Hello everyone. Glad to be a part of such a great site. I almost feel guilty for having gleaned so much useful information and not having anything to contribute. I have been watching from the sidelines for 1 1/2 yrs. Slowly making an outside shed for the 150,000 rated Omega gassifier, bringing in insulated 1 1/4" thermo into the house, running a primary secondary set up similar to Hot Rod Bob's recommended approach. So far completed is the following.... Outside boiler loop into house ( 1 1/4" thermo ) with it's own Grundfoss 3 speed circulator meeting inside primary loop( 1 1/4" copper )with a Grundfoss 1558 three speed circulator,r feeding 1st zone of ssecondary loop for heat exchanger in ductwork.(1" copper with a 15-58 grundfoss3 speed circulator. The 2nd. zone fed with a (1" copper main run through a Caleffi manifold 6 zone manifold with a Caleffi mixing valve feeding 3- 1/2" pex floor loops run in extruded aluminum emisson plates under main level. 3rd zone not complete with a( 1 1/4" loop) to future storage 1000 gallon propane tank to be set in another building 100' away. 4th zone is a another (1" secondary loop) going to a manifold for future radiators, or baseboards Taco 6 zone controller. The system is up and running and the boiler seems tobe operating like iit should.using alot of wood. The learning curve on firing the boiler has been steep, and still needs some tweaking. The heat exchanger is on line and seems to zap the heat out of the system real fast. The boiler is set on 170 and the aquastat on the primary loop keeps the fan coil from turning on until the water is 140. Is that to low? The delta between going into the heat exchanger and coming out of the heat exchanger is about 20. Is that normal? The floor heat will not satisfy the demands of the whole house but keeps the house more comfortable. the mixing valve is delivering about 120 degree heat to the under floor but is coming back at about 70. that seems to be alot of difference-may have a faulty gauge. My question is how to regulate the valves on the return side of the manifold to produce the most heat? What pump speed produces the most heat? I gues I don't quite understand the relationship between throttling down the valves at the boiler and at each primary seconday location and what impact that will have on the system.The house is comfortable but not overly warm considering the investment I have made so far. Some things that still need to be completed are storage, insulating underfloor(none presently) and hooking up my return air ducts( presently drawing return air at the side of the air handler.) I know these things will go a long way toward improving the system. Thanks in advance for any info you guys can lend and thanks again for such a great informative site.
T-boy
T-boy