021 6:35 pm

Looks clean and professional. Always nice when there are no leaks!

Post by **Rob R.** » Mon. Oct. 11, 2021 7:07 am

ziggy87 wrote: ↑
Sun. Oct. 10, 2021 6:35 pm
Looks clean and professional. Always nice when there are no leaks!

Thanks. I used what scrap copper I had to get the piping run halfway to the heat exchanger, and did the rest with pex leftover from our remodel last year. It is a good thing this is the last heating project I have planned. The price of materials has really gone up, and I have hardly any pipe leftover.

So far I am happy with the performance of the heat exchanger. I had drained the water heater prior to the install, and when I refilled it the heat exchanger got the water plenty hot enough for a shower. It is supposed to get back into the 70's this afternoon, so I will probably shut the boiler down and wait for cooler weather before restarting it.

hotblast1357 · Post by **hotblast1357** » Mon. Oct. 11, 2021 7:41 am

I’ve been waiting to start mine as well, one thing I’ve noticed is I never run out of hot water using house fixtures, but if I use the garden hose I can run out, like for instances filling the hot tub with hot water, I have a 20 plate 80,000 btu, obviously I’m not running out of boiler, must be the circulator?

Post by **Rob R.** » Mon. Oct. 11, 2021 7:51 am

hotblast1357 wrote: ↑
Mon. Oct. 11, 2021 7:41 am
I’ve been waiting to start mine as well, one thing I’ve noticed is I never run out of hot water using house fixtures, but if I use the garden hose I can run out, like for instances filling the hot tub with hot water, I have a 20 plate 80,000 btu, obviously I’m not running out of boiler, must be the circulator?

You are pulling more heat out of the exchanger than you are putting in. I am sure mine would do the same - I only have it piped with 3/4" and get about 4 gallons per minute through it on the boiler side.

hotblast1357 · Post by **hotblast1357** » Mon. Oct. 11, 2021 11:19 am

Rob R. wrote: ↑
Mon. Oct. 11, 2021 7:51 am
You are pulling more heat out of the exchanger than you are putting in. I am sure mine would do the same - I only have it piped with 3/4" and get about 4 gallons per minute through it on the boiler side.

I am piped with 1/1/4 to manifold, then 1” to heat exchanger.

Post by **Rob R.** » Mon. Oct. 11, 2021 12:55 pm

hotblast1357 wrote: ↑
Mon. Oct. 11, 2021 11:19 am
I am piped with 1/1/4 to manifold, then 1” to heat exchanger.

That is a pretty good setup. To pull more heat out of your boiler I think you would need a larger plate exchanger.

The notes for my 20 plate say:

BTU Rating: 40,000
BTU Rating is based on 10 GPM; 180F water.

These plate exchangers are handy to install and work well with a tank, but they are not nearly as effective at harnessing heat from the boiler as a tankless coil.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Mon. Oct. 11, 2021 3:05 pm

Looks good!
Started mine last week because it got into the 40's and mom got cold, now it's 78 degrees downstairs lol. Mom don't mind one bit!

hotblast1357 · Post by **hotblast1357** » Mon. Oct. 11, 2021 7:37 pm

Rob R. wrote: ↑
Mon. Oct. 11, 2021 12:55 pm
That is a pretty good setup. To pull more heat out of your boiler I think you would need a larger plate exchanger.

The notes for my 20 plate say:

BTU Rating: 40,000
BTU Rating is based on 10 GPM; 180F water.

These plate exchangers are handy to install and work well with a tank, but they are not nearly as effective at harnessing heat from the boiler as a tankless coil.

Hmm, my specs are 80,000 btus at 3.5 GPM

I think mine might be a lil over rated..

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