Ooo Aaahhh

cArNaGe · Post by **cArNaGe** » Thu. Nov. 20, 2008 8:12 pm

I left them off to try and get some radiant heat off the unit. I may stick them on and see if the basement cools off.

billw · Post by **billw** » Thu. Nov. 20, 2008 8:27 pm

When I fired mine up the basement went to 82. I had to insulate all of that pipe interconnecting the two boilers. I inadvertently built a 35 foot radiator. Once everything was insulated the temp went back to normal. Need to put the heat where it's needed, not where it wants to go.

cArNaGe · Post by **cArNaGe** » Thu. Nov. 20, 2008 9:00 pm

Its been in the teens and twenties for the last few days. My basement is probably around 55-60ish. Not bad as far as I'm concerned.

e.alleg · Post by **e.alleg** » Sun. Nov. 23, 2008 3:54 pm

I used iron pipe for my install as well. I cut and threaded everything myself. What a load of extra work, I should have saved up my money and used copper. Anyone who hasn't the pleasure of cutting and threading pipe by hand cannot even come close to understanding what it feels like to measure 4 or 5 times, cut exact lengths, thread exact threads, and still end up an inch short.

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Sun. Nov. 23, 2008 4:17 pm

e.alleg wrote:Anyone who hasn't the pleasure of cutting and threading pipe by hand cannot even come close to understanding

You are a manly man! I've done my share, then one day at the junk yard we saw a Rigid electric. It needed a new cord. We bought it for the price of the aluminum. Heeheeee! I don't have it now...it stayed with the company I was working for.

Lowes & Home Depot will thread pipe for you. Ol' rule of thumb: Figure the distance between the two fitting, add 9/16" on each end for the threads.

billw · Post by **billw** » Sun. Nov. 23, 2008 5:32 pm

What kind of tools did you use to thread the pipe manually? I'm thinking of making a few small mods this summer and don't want to tear out a ten foot length and throw it out because I can't shorten it and thread it myself. When I built my system I bought the pipe threaded at Home Depot.

Yanche · Post by **Yanche** » Sun. Nov. 23, 2008 8:39 pm

Buy a manual ratcheting pipe treader at Harbor Freight Tools.

See: http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/sea ... &Submit=Go

Find the closest retail store here:

http://www.harborfreight.com/storelocator/location/map

Their tools are made in China, low priced and acceptable quality for home use.

billw · Post by **billw** » Mon. Nov. 24, 2008 9:09 am

Thanks Yanche,
This off season I'm adding a DHW coil to my coal unit and changing the boiler piping to parallel instead of series so I can isolate the oil unit. After two months of heating with coal I realized keeping all of that water in the oil unit and interconnect piping is pretty much a waste of heat. I'm going to keep the oil unit in place but will have to turn it on manually in case of emergency or long term travel.