AA 130 M Restoration and Installation

lsayre wrote: ↑

Tue. Nov. 12, 2019 5:25 pm

What sizes did you settle upon for your water to air heat exchangers? I forget, will you have two or three of these in service?

We are leaning towards using bb radiators in the salon so there will only be one exchanger which will be for half the house. It's a 20×20 which may be oversized but, no harm in that.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Tue. Nov. 12, 2019 5:45 pm

We are leaning towards using bb radiators in the salon so there will only be one exchanger which will be for half the house. It's a 20×20 which may be oversized but, no harm in that.

I used a 20x20 in my old house, which was 1152 sq ft upstairs.

This new house I have a 12x14 and the upstairs is 1140.

All I did with both houses was put the biggest exchanger in the ductwork that I could fit lol

Really there’s so many variables it’s crazy, gpm flow, water temp, fan speed, ductwork setup.

Things got a little desperate yesterday. I woke up for work at 4:00am to the smell of wood pellet smoke. I cleaned and re lit it to no avail, still the smell of pellet smoke. The flame was lazy. Something is blocking the exhaust path somewhere, so I shut it down. We were down to the electric fireplace and an electric space heater, each 5000 BTUs.

So upon my return from work, straight to the basement to get the water to air exchanger finished. We now have a warm house! I ran out of time yesterday to integrate the thermostat so I hijacked an extension cord to run the blower on its lowest setting. The lowest setting moves at least 150% of the air that the two wee little blowers on the Clayton pushed. I'm throttling the heat output by tweaking the supply valve for that zone. The house is 76-77 in places and I have that valve nearly turned off. It's a 90 degree valve meaning at 3 o'clock position it's full on, 6 o'clock position it's full off. I have it set at 5:30 lol.

I'll get the thermostat involved today..

Ball valves are terrible throttling valves. Enjoy the heat!!!

Lightning wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 15, 2019 1:18 pm

The house is 76-77 in places and I have that valve nearly turned off. It's a 90 degree valve meaning at 3 o'clock position it's full on, 6 o'clock position it's full off. I have it set at 5:30 lol.

Glad you got your central heating system coal fired and operational!

I think you will find that the best way to control the blower is by the heat of the heat exchanger. A strap on aquastat can be used for this. BUT, if you still have the thermostatic fan switch from Ashley, you can mount that between the headers of the heat exchanger. When the headers heat up, fan turns ON and no need for a fan relay.
Yellow Flame to Tri-Burner Conversion. What Do You Think?

Use the thermostat to control a zone valve to the heat exchanger. The "end switch" on the zone valve can then control the pump relay or T T of the aquastat.

-Don

Some would not be a fan [no pun intended] of running 120volt switching all over the place when low voltage 24volt thermostat type wire could do the same task, but that's just another way to do it...

Not sure what you mean Mac, There wouldn't be any more 120v wiring than when the Clayton furnace was in there. Unless the heat exchanger is a long way from where the blower is n now???

This was just a suggestion that will work with parts that Lee probably already has laying around.

-Don

I had already bought a transformer/relay combo to trigger the blower on and off via the livingroom thermostat. The digital wifi thermostat I'm using needs 24v power supply to run it. I just finished up that job. We're fully automated now

I also installed the glass. Here's a video I shot a few minutes ago. I recorded 20-30 second snippets throughout the combustion call.

I would let the thermostat control the circulator and a separate fan and limit switch control the fan.

The triple aquastat is really a double that uses the differential to stop the circulator. When the relay pulls in it bypasses the low limit in favor of the high limit, so in reality there is only one limit at that point. So I do like your idea of a separate high limit in addition as long as you have a spot for it.

Wrote this before reading your last post so disregard, except for the additional high limit.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 15, 2019 7:08 pm

Here's a video I shot a few minutes ago.

NICE!!! Awesome video! Glad you are having fun with your new toy!

Lightning wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 15, 2019 7:08 pm

I had already bought a transformer/relay combo to trigger the blower on and off via the livingroom thermostat.

To each, his own I guess. I did the same thing at first, but, it didn't take me long to figure out that I only wanted the blower to run AFTER the coil got hot.

-Don

franco b wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 15, 2019 8:20 pm

I would let the thermostat control the circulator and a separate fan and limit switch control the fan.

I can't do it that way.. I only have one circulator that is always circulating.

StokerDon wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 15, 2019 8:50 pm

To each, his own I guess. I did the same thing at first, but, it didn't take me long to figure out that I only wanted the blower to run AFTER the coil got hot.

The exchanger is always hot with constant circulation. The thermostat just triggers the blower to push air thru it when we need heat

Lightning wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 15, 2019 8:56 pm

The exchanger is always hot with constant circulation.

Not sure why you would want the heat exchanger hot when there is no call for heat? That is just a waist of coal.

-Don

StokerDon wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 15, 2019 9:00 pm

Not sure why you would want the heat exchanger hot when there is no call for heat? That is just a waist of coal.

-Don

I disagree.. it gravity feeds heat into the house between thermostat calls. The heat is not wasted...

franco b wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 15, 2019 8:20 pm

Wrote this before reading your last post so disregard, except for the additional high limit.

Thank you for commenting Richard this boiler had 3 aquastats on it, a timer and a lot of mysterious wiring when I got it. When I rewired it I kept it simple and to the point.

Lee nothing wrong constant circulation through everything, except if the heat exchanger is before the furnace assembly, in my new house it had to be, so it was constantly hot and that was constantly triggering the fan on because the furnace thought it was burning oil and ready to heat, so I had to do a zone valve to cycle the water through the heat exchanger only on a heat call. There are many many ways to do all this, but the last thing I would do is forced hot air, I hate it, I have three cast iron radiators in the basement and the difference is out of this world. It’s 1 here right now this morning and once the fan shuts off it just gets cold lol once I get more funds situated I am doin in floor heat, I advise you to do something, in floor, baseboards, radiators, anything besides forced hot air, you have a boiler now, enjoy the hot water capabilities!