Have I missed anything?

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Armaton

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Aug 22, 2011
147
Hastings, Michigan
Video 14 0 00 00-02.jpg Since I have to wait for a couple parts, figured I'd let you guys peruse my near boiler loop and let me know if I've missed anything. I'll go through what will be there, but isn't. Tee from top of boiler will go to pressure relief valve. Tridicator will be elled from bottom of Watts air scoop, or just to the left of top tee. Expansion will go to the tee just right of the LK810. Air vents will be on both air scoops, and a Spirovent in the house.
 

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I think it looks great. Do you have the emergency cooling thing covered?

Maybe look again how you're going to fill it. For me, the recirculation valve was a barrier: it wouldn't get past the recirc loop or flow backwards against a check valve.

Is there a low water shutoff? I'm not even sure what it would shut off in a wood boiler: the fan? Go into idle mode?

Are you going to use a barometric damper?
 
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Looks exciting to have it that close this time of year, bet you can't wait for that supply piping to get too hot to hold on to!

The only thing I can think of is to double check that the backflow preventer is not disabled in your LK810. It's unlikely, but it is possible to have one that is set up that way.
 
What a nice tank.

The big flanged opening in the tank would be a perfect place for a DHW tube bundle. No need for a HX circ or plumbing.

One caveat, the straight pipe run with the LK810 in the middle will see a lot of expansion and contraction and pulling on the gasketed flat fittings of the LK810, making it leak prone at the flat gasketed surfaces. You would want U shaped or leg shaped piping going in and out of the LK810 to allow movement as the piping expands and contracts with heat. The other connections are heavy wall threaded pipe so as it cools and shrinks it will be pulling on the flat gasketed soft brass fitting surfaces. With that nice big tank next to it, an unattended leak will not run out of water before it makes a mess.

Ask me how I know. I have a nothing short run of less than 4' with the LK810, heavily pipe strapped to the concrete foundation. The heavy pipe hangers are right at the LK810 so in theory, that would be fixed and it would move somewhere else. Doing it again, I would be sure to go in and out of the LK810 with legs and ells, not any straight run of pipe that will pull on it when it cools.
 
Thermosiphon is my emergency cooling, by the numbers it should roll about 6 gallons a minute if I loose power, with batch burns, and a little diligence, I should never have to worry. To drain the tank, putting a ball valve with a hose bib on the heat loop return, it's on the bottom of the tank. Gonna fill from the house with a fill/drain setup, just hook a hose from my well tank to the return bib, then once the tank fills will come out the supply bib, then using my purge pump and a 5 gallon bucket, go to town. Gonna see how it performs before I make the decision on the damper, easy to implement if needed. Put the thermosiphon part in myself, the screw is definitely out. Yeah it is a nice tank, funny what you can find on the top of the scrap heap at the recycle center huh? Still has the ASME tab on it, the company emailed me a copy of the build specs. Didn't think there would be that much movement in that short of distance! Wonder if I should do something to mitigate it.
 
I have a similar setup and have had no problems so far for 2 seasons. (Why did I just type that!!!, knocks on wood). My run looks a bit shorter from the pics.
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I had the same concerns dan points out so I discussed the expansion/contraction issue with a couple experienced folks I know and both thought I would be fine. I batch burn only and require low supply temps for my infloor so the bottom of storage is usually ~90::F when I re fire. LOTS of expansions/contraction potential.

From a thermosiphon and head loss standpoint, minimizing the number of bends is a good thing but not much of an issue with large diameter piping.

Set up looks good, I say light it up. You are gonna be eagle eyeing everything for a while anyway.....

Noah
 
Hey that is one nice setup.

I would suggest a mod to the RK control unit housing. That pyramid is trapping heat that over time can have a detrimental effect on the electronics. Many things you could do; set it on standoffs, cut vent holes, build your own box, move it away from the boiler, slide a piece of polyisocyanurate between, or anything else imaginable. Initially I scrapped the pyramid and set the box 3" off the boiler on a little box I fabbed. Now I have a different box and added 1/2 " polyiso on top of boiler and that 1/2" makes a huge difference. Just keep it cool is what ya wanna do.
 
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