Hey guys, I have a new / old system. New piping / pumps / infrastructure. Old AquaTherm boiler. The guy I had install it has pretty much ghosted me (I get it ... it's a busy season) and isn't responding to texts to help me solve the issues that have popped up since he built the system. I'm eager to learn, but acknowledge I don't know much at this point. I'm hopeful one of you can talk me through this.
First things first, the boiler is doing an excellent job of heating the house. We keep the thermostat at 73 and haven't burned an ounce of propane since getting the system installed two weeks ago.
My two problems - which may be intertwined - are:
1) The boiler keeps overheating and releasing steam / water / antifreeze. I have no idea why. However, you can see in the picture that I've collected an entire five-gallon bucket of fluid already. It's my understanding that the AquaTherms don't have huge water capacity anyway, so that's a significant percentage of the water that it's blowing off. FWIW - The installer tapped in a nearby auxiliary hose that makes it convenient to add water to the system, so I've done that in an effort to keep the pump from blowing out ... but I'm sure I'm losing more than I'm adding (and I'm losing my investment in expensive antifreeze).
2) The in-floor heat worked great for the first couple of days and then quit working. I'm not sure if that's tied to a reduction in the amount of water in the system (problem #1), or if the pump crapped the bed in the first 48 hours of use. (The pump is a Badger Circulation Pump Type GPD15-6SFC.) Two things on this: 1 - The pump's pressure reading is consistently 4-5, and I'm given to understand that it should be 10. I haven't been able to get it to 10, even with adding water. 2 - The pipes on the output side of the pump are significantly cooler than the pipe running to the pump. The pump sounds like it's working, but I'm not sure.
Those are my issues that I'd love to solve. Thank you for reading to the end of this long thread. And please forgive my ignorance. I wish I knew more about how all of this works. I appreciate any guidance you all can offer!
![[Hearth.com] AquaTherm - Issues with new set-up](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/wood-boiler-2-webp.287013/ "[Hearth.com] AquaTherm - Issues with new set-up")
![[Hearth.com] AquaTherm - Issues with new set-up](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/wood-boiler-1-webp.287014/ "[Hearth.com] AquaTherm - Issues with new set-up")
First things first, the boiler is doing an excellent job of heating the house. We keep the thermostat at 73 and haven't burned an ounce of propane since getting the system installed two weeks ago.
My two problems - which may be intertwined - are:
1) The boiler keeps overheating and releasing steam / water / antifreeze. I have no idea why. However, you can see in the picture that I've collected an entire five-gallon bucket of fluid already. It's my understanding that the AquaTherms don't have huge water capacity anyway, so that's a significant percentage of the water that it's blowing off. FWIW - The installer tapped in a nearby auxiliary hose that makes it convenient to add water to the system, so I've done that in an effort to keep the pump from blowing out ... but I'm sure I'm losing more than I'm adding (and I'm losing my investment in expensive antifreeze).
2) The in-floor heat worked great for the first couple of days and then quit working. I'm not sure if that's tied to a reduction in the amount of water in the system (problem #1), or if the pump crapped the bed in the first 48 hours of use. (The pump is a Badger Circulation Pump Type GPD15-6SFC.) Two things on this: 1 - The pump's pressure reading is consistently 4-5, and I'm given to understand that it should be 10. I haven't been able to get it to 10, even with adding water. 2 - The pipes on the output side of the pump are significantly cooler than the pipe running to the pump. The pump sounds like it's working, but I'm not sure.
Those are my issues that I'd love to solve. Thank you for reading to the end of this long thread. And please forgive my ignorance. I wish I knew more about how all of this works. I appreciate any guidance you all can offer!
