getting ready to fill system and have a question

[woodsmaster]

Was wondering if I should fill boiler and storage with my zones valved off. heat storage and then fill rest of system which for now is a cold 1400 sq foot slab or should I just fill it all and then heat it up. My well is slow so it will take me a day or two to fill up between showers, laundry and such. We do have temps above freezing for a couple days.

 

[stee6043]

I'd personally fill the whole thing. You might as well starting getting the air out all at once instead of reintroducing air when you fill the rest of the system.

Did you clean your system at all? When I started my system I filled it, heated it with pre-cleaner in the water, drained, refilled and treated the new water with chemicals for the long run...

 

[woodsmaster]

Getting ready to clean it. I'm currently waiting on chemicals to arrive. They should be here today or tomorrows. I would like to get it done while the temps are above freezing just in case of any unforeseen problems.
I will be adding the house in a couple weeks. I don't want to wait until I get the house done to fire it. I can close off my storage and clean the house separately when the time comes.

 

[woodsmaster]

Chemicals just came while I was typing the previous post.

 

[Hunderliggur]

Have you pressure tested with compressed air first to make sure the system does not have leaks?

 

[woodsmaster]

Ya pressure checked and good to go. I had 1 union that leaked a little, I give it another 1/4 turn and it stoped.

 

[Hunderliggur]

Fill you tanks slowly over a day or days, then the rest of your system (small compared to the 1000 gallons). If you have the valves, you may want to fill and purge one tank, then the other. Kind of like fillling a pool from a well. My cistern holds 1500 gallons, my well pumps to the cistern at 5 gpm. My pressure pumps can deliver 30 GPM at 60 PSI if the pipe is big enough. I took my time filling ;-)

It would be super neat if you could fill one tank and the boiler so you could light a fire! Then you could be heating the system while you fill the next tank. Purging is a big deal so use your own judgement. I know I would probably want to get burning before filling both tanks (of course I am assumig you have multiple tanks). You can always run with reduced storage (or no storage at all).

 

[woodsmaster]

My well is about 5 gal / min to. If I use more than that the pump will lose it's prime. I'd put a new well in but I'm afraid of getting sulfur water. Got my tanks both 3/4 full last night. sure is a lot of water to heat then dump out.

 

[Hunderliggur]

"4 cord ash cut and split. Many more in the woods waiting. "

If you just cut and split it this year, your wood may be wet. Greater than 20% MC will make it harder (not impossible) to get the fire right (been there, done that). Good luck with the firing. If your Biomass is like my Paxo, you will have to burn a while to dry out the refactory cement and get the boiler up to temp. Be patient.

 

[woodsmaster]

The 4 cord is at around 19% moisture. The dead ash in the woods is around 26% standing,so dry wood shouldn't be an issue for a while. Still filling the tanks.

 

[8nrider]

what do you use for a cleaner and what does it clean? i am working on piping a used tarm to a 500 gal tank and an existing 3 zone radiant system. would this benifit my system? thanks brad

 

[Sawyer]

what do you use for a cleaner and what does it clean? i am working on piping a used tarm to a 500 gal tank and an existing 3 zone radiant system. would this benifit my system? thanks brad

Brad, give Mike a call, he has 775p pre-cleaner that he sent for my Garn. He is an expert in water treatment.

Mike Kuzulka
920-324-2007
Email [email protected]

 

[woodsmaster]

I USED CF - 205 cleaner and cf 200 treatment from alternate heating, but I'm no expert when it comes to chemicales. It's suppost to clean out flux solder and debris.

 

[henfruit]

Do you really need to clean and drain? If so run hot then cool down drain and refill. or can you just add boiler conditioner and let it rip?

 

[stee6043]

I used these guys for my chemicals. A LOT cheaper than my local boiler supplier....

http://www.boilerandcoolingwater.com/

 

[Sawyer]

Do you really need to clean and drain? If so run hot then cool down drain and refill. or can you just add boiler conditioner and let it rip?

I wanted to clean out the boiler and lines as this was a new installation. The cleaner removed any manufacturing sludge, oils, solder paste, etc. The metal was nice and bright after cleaning. I rinsed and then added the boiler treatment clt-200p. I am now waiting for the results of my boiler waters test to know if any additional chemicals are needed. After this it is recommended that I test the water twice a year. At shut down and then again at start-up.

 

[woodsmaster]

Do you really need to clean and drain? If so run hot then cool down drain and refill. or can you just add boiler conditioner and let it rip?

I'm not sure how nessasary it is but I figured no sense in cutting corners with such a large investment. The water that came out was kinda geenish brown and stinky with some fine rust particales and such in it.
I also had some pex shavings and stuff in the Y strainer.

 

[henfruit]

Maybe i will drain down 10 gallons or so into 5 gallon buckets and have alook . it wont hurt to se what is going on in the tanks. I bought some product from the uk that baxi boiler has for there units. they also have many other items that are for boilers .