Another Garn comes online!

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RowCropRenegade

RowCropRenegade

Feeling the Heat
Mar 19, 2008
305
Southwest, Ohio
First time I think I can say I was glad to see it get into the 30s.

It's currently 72 inside and the Garn is approaching 160. Target is 180. I purchased the Pre Clean kit and am on day 3 with it. Draining it tuesday or wednesday. That's 7 days. Only had one leak and it was my fault it happened.

Overall I'm pleased with the Garn. The Microflex is losing 0 degrees coming to the house. I'm currently operating with no controller, no outdoor reset or indoor thermostat. I'm performing that task by varying the variable speed pump in the garage.

Jim was right about adding an extension to my flue. Wind out of the south makes it blow too close to building. Also, I'm not sure what to do about the gap in the flue and wall thimble. It's about 3/4-1" around the flue. Smoke comes in through it. Seems like a large area to fireproof caulk but wondered how others addressed this issue.

Here's some pictures. I'll be into planting crops in less than 7 days, so Garn install/funtime is over.
 

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Congratulations!! I remember when you were bouncing back and forth on what boiler to purchase... doesn't seem like that long ago, but I think it has been over a year. The installation looks good, and I am glad to hear you went with the microflex product... it's good stuff.

Enjoy your new found sense of self reliance and independence!!

Cheers.
 
glad you got it going. Won't be long and you'll be working on using it for drying. It really feels good to see something turn out so good doesn't it?
leaddog
 
Great to open the door with a fire in it and not get smoked out isn't it. Your interior boiler room looks a whole lot different than the last pics you had posted. Looks great!!
 
Thankyou. This couldn't have been possible without the help of hearth members.

Hit 375 flue temp first time. Burning ash. Moisture tester says 14% end grain. 22% inside. The picture of flue is while burning. Forgive the incompleteness of it all.

More pictures Monday nite of system controls.

How much hair it takes to install a Garn is last picture.
 

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It is a great accomplishment when you finally turn on that blower and start a fire in the box for the first time. Just did mine tonight. I made a couple of bonehead moves in my excitement, but the garage heated up with my radiators and my control system came through with flying colors. The Garn is the primary source as long as the water in it is above 130 °F and my propane boiler runs if the desired Garn temp drops below that mark. Congrats! This forum is amazing.

I can't believe I am looking forward to cold weather this fall. :cheese:
 
Fantastic! Glad to hear it's fired and working.

I used a length of wood stove braided door gasket between the black wall collar and the Duravent pipe. I don't recall the exact dimensions, but it was a fairly thick cross section.

Keep us posted!
 
WoodnotOil, the hair on the floor is about 10 months worth of hair. It shows how LONG it took me to get the Garn going.

Jim, I'll have to locate some of that wood stove braided stuff. I'm kinda suprised Dectra didn't make the flue fit exactly through the thimble. Then just firecaulk inside and outside.

Tomorrow should have the control system online. The controller is a Tekmar 401 House control. I believe we are using the Modulating Boiler function for control over the variable speed pump.

I've noticed the disparity between front temp gauge and actual temp leaving the buidling. 10 degrees or so. So if it says 180, house is getting 170. Does that mean if I want 200 degree water that I have to fire front gauge to 205-210?
 
RowCropRenegade said:
WoodnotOil, the hair on the floor is about 10 months worth of hair. It shows how LONG it took me to get the Garn going.

Jim, I'll have to locate some of that wood stove braided stuff. I'm kinda suprised Dectra didn't make the flue fit exactly through the thimble. Then just firecaulk inside and outside.

Tomorrow should have the control system online. The controller is a Tekmar 401 House control. I believe we are using the Modulating Boiler function for control over the variable speed pump.

I've noticed the disparity between front temp gauge and actual temp leaving the building. 10 degrees or so. So if it says 180, house is getting 170. Does that mean if I want 200 degree water that I have to fire front gauge to 205-210?
Click to expand...

What did you do?.........take a vow to not get it cut until the Garn was installed?? ;)

The gap is there to allow a little air around the pipe and give you some slack to accommodate a less than exact fit. Tough to get everything lined up perfect sometimes. I'd probably fill the to[ half with rope and/or caulk and leave the bottom from say 4 o'clock to 8 o'clock open.

At the end of a burn I've notice that it's pretty normal to see some variation front to back. Some of what I have seen is due to the Garn thermometer being an immersion type while most guys are checking the outlet temp with a surface mounted thermometer. That alone will account for 4-5* variation or more.
 
rvtgr8 said:
I took a little longer to install than RowCrop. Here is my picture before my first burn.

cousin_it2.jpg


Robert
Click to expand...

Nice Robert!!
 
ROFL Robert. I needed that laugh. I know you were at it for quite a while. I read your thread shortly before I bought my Garn. It prepared me for what was to come. Thanks for sharing!

Heaterman yes I vowed to not cut my hair til it burned. That was quite a while ago. The gap is more from the 8 to 4 range. It slopes down slighly. I'm ordering an additional 3 ft, so that makes a 9 ft flue. I expect it will need some supporting. All my temperature gauges not related to controls are inline. They are all Weiss, too. One set on supply/return manifolds, one on the supply leaving the building to house, and one as it enters HX, and then another as it exits HX. The variation has me a little worried. But I can verify the temps as it goes through my system with all the same gauges. I wanted the same style on my manifold on oil boiler side of loop but we ran out of room. The pumps not pumping up worried me a little, but would have been 6 foot up the wall at least.
 
So the controller is control now. I've retired as the thermostats, outside reset and tank temp monitor.

Here is who is "hired" to do the job on out.

Two thermostats in living room. One for oil boiler, the other for AC/Garn. Both are new. Top is Honeywell I found stashed away in a cubbyhole. It's set at 60 degrees.(new in box) Then there is Tekmar t-stats upstairs and down. With set back modes, away status and other stuff I haven't read. :)

On the main board is from left to right. Sensor recorder and digital display. (top mid bot of garn tank). It records the high, low and current temp. Can be used for data logging. Nice!

The bottom white Tekmar is a master for the time schedule. Set it there and it changes the DHW, up and down tstats all at the same time.

The star of this attraction is the Tekmar 401 House Controller. It can be linked with multiple units and they work in sync. The boiler modulator mode is the mode we are using to vary the speed on the variable pump. It's fun to watch it modulate and then record the temp entering the supply on house side.

The other picture is the outdoor reset. It's crucial for this to all work right. So far, so good.
 

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Are you using a mixing valve or variable speed pumping for modulating the water temp?
 
No mixing valvess. The variable speed pump will vary the speed to match the setpoint the Tekmar 401 decides it needs.

Still am seeing the variance of 10 degrees from front temp gauge to manifold to house.
 
RowCropRenegade said:
So the controller is control now. I've retired as the thermostats, outside reset and tank temp monitor.

Here is who is "hired" to do the job on out.

Two thermostats in living room. One for oil boiler, the other for AC/Garn. Both are new. Top is Honeywell I found stashed away in a cubbyhole. It's set at 60 degrees.(new in box) Then there is Tekmar t-stats upstairs and down. With set back modes, away status and other stuff I haven't read. :)

On the main board is from left to right. Sensor recorder and digital display. (top mid bot of garn tank). It records the high, low and current temp. Can be used for data logging. Nice!

The bottom white Tekmar is a master for the time schedule. Set it there and it changes the DHW, up and down tstats all at the same time.

The star of this attraction is the Tekmar 401 House Controller. It can be linked with multiple units and they work in sync. The boiler modulator mode is the mode we are using to vary the speed on the variable pump. It's fun to watch it modulate and then record the temp entering the supply on house side.

The other picture is the outdoor reset. It's crucial for this to all work right. So far, so good.
Click to expand...

Reed,

Great to see you are online, and that you finally cut your hair(Wasn't that on old CSNY song.....). Anyway Congratulations!

I'm confused about your controller though. I thought you were going with a tekmar that would control both boilers(oil and wood) piped in parallel. Something like a 262. Did you change your mind in the end game? Did you pipe the existing oil boiler in parallel, or in series? Just curious!
 
Russ,

The existing oil boiler is piped in parallel. It was actually cheaper/easier to leave the old oil boiler controls/tstat alone. I didn't want all my "eggs" in one basket, you can say. Any problems with that main controller and outdoor reset, both boilers become an issue.

There is a sensor for the controller after the closely spaced tees. Which the controller ramps up the variable speed pump to 50%, then adjusts it to get the water temp it wants.

By going the route I did, it allowed some versatility in case of malfunctions.

Been in the 40s at nite most the week. Fired the Garn to 165 monday nite, ran all week. Draining tomorrow when it rains.
 
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