Greetings-
We have been struggling to keep our 3-zone radiant baseboard heated house warm this Fall due to frequent overheat trips on our 2005 installed Tarm Solo 30 wood boiler (no storage). When the overheat trip occurs the draft fan is disabled until one of us notices cool temps in the house and investigates. We then reset the Tarm by pressing that little white button under the cap on the control panel. In the meantime, it seems the return water from the house loops drops low enough to cause the Thermovar to restrict flow into the wood boiler loop. This seems to be causing the wood boiler loop to get to an overheat condition rapidly and the whole cycle starts over again.
In order to get the temps in the house up, I must manually stop the circulator for the zones so that the return to the wood boiler temp increases...once that happens I open the zones one at a time from smallest to largest...waiting each time to ensure the return temp at the thermovar is hot to the touch. Once all the zones are flowing the supply to the house struggles to get above above 160F and sometimes hovers around 130F...this is a new symptom this year...
After babysitting the boiler every couple hours last night, I got the whole system up to 190F by this morning and the house was getting comfortable again...then we got another overheat trip and the cycle repeats although much less problematic if I am here to catch it in time...
I am sure both circulators are functioning properly and the Tarm seems to be working as designed,....my suspicions revolve around the thermovar but I have heard that ..."when they fail they fail closed and you know it."
So based on this long winded description of the symptoms can any of you wood heat boiler gurus suggest a cure or at least methods to diagnose the underlying cause. ...(storage is not an option for us at this time) ;-)
Thanks,
JP in WI
We have been struggling to keep our 3-zone radiant baseboard heated house warm this Fall due to frequent overheat trips on our 2005 installed Tarm Solo 30 wood boiler (no storage). When the overheat trip occurs the draft fan is disabled until one of us notices cool temps in the house and investigates. We then reset the Tarm by pressing that little white button under the cap on the control panel. In the meantime, it seems the return water from the house loops drops low enough to cause the Thermovar to restrict flow into the wood boiler loop. This seems to be causing the wood boiler loop to get to an overheat condition rapidly and the whole cycle starts over again.
In order to get the temps in the house up, I must manually stop the circulator for the zones so that the return to the wood boiler temp increases...once that happens I open the zones one at a time from smallest to largest...waiting each time to ensure the return temp at the thermovar is hot to the touch. Once all the zones are flowing the supply to the house struggles to get above above 160F and sometimes hovers around 130F...this is a new symptom this year...
After babysitting the boiler every couple hours last night, I got the whole system up to 190F by this morning and the house was getting comfortable again...then we got another overheat trip and the cycle repeats although much less problematic if I am here to catch it in time...
I am sure both circulators are functioning properly and the Tarm seems to be working as designed,....my suspicions revolve around the thermovar but I have heard that ..."when they fail they fail closed and you know it."
So based on this long winded description of the symptoms can any of you wood heat boiler gurus suggest a cure or at least methods to diagnose the underlying cause. ...(storage is not an option for us at this time) ;-)
Thanks,
JP in WI
Today I added a ball valve and union which will make it easier next time. I should have the new parts from Tarm by Wednesday. Looking forward to a good night sleep and so relieved to put my hand on a baseboard and feel the heat. Thanks again for taking the time to respond. Stay warm!
