Biocide CLT 551 - Garn time comes to the Palmer Divide

don't have a clue. BUT damn, nice looking unit.

AWESOME looking job!!

Looks real nice.I'm thinking of tiling mine also .I thought I had an original idea.Any way I sent my water sample out before I filled and they sent me 775p precleaner 1 tub and 2 tubs of clt-200p They said to use both tubs.After 2 weeks I'll send in another sample.This is the contact info.
Precisionchem water treatment
Mike Kuzulka
920-324-2007
Email [email protected]

Jealousy is sooooooo hard to control! ;-)

First, the chemicals.......slowly pour it all in the top while the pump is running. Let it circulate for 24 hours. Then take the sample as the instructions indicate. Make sure the sample is clean. I had the rep from the boiler testing company Mike at Precision Chemicals....920-324-2007, (located in Waupun, WI) stop by our place. He said that Garn would be changing to a different policy of testing the fill water before you add any chemicals. Then adjusting which chemicals based on that test result. We ended up having to drain, clean and add different chemicals because I didn't do it correctly.

Second, I've been reading your posts on the Garn since you got it. We bought ours after you did, and have had good support from the sales rep. Ken at Oak Sales- Ken Oaks <[email protected]>. He might have some suggestions. I was thinking of posting a picture of ours...........until I saw your installation. Makes our drywall job look crude. But the Garn works great. $4000 of natural gas bills the year before we installed ours. $1 after, and only because we had to shut down to repair a leak in the piping. Great unit.

I am glad to see the discussions on the water treatment. I have set a reminder to check Monday on the best procedure to add the water/chemical for my application. I was ready to start adding water but do not have a pre-treatment, only the CLT 551. I have waited this long, may as well do it right. I will put the blade on the tractor and get the road ready for winter plowing. After the rains the gravel is definitely saturated and workable, it will be easy to pull the wash back up the hill.

rvtgr8 said:

The aspen are gold, the wood is ready and my Garn is ready for it's first full winter of work. I left it unfilled during the summer and now I have cleaned the tank and filled it up for firing. The biocide that came with the Garn (CLT 551) had no instructions that I can find. I have no idea on how much of this chemical to add. It is pretty nasty stuff from what I can tell and I do not wish to take any unnecessary chances with my system. Does anybody have a clue about this material?

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SWEET!!

Here's my drill on water treatment. If you purchased the precleaner, pour it in during or after you have filled the unit. My preference is a little bit at a time while the unit fills.
Heat it up and circulate the entire Garn side of the system for a day or two. This helps get any threading oil, pipe dope, debris etc cleaned out of not only the Garn but all the connected piping also. (This should be standard practice on any hydronic system btw) If you don't have the cleaner recommended by Garn, get some or else pick up some real live TSP or boiler cleaner from a supply house and do the same. You will need a lot of other chemical because the Garn cleaner is very concentrated.

After letting it "work" for a couple days, drain the unit onto the lawn of the nearest EPA personnel................just kidding
Seriously, the Garn recommended chemical is not toxic in standard dilution ratios so you can simply drain it outside. It's basically just a heavy duty detergent.
I usually add the actual system treatment while the unit fills a bit at a time to helps disperse it but the stuff is very soluble and dissipates easily in the tank. I Let that run for 2-3 weeks and then pull a sample for Mike at Precision Chem. That guy knows what he's talking about so take his recommendations seriously. If he says you need to add a bucket of this that or the other thing, just do it. I have a user who balked at buying the recommended treatment after final testing and skipped it........let's just say that two years later it cost him a LOT more to get the system cleaned out than it would have initially.

That is probably one of the nicest looking installs I have seen Robert. If you ever want to moonlight doing finish work on Garns I could probably put you to work.

PS:

That little iron rad is THE BOMB!!


....................and thanks for the kind words Robert, I wasn't joking about the moonlighting bit either.

rvtgr8 said:

Am I correct in thinking that having the tank full for a few days while I get my answers on the Biocide issues answered the system will not be permanently damaged?

Robert :roll:

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Absolutely correct.

I'd suggest giving Mike a call at Precision Chem and get your info right from the main guy in the Garn treatment program. His number is 920-324-2007. Just tell him you are a Garn owner wanting to get things fired up right the first time and also what your unit came shipped with. You should at least have the 755 treatment or whatever that number is........... Mike is one of the best water guys I have run into for both sealed and open systems and he won't sell you a bill of goods you don't need. He'll also give you whatever guidance you need on using the product and testing afterward.