Tarm c-3 circulator questions

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Todd Willis

Member
Jan 24, 2009
3
S.E. CT
I have been poking around here for a while as i researched my boiler options and finally decided to join. Great Site! I finally have my solo 40 (scantec) operational this week. My father-in-law and i did all the plumbing. it is plumbed as an only boiler design and i turm off my propoane boiler and valve it out. My first question is does the c-3 circulator run constantly when boiler gets above 165. this seems like a waste of energy. My heat zones are controlled with circulators wouldn't they do the same thing? the boiler is basically hooked up the way it is shown in the manual with thermovar valve and circulator.
 
Hi Hottoddy,

yes, the C3 circulator runs anytime the boiler is above 165. With a more sophisticated control strategy I am sure you could tie it into your zone control so that it only came on during a call for heat, however, I am not sure about the pros and cons of that strategy. I am sure others will chime in here and, of course, you can always call us at the office.
 
Since wood boilers can't easily and quickly modulate to zero, it's probably a good idea to have the circ running (and have a viable flow loop) any time the boiler is at temp, just to avoid static hot spots that aren't sensed by the boiler's controller.

Storage avoids this problem by providing a 'last resort' heat load.

Without storage, it's an interesting question of what to do. Before storage, I used my basement zone as a dump zone if I needed to dump excess heat. I have a recirc zone valve, and I'd open that if there were no other heat loads available. That way I'd get flow, and I'd disable the boiler fan until a zone called for heat or until the boiler outlet dropped too low.
 
Thanks guy's. I am probalbly going to adjust the temp a little to see if there is a "sweet" spot for my house, maybe 10 degrees or so. It has been pretty cold here and the 40 is having no trouble keeping up with demand, although i am getting some wet creosote inside the fire box. i'll see how it performs over the next week and maybe make some more tweaks.
 
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