Help with woodgun install

Can't help you much (since I did not do my install)but want to ask if you already have the dump zone? Assuming you want a dump zone for power outage....I was told that since the WG would have no air in an instance of no power that a dump zone was not needed? I'll also be interested to hear from you if you have any condensation issues with the oil burner running. I did have a fair amount until I disconnected a wire which disabled the fan when oil was burning. Now no condensation and stack temp around 450 (could only get to 300 when fan was engaged)when burning oil.

mark123 said:

Just wondering if anyone here would be interested in walking me through a woodgun 180 install. I currently have a Benjamin CC500 wood/oil combo with all radiant in floor heating, 1 circ pump supplies 5 zones plus dump zone.

http://benjaminheating.ca/cc500_series.htm

and am replacing it with a Woodgun 180 wood/oil. I am getting an electrician for the wiring but need help with the piping. I can't see how it would be too complicated but I got a quote from a local plumbing company for $1600.00 + electrical and smoke pipe. I could take pictures and show my current set-up. Thanks to anyone interested.

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Not really sure what you are asking, and the question you have is so general that it's sort of like "walk me through fixing my car" without telling us what the problem is... If you could be a bit more specific that would help a great deal.

In general, what it sounds like you will need to do mostly is simply to disconnect the existing boiler, take it out of the way, drop the WG in it's place and hook everything back up... The details are what makes it tricky, but your description makes it sound like you are going to be dealing with about as simple a situation as it gets...

What kind of plumbing do you have going to the boiler right now - PEX, Copper, Black iron?

Where are the pumps, valves and other such hardware in relation to the existing boiler?

Does the new boiler have an oil burner section?

What sort of flue connection do you have for the current boiler?

What do the existing controls look like?

Photos of the current setup will help...

Gooserider

mark123 said:

Just wondering if anyone here would be interested in walking me through a woodgun 180 install. I currently have a Benjamin CC500 wood/oil combo with all radiant in floor heating, 1 circ pump supplies 5 zones plus dump zone.

http://benjaminheating.ca/cc500_series.htm

and am replacing it with a Woodgun 180 wood/oil. I am getting an electrician for the wiring but need help with the piping. I can't see how it would be too complicated but I got a quote from a local plumbing company for $1600.00 + electrical and smoke pipe. I could take pictures and show my current set-up. Thanks to anyone interested.

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Just curious- why are you swapping out the Benjamin???? I hear they are a good unit. What does the Woodgun have over the Benjamin?

MEHEAT said:

mark123 said:

Just wondering if anyone here would be interested in walking me through a woodgun 180 install. I currently have a Benjamin CC500 wood/oil combo with all radiant in floor heating, 1 circ pump supplies 5 zones plus dump zone.

http://benjaminheating.ca/cc500_series.htm

and am replacing it with a Woodgun 180 wood/oil. I am getting an electrician for the wiring but need help with the piping. I can't see how it would be too complicated but I got a quote from a local plumbing company for $1600.00 + electrical and smoke pipe. I could take pictures and show my current set-up. Thanks to anyone interested.

Click to expand...

Just curious- why are you swapping out the Benjamin???? I hear they are a good unit. What does the Woodgun have over the Benjamin?

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The WoodGun is a gasification boiler and operates at 85% efficiency. That would be reason enough...

Mark123 - Give us pictures, diagrams, explainations, etc. and I am certain you will get lots of advice on your install. Since you are replacing a wood/oil combo with another one, I can't see how it would need to be that different??

mark123 said:

Yes there is currently a dump zone and I understand it is not needed but it would be easier to just leave it alone. As for posting pictures, can I just post them here in my messages?
Here are a few simple questions to start,
1.The woodgun has a 1.5" bung near the bottom on the front and the back, and another one on the back about 2' up near the side, am I right to assume the two bottom ones are boiler drains (if so, why 2 ?) and the rear one up 2' is is the cold water return.
2. My current boiler has an external circ. pump to circulate the internal water from top to bottom, is there any need for a similar setup on the woodgun.
3. On the top of the woodgun near the front is a 3/4" bung, is this for a pressure/temp gauge only?
4. There is a 1.5" bung on the top, I assume it is the hot water outlet.

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The simplest thing would be for somone like Muncybob to take pictures of all of the on boiler piping you are asking about. Once you've seen an installed one, everything becomes clearer.

For number 2 - that is probably to keep the return water from getting below a certain temp. This keeps the boiler from being shocked by cold water and prolongs the life of the boiler. So yes you would want one on the Woodgun. Termovar and Danfoss also make valves that do this, but some manuf. suggest using a pump.

mark123 said:

Yes there is currently a dump zone and I understand it is not needed but it would be easier to just leave it alone. As for posting pictures, can I just post them here in my messages?

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You can definitely post photos in your messages, indeed that is probably the best approach... See the sticky at the head of the forum sections on how to prepare pics for uploading, as they can't be to big... What I find when I'm doing photos, is I set my camera (a Canon G-2 Powershot) to 640x480 resolution while taking the pictures. After I do that, I transfer them into my computer and open them in Digikam. I then crop them as needed, or the least that I can (about 1 pixel in each direction) and save them again - this seems to greatly reduce the file size, and allows me to get 5-6 good sized photos into each post (remember, you need to pick a picture, then hit preview post before adding the next one, and then submit the post when done...)

Here are a few simple questions to start,
1.The woodgun has a 1.5" bung near the bottom on the front and the back, and another one on the back about 2' up near the side, am I right to assume the two bottom ones are boiler drains (if so, why 2 ?) and the rear one up 2' is is the cold water return.
2. My current boiler has an external circ. pump to circulate the internal water from top to bottom, is there any need for a similar setup on the woodgun.
3. On the top of the woodgun near the front is a 3/4" bung, is this for a pressure/temp gauge only?
4. There is a 1.5" bung on the top, I assume it is the hot water outlet.

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Most of these questions should be in your Wood gun manual, but my guess on #1 would be for locating the valve conveniently, or perhaps because they want one as a drain and the other as a return. # 3 is that the bung would be for either a gauge or a pressure relief valve.

Gooserider

Gooserider said:

# 3 is that the bung would be for either a gauge or a pressure relief valve.

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Could also be for an aquastat well. I agree the best is to check your manual. My Tarm manual tells the installer very specifically what each port needs to be used for.

Check page 34 in your installation and operator's manual.

I think you have it correct....Page 34 spells it out fairly well...if you want pics let me know. It does not matter which front side you put the temp gauge or the aquastat. All the AHS photos show the aquastat on the left...mine is on the right and everything works fine. Otherwise I would think the rest of your plumbing should be about the same as you already have it?

The only item I can help you with is I....that's your stove pipe diameter (6") coming up out of the cyclone. I don't have the other fittings on my E-100. I'll try to put some pics up later this weekend but don't know how much help it will be to you since our units are different.

mark123 said:

The manual says that return water cannot be below 160F. How do you accomplish this? If the boiler is up to temp and a new zone is turned on, for instance my garage's in floor heating, the initial returning water will be 40F in the dead of winter.

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Termovar and Danfoss make return protection valves specifically to protect the boiler. Some brands have you put a circ from the supply to the return that will kick on when the return temp gets too low. I am not sure what WoodGun specifically suggests for their installs.

mark123 said:

The manual says nothing about how to accomplish it. I googled the danfoss TV boiler protection valves, that should do the trick.

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I seem to remember quite a while back some people having difficulty with the Danfoss (something in it being backward when it arrived?) These valves do tend to be on the expensive side. I know the Econoburn uses a circ for protection. Also, Nofossil uses one in his setup. If you use a valve for protection (Termovar or Danfoss) make sure you put a ball valve on the hot supply to the valve to balance the flow (otherwise it short cycles and the heat doesn't go out to the rest of the system.) You may want to search for threads on return protection or start another thread with a question about what others are using. My Tarm came with the Termovar which has worked fine with the balancing valve closed 3/4 of the way.

i personnaly use a ranco control with a sensor on the return who shut the main circ. when the temp. is at 130f. at the same time the ranco will start an other pump running backward on a small closed loop making the water running thru the boiler.
the ranco will restart the main pump at 150f.