Beckett Heat Manager \ Intellicon HW+

I use an Intellidyne model. They do delay the burner on by scavenging residual heat from the boiler in the economizing mode. A higher mass boiler will work better depending on your loads. It does keep mine from short cycling as much. A lot of people are putting them in this year.

Mike

glad to see this post - I am researching units to add to my oil furnace also.

Would like to expand your topic to cover ALL ECONOMIZERS - including outdoor resets - such as the Tekmar 260 and etc.

Please tell us what kind of unit you have and your experiences with it.

Thanks
Dave in Maine

The Tekmar 260 with outdoor reset should save more at higher cost. More "upscale" so to speak.

Mike

I will be getting on a plane in a few hours so I am pressed for time as a far as pictures. But it is an easy install-just read the directions and fully understand the wiring from aquastat to the burner. My boiler has a power venter so I had to make sure that it was installed before the power vent came on. A little more to it that they don't address in the instructions. My wiring scheme has a J-box on top of the boiler where all the wires terminate so I just put it there and added an extension to the box. I have an indirect so I didn't use the second sensor. I don't have the led function as I got it off ebay last year for about 90 bucks. The savings info would be interesting but I saved about half right out of the chute so what the hell.

If I remember correctly your boiler has to be able to be set to start below 140 deg and stop above 180 so the manager can manage the differential for scavenging. My boiler is a cold start so the differential is not an issue. I am not sure how it manages a tankless coil set up.
Mike

I'll add to this per DaveM's request.
My 5 yr old Burnham boiler came with Argo controls.
I put on an outdoor reset from Argo for a little more than 100 bucks as I recall.
There are no displays or adjustments or anything, but I think it works.
It was easy to install.
I think it was down to 130F or so when it's warm the other week when I was watching the oil guy do the annual checkup, but I'm not sure.
Hot water heating has priority, but I think that's choose-able.
It's been a while now that's I've looked at it.
http://www.argoindustries.com/product_detail.asp?key=61

Any further reviews of these units?

EricV said:

Any further reviews of these units?

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Not sure that I'd call my thoughts on this a "review", but here goes:

As you can see in pic #2, I self-installed one of the older (non LCD display....just indicator lights, but works the same) Intellicon units on my 24 yr. old Weil-McLain oil burner almost 4 yrs. ago, and I will say in a nutshell, it works just as advertised. I know I have cut my HHO usage down by AT LEAST 15-20% since installing it. Well worth the $$ I spent on it, and even though I'm not an electrician, it wasn't hard to do....took me about 1 hr (and that was including a LOT of double-checking of my wiring job).

I really like that it cuts down on short cycling.

Nice install GroundHog! Just curious why the LCD says "Invalid" on the screen in the first pic... :question:

Groundhog said:

.......A true zero maintenance item which is more than I can say for my pellet stove.

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No truer words have been spoken for both things.

Great info, thanks

I'm installing a new oil bloier this fall and will make this unit part of the install.

Eric

I've recently installed a tekmar 260 on my 15 year old oil boiler,


164k steel single pass boiler downfired to 1.0gpm for an output of about 112btu/hr
Tekmar 260 with outdoor reset sensor and DHW priority.
Triangle Tube (weil mclain) 40 gallon indirect
Set for fin-type baseboard: Minimum boiler temp 130 degrees.
Set for AD (automatic differential).

Everything's wired and working. When the indirect tank fires for DHW I get about 15 minutes of firing time and my flue temp hits about 500F. But I have noticed, however, is short cycling during one zone's activity. It's an in-law apt over the garage 800 sqft, and I'm guessing it sucks about 40% of my total oil bill. The AD setting doesn't seem to be doing me justice, probably because the heat load for the apartment is 1/5 that of the boiler. I'm getting between 3-4 minutes. Boiler target temp is 140 and shoots to 145. Because of the outdoor sensor at 30-45 degrees the top temp is 140. I'm going to start fiddling with the manual differential, to see if I can get longer firing times.

just found this thread. Are these worth the money and how much do they cost?

jzr1 said:

just found this thread. Are these worth the money and how much do they cost?

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That depends. How much $$$ can you shove in an envelope and mail to my house?

If you burn more than $3000 in fuel a year, and are mechanical enough to install something lilke this yourself I'd say yes. I picked up a NIB tekmar 260 for $150 shipped and installed it myself. To have this item installed for me would have been in the $800-1000 range, because its not a set-and-forget install. You have to fiddle with it (make multiple trips to the customer's home). Being a service tech myself I expect a trip to cost money.

I haven't noticed a major difference in oil comsumption after 6 weeks, but the only number I care about is the one at the end of the year. I will say the heat is more even. The temperature of the water circulating through the baseboards is 130-150f, and this low draw for heat seems to cylce the boiler more often for a shorter period (not good). Flue temp during this cycle is 450f gross which is I know is low , however, it hits 500f gross during DHW production. I'm slowly boosting the min temp on the boiler, I have no idea if the AD setting is supposed to raise the temp to keep me out of the condensation zone, but it ain't.

How hard was the install? Was yours like the others as far as install? And would you recommend it someone with not much boiler exp.

jzr1 said:

How hard was the install? Was yours like the others as far as install? And would you recommend it someone with not much boiler exp.

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Can you wire a 3 way light switch? Can you find a breaker or pull a firematic? If the answer is yes I'd say give it a shot but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't ask me if you can do it because I'll say yes to anything.

Speaking about my own install it was a piece of cake but security/access control work is what I do for a living, plus my boiler was 5' from where I located my outdoor reset sensor. I already rewired the circulators and aquastat for a 6 zone control (sr506), one being DHW set for priority so the 260 was needed. I'm sure the intellicon would be great depending on where you get your hot water, some models may have a trigger for it, I don't know. If it runs off your boiler you need DHW or so I'm told.

Having installed the Tekmar 260 I would seriously look at the intellicon if theres a big difference in money/ease of installing outdoor sensor. I'm getting the impression the 260 is meant to function with the indoor sensor in lieu of a thermostat, which wouldn't work in my situation because of the different zones/areas are split up in my house.

I installed a honeywell Aquatrol aq475 outdoor reset on my welmclain boiler 3 yrs ago. Nice unit, it's keeps the boiler from firing on a call for heat but allows the circ to pump. Depending on the outdoor temp/boiler temp differential. I have 4 zones on a 1200sq/ft ranch. There was no need to have the boiler firing for one zone, it really works well. anyone else using this unit? I'd like to know what settings you are using.

I have installed quite a bit of the tekmar 260's, Beckett Heat Manager's, Taco boiler resets and the Intellicon HW+ 3250 and even a device known as the "heat timer". Overall they all do what they are supposed to do (except the heat timer!) and that is, to save fuel. However as far as return on Investment, ease of installation and minimal maintenance I have to go with the Intellicon or Heat Manger, I pay about $200 for the device and charge another $150 for installation. The tekmar usually costs around $500 with another $500 for installation, plus $150 for each subsequent “profiling” visit, unfortunately I have seen all too many times the tekmar unit being “slapped on” to a system and not correctly profiled thereby the savings that should be realized never come to pass. I have also seen condensation issues as the control doesn’t let the boiler achieve correct operating temperatures. The taco integrates nicely with the zone controls and costs around $300 but I am not impressed with its working's for several reasons. As I am an ME by trade I always lean towards the simplest approach which would be the Intellicon, besides the mfg guarantees at least 10% in energy cost savings or they offer a refund on the cost of the device which makes it an easy sell for me.

I have 3 zones and an Amtrol hot water maker. I'm told that the hot water runs as if it were a 4th zone when it calls to heat the water. Can anyone tell me if the intellicon needs any kind of modification to standard installation because of the Amtrol hot water?
Thanks

antioil said:

I have 3 zones and an Amtrol hot water maker. I'm told that the hot water runs as if it were a 4th zone when it calls to heat the water. Can anyone tell me if the intellicon needs any kind of modification to standard installation because of the Amtrol hot water?
Thanks

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Hi No there are no modifications required (i.e. right out of the box ready) since your domestic hot water is treated as a seperate zone.
here is a link for the Intellicon HW+ 3250 installation instructions..http://www.mediafire.com/?djw4z0whmk2