Coalpail.com Forum

Hi all. To answer a few questions, yes we have a backflow preventor attached to the water feed. No back flow into the house system. Lines are holding 18 or 17 psi of late with NO WATER ADDED its shut off. The water is clear as crystal, the blood red anti-freeze color is gone, but I have not had a chance to test the water to see if the stuff is still there. When I get the right equipment, I'll let you'll know. Thanks again, bob

Are you sure you need antifreeze?

drzbob wrote:Hi guys; so after some busy times, I've had the water feed to our system shut off, and after 11 days, low in behold the pressure is stable at 20 lbs......... I'm really happy that we have the stable pressure as I think it says we have no leak.
but I'm still puzzled about the loss of color of the anti-freeze in our pipeline. I guess the air in the lines over the first 2-3 weeks caused the pressure to change so much..... Thanks for your reply's. bob

Glad you got it solved...and I bet you are glad you didn't overreact and start threatening the Keystoker guys.

myself and a few other guys have similair set ups as yours, with out glycol. I thought I would need it too, but with all the glycol I would need for my system, or a heat exchanger I decided it wasnt worth it.

Hi Larry, Rob and 331camaro; yes I'm glad we didn't scream at Keystroker and I was cool about the whole situation, but still it had me worried when I tested the water and it was clear as tap water. The whole system was new end of Jan. so we are really newbies to the whole thing (and hydronic heating also). Because the system is out in storage barn that's un-heated, we thought the anti-freeze was needed and had some HVAC folks tell me it was "required". I'm sure its overkill but what's done is done as they say. thanks again bob

The only time antifreeze is needed would be if you plan on shutting down the coal boiler and letting it get to ambient temp in the winter.
I kind of doubt that you will do that. And even a little bit of antifreeze will prevent a freeze up if the water is circulated. I have antifreeze in my system, but food only to about 18-20*.. If my slab in the shop gets that cold, I have other issues to deal with.. and it can just freeze.. the pex pipe will be fine.
Only the copper and iron pipe would be in danger.

I'd still test a sample of your water, to see if the dye in the water just went clear, or if it is now mostly pure water..

Greg L

drzbob wrote:..Pic of the pump wall

From the piping of the secondary pumps, it appears your primary loop is pumping TO the remote boiler-- Is that correct, or have I misinterpreted your piping?

Where is your expansion tank? Good hydronic practice locates the primary pump after the expansion tank, so that your are pumping AWAY from the boiler, and TO the secondary loops.

If for other reasons you want to keep the primary pump at the 'pump wall', you can fulfill that requirement by relocating the pump ahead of the first set of secondary 'supply/return close tees' -- i.e., [the pex supply FROM the boiler] > [primary pump] > [the upper copper pipe] > [thermometer] > [tees to Grundfos pump] > etc.