Gasifier installation questions

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OK, so I have another idea. I talked to a guy tonight who said that most pumps have a one-way check valve installed in them, and if I wanted to redirect the flow with two opposing pumps that I would have to disable that check valve. So take a look at my new plan using zone valves instead, and let me know what you think. Same idea as far as using boiler controls and a few relays to control the system.

Hot Boiler (minimum operating temperature achieved)
"A" - OFF
"C" - ON
"D1" - OPEN (only when no zones are calling for heat)
"D2" - OFF

Cold Boiler (boiler below minimum operating temperature)
"A" - ON
"C" - OFF
"D1" - CLOSED
"D2" - ON (only when a zone is calling for heat)


The biggest problem I see is that depending on how responsive the zones are to adjusting room temperature, at least one zone will be calling for heat for a long enough period of time that the boiler has to check itself down when it could be dumping heat into the storage tanks. You would have that same problem with the other design I posted as well, but I think it could be rectified on the primary/secondary design by allowing the storage charge pump to run via a temp check on the primary loop instead of checking whether or not a zone is running. I have not yet figured out a way around this on the zone valve design. Any suggestions?
 

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Not all pumps have check valves, and most can be easily removed. I like your first drawing - I was thinking of something similar.
 
Piker, take a look at a tekmar 156 differance setpoint controller. That are 130-140 dollar range. I just got one for mine, I have not set it up yet but will soon.
 
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