About 6 years ago in installed one of those famous Greenwood 100s. I bought it new at a clearances price through my wifes uncle. He was an installer of them. He was suppose to help install it but never did due to an accident so I installed it myself through a lot of reading and internet searchs. It does work and I’ve never had any major issues even though I’m sure its not installed perfect. My system was installed with 1 big loop. It goes through the boiler, then to 5 120 gallon storage tanks(in one, then out and back in to the next). Then the loop goes through the heat exchanger for my domestic hot water(old style gravety fed). Then it goes through my forced air water to air heat exchanger for my house heat. Then back out to the boiler in my garage. This system is one giant loop with 1 circulation pump always pumping. The boiler burns wood 4-6 hours a day and then its shut down til the next day. I’m heating 3500 sq foot house and an oversized double garage in Canada. The water temp rarely gets below 140 at evey start up and i burn about 12-14 face-cords a year. The main issue i have is my sons room is always very cold(bad house design). Whats the easiest way to fix this? I’m assuming I need to run a line to it with a baseboard but i’m not sure how to. Does it need its own pump or just some sort of zone valve off my main loop. Also, any input on how to set up my original loop better/proper would be appreciated. I have no issues modifying mu system to make it more effecient. My garage also has a heat exchanger but it is always by-passed because its not needed.
Help with a cold room.
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maple1
Minister of Fire
Sounds like your system is working pretty good. Is it pressurized? I'm not sure if Greenwood was or wasn't.
Baseboards are usually part of a closed pressurized system. Which would mean that as soon as you get into adding that kind of stuff, you should put in a flat plate heat exchanger to transfer heat between your current loop, and the new pressurized stuff you add - if your existing system isn't pressurized.
But - if you are thinking about just one room & radiator, you could maybe try running the new short loop off your existing one with a separate circ tied to a new thermostat and using close spaced T's to pull off & send back thru. Getting that loop bled of air, and keeping it that way, may be a challenge. If it is pressurized already - should be a fairly easy chore, relatively speaking.
Baseboards are usually part of a closed pressurized system. Which would mean that as soon as you get into adding that kind of stuff, you should put in a flat plate heat exchanger to transfer heat between your current loop, and the new pressurized stuff you add - if your existing system isn't pressurized.
But - if you are thinking about just one room & radiator, you could maybe try running the new short loop off your existing one with a separate circ tied to a new thermostat and using close spaced T's to pull off & send back thru. Getting that loop bled of air, and keeping it that way, may be a challenge. If it is pressurized already - should be a fairly easy chore, relatively speaking.
Yes my system is pressurized. When I first set it up it wasn’t pressurized but I kept having issues bleeding the system every fall so I pressurized it in an attempt to solve the issue. I eventually added a ton of bleeders that solved it and thought it worked better pressurized so I left it that way. So adding a small loop with a circulator, thermastat, and baseboard should be easy enough.
maple1
Minister of Fire
Sounds like it on the face of it. Your existing loop could be primary loop, new one secondary. You could read up on primary secondary piping to learn more.
Fred61
Minister of Fire
Since it's pressurized, any supply side tubing passing anywhere near the room could be tapped in to with a "scoop tee" (there may be another name for them) run a line to the bedroom through a baseboard unit and back to your supply downstream. I've done it twice with great success. You don't need a scoop tee where you return to the supply run.
maple1
Minister of Fire
I checked out the monoflo tees. I like the concept of how it works. Sounds like I would just need a monoflo tee, a regular tee, a rad, and a thermostatic radiator valve. My only concern is the distance to the bedroom. From my main loop to the window in the bedroom is about 45 feet. Is that to far for this to work without another circulation pump?
maple1
Minister of Fire
Fred61
Minister of Fire
That's a long run! I can't go 45 feet in any direction in my house however I would chance it. I would install a "balancing valve" downstream from the monoflow tee to increase resistance in the main line if needed and forget the thermostatic valve. Install enough baseboard to heat the room and if it overheats find some way to limit the air flow in the baseboard. Like a towel stuffed below the element.
People are balancing hundreds of feet of radiant tube. Not quite the same here but pretty close.
People are balancing hundreds of feet of radiant tube. Not quite the same here but pretty close.
salecker
Minister of Fire
I have one Alpha pump that supplies all my zones.
Each zone is Cast Iron Rads with TRV's.
One zone is 5 ft and the furthest is close to 40 ft of pex to the CI rads. All zones produce heat when it's cold,no cold areas in this house.
Each zone is Cast Iron Rads with TRV's.
One zone is 5 ft and the furthest is close to 40 ft of pex to the CI rads. All zones produce heat when it's cold,no cold areas in this house.
Ya my house is rather long. Its shaped like an ‘F’ and room with the issue is the farthest away from my system as you can get. My boiler is in my garage and my storage tanks and forced air furnace are in the middle of the house. The cold room also has 3 exterior walls and on the side of the house that gets the most wind. It was destined to be cold. I think I’ll try the monoflo tees and see what happens. I might be able to shave 20’ off the run by taking some of the system apart thats hard to get at and place the rad at the entrance to the room instead of under the window.
Fred61
Minister of Fire
You wouldn't be one of the first to install convectors that are not under a window although there are benefits to installing under the windows. Those big slabs of glass are also convectors only not preferred by anyone trying to keep warm. There's a stream of cold air sliding off the glass headed toward the floor and a baseboard convector interrupts the flow adding some heat to it. Without the baseboard the cold air slides along the floor to the baseboard heaters on the other side of the room, warms that air and directs it up the wall toward the ceiling heading for another pass at the window.. So you end up with a river of cold air going across the floor.
So what I'm leading up to is window coverings. Not draw drapes. They're open top and bottom acting like the front panel on the baseboard heater. Gotta have something that either seals at the top or bottom to stop the frigid flow.
So what I'm leading up to is window coverings. Not draw drapes. They're open top and bottom acting like the front panel on the baseboard heater. Gotta have something that either seals at the top or bottom to stop the frigid flow.
salecker
Minister of Fire
I was going to put CI Rads under my windows originally,turns out the quad pane windows have very little cold air sliding off them.Our last -40C stretch had a couch against the wall under one of the picture windows in our living room.
Sitting on that couch was as comfortable as the one in the middle of the room.
I used a different part of the main floor for a bank of rads,it's like having a wood stove in the middle of the room.
I am very impressed with the quad pane windows.
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