EBW-100 Install

[SIERRADMAX]

Finally getting around to posting some pictures.

Going through the bulkhead, which is located in my Garage. From there, it had to travel about 40' to the opposite side of the house. Easily done with a couple 3' pipes.

While in place, and panels off, I decided to clean the unit. Quite a bit of Creosote.

Turbs were caked and impossible to pull by hand.

My migshift turb puller. I carefully pulled about 1" at a time and made sure they were pulled straight.

All cleaned up.

Tubes thoroughly cleaned.

All cleaned up. New gasket & high-temp silicone for access panels.

Current status. Panels & doors on. All wire up. Supply, Return, & Bypass plumbed. Smoke hood & stove pipe installed.

 

[SIERRADMAX]

Reviving an old thread. Tie-in is next week. Supply & Return header fabricated.

 

[BoilerMan]

Nice work with the black iron, I have lotsa respect for people who do it! What is the checkvalve for with the 1/2 copper bypass? Looks like a foot valve, do you not like weighted flow checks? Just curious.


Please don't get me wrong I'm not trying to nitpick, but shouldn't that circulator (looks like a Wilo) before the bypass in the OP not have the shaft vertically oriented?

TS

 

[SIERRADMAX]

It's a spring check. I'm using it in lieu of a weighted flow. I have limited space and had to mount a check valve vertically. Bypass is used to fill the rest of the system prior to the spring check and will remain closed in operation. (make-up water tied in below the spriovent.)

That Wilo orientation was noted in another post. I've since rotated the circulator 90 degress.

 

[goosegunner]

Nice Job! You really got the internals cleaned up, I bet that was fun.

How close are you to Starting up?

You probably will want a screen on the Barometric damper. It the event that you have any puffing incidents you might get some small embers out of the damper. I put a stainless screen strainer on mine just in case. Puffing is very rare once you get a feel for the boiler but precautions never hurt.

gg

 

[SIERRADMAX]

I hope to start up this weekend. I have to relocate the oil boiler & indirect water heater. I have a laundry list of things that need to be accomplished prior to tieing in both the wb & ob to the new headers. However, I've fabricated as much as I can before the shut-down. Unfortunately here in the northeast, it's been a cold early spring (still in teens at night) and we're still dependent on the oil boiler. Luckily, I have a wood stove on the main floor to keep us warm & an electric water heater from a commercial remodel that I can temporarily tie-in.

 

[SIERRADMAX]

Blew past my original start-up date. Been too busy with work but I've recently put a good dent in the installation. Disregard the copper pipe in the foreground. It's the original feed to the oil boiler. Haven't disconnected yet.





More to come hopefully this weekend.

 

[Gasifier]

Wow. Nice Sierradmax! I missed the other thread. You picked up the Econoburn used locally?

 

[SIERRADMAX]

Yes, I bought it used. Made some more progress. Almost done threading pipe! I'm a cheap S.O.B. I've been threading 1-1/4" by hand...



Supply & return to Econoburn complete. Supply to OB complete. Copper on first floor zone finished. Having difficulty removing a nipple on the return side of the OB to complete the black iron.

 

[arbutus]

Was price the reason you went with the iron manifold over copper that you appear to be sweating in elsewhere?
Did you have to do much to balance the flows between your pumps?

 

[infinitymike]

Nice piping.

Hows the progress?

Any more pictures?

I piped my very similar to yours but then again it could be said its totally different.
I see you have the supply of the oil burner right after the elbow and the ball valve of the supply of the wood burner.
Will you have to close the valve to use the oil?
Also what is the little copper bypass with a valve for?

 

[SIERRADMAX]

I'm almost finished but my work has put the completion on hold. I've got to get it complete soon as the cold is approaching. I won't have to close the valves to use the oil boiler. The brass piece to the left of the copper bypass is a check valve. The bypass was put in to allow filling/purging air from the boiler loop.

 

[SIERRADMAX]

Most recent picture. Almost there. Already pressure tested and waiting to fill the system.

 

[infinitymike]

Very nice work.

Question, why do you have the supply connected to the return on the right side but not on the left side making a continuous loop.
Thats the way I piped mine. A primary loop with secondary loops for the zones.

Couldn't you have just had a supply header and a return header?

 

[SIERRADMAX]

Question, why do you have the supply connected to the return on the right side but not on the left side making a continuous loop. Thats the way I piped mine. A primary loop with secondary loops for the zones.

The picture was a bit dark. It does have a primary loop hence the supply & return headers are connected at the right. Could I have piped differently, yes and I may choose to do so when I add storage. I copied the plumbing schematic attached.

 

[SIERRADMAX]

So, I have the system up and running and have tested the oil boilers operation in heating the zones. So far so good. Check valve keeps hot water from going towards the econoburns piping. However, I have a near boiler circulator for the oil boiler to supply hot water to the primary loop. Can I do away with this as each zone has its own circulator? Can the operating zone circulator pump through the oil boiler during operation?

 

[Gasifier]

Check valve keeps hot water from going towards the econoburns piping. However, I have a near boiler circulator for the oil boiler to supply hot water to the primary loop. Can I do away with this as each zone has its own circulator? Can the operating zone circulator pump through the oil boiler during operation?

If I am understanding you correctly, I don't think you want to do this. I am not an expert, but I believe you will loose heat and efficiency.

Again. Nice work.

 

[SIERRADMAX]

Gasification on 11/5! House went from 63 to 72! Wife is happy...

 

[infinitymike]

Congratulations.
Welcome to the gasification club.

 

[infinitymike]

Now you can elect against all the oil loving politicians.

 

[Gasifier]

That's right! Here come da heat baby!

 

[SIERRADMAX]

Last night was successful but I have a couple questions. I was like a 10 year old on Christmas Eve. The wife was wondering why I was getting up every two hours.... I'm sure everyone with a wood boiler did the same thing on their first burn. I figured last night would be a good trial run. Nighttime temps in the low 30's and today, we're supposed to see a warm front close to 60.

1. Lighting a fire will take some getting used to and maybe someone can give me some pointers. I was encountering a slight downdraft to where the damper was pulling into the room. This is a concern I will investigate but for the time, I fabricated a piece of sheet metal to cover the damper until the flue was warm enough to draft properly. After I got a good fire going, Id' say it took about an hour to reach the 180 degF setpoint.

2. I'm using a termovar LK820 mixing valve with a 142 degF thermostat positioned on the return as shown in the picture above. I'm also using a spring loaded check valve on the supply to prevent ghost flow and prevent water back-feeding from oil boiler operation. I have temperature gauges all over... Boiler supply, return, boiler loop supply and boiler loop return and another next to a senasys thermal switch. I was getting a lot of "chatter" from the check valve between 130 degF & 150 degF. I found the "sweet spot" for the so called "mixing valve" for the near boiler loop but it was still chattering. After supply temps were above 150 degF, chatter was gone. I would assume the check valve wasn't seeing enough flow to ensure full opening? I'm skeptical bout the spring check valve altogether. Does this still happen with weighted check valves?

3. The EBW's high limit alarm went off, even while a zone was calling for heat. Setpoint was 180 degF on the display, water temp was around 188 degF. I thought the high limit alarm goes off at 220 degF? I've read where the Nimbus can be 20 degrees off.....

4. Operation throughout the night went pretty well. I loaded at 10pm and set the t-stats to 73! Supply temps between 170 & 185, return around 160. Awoke at 2am.. Similar temps with a decent fire. Could have reloaded but I decided I wanted to see how long a full load would last.. Nice walking around your house at night in a t-shirt and underwear as opposed to sweatpants and long sleeves. Went back to bed until 5:30am. Supply temp by the thermal switch was now 145 degF and there was a zone calling for heat. My house uses hydro-air operated by rise-on temp emerged aquastats set around 140-150 degF. The unit wasn't turning on. In addition, the thermal switch is an "open @ 160degF, close @ 150degF", so power should have been restored back to the oil boiler. Come to find out, it was restored but the oil boiler's high limit manual reset aquastat had tripped. This is set to 200degF. Any ideas?