Econoburn Questions

[killick]

The new Econoburn 150 is due to arrive next week and I have a couple of questions regarding the retrofit to my existing system.At present I have separate New York Thermal wood and oil boilers located in an outbuilding about 60 feet from the house.Water is piped to the house via 1&1/2" Kitec lines run in a 4" PVC pipe below frost and insulated.Both boilers are connected to a 7" insulated chimney with a barometric damper on the oil flue.My questions are 1) regarding the chimney.The new boiler has an 8" flue outlet as does the existing NY Thermal unit.This has been reduced to 7".Any thoughts on how or if this will affect the Econoburn?
Also 2) The specs for the Econoburn state 2" feed and return.Can I reduce this to fit my existing 1 1/2" lines? I will probably be replacing the Kitec with Pex,even though in 10 years the Kitec has performed as designed,but I won't be able to feed two 2" lines through my underground pipe.
Thanks;

Earl

 

[wantstoburnwood]

Earl my flue pipe is reduced to 7" with no draft problems.

 

[killick]

Cool,good to know it can be done.How about your water lines?From what I have been reading 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" seems to be the most common.I'll double check with the company for sure.Looks like a cool week coming up.

Earl

 

[pybyr]

I've got 1.25 copper for all of my system shortly after coming off of the boiler; I'd done the calculations and it could move the needed BTUs at acceptable flows, head loss, and velocities (and it's worked fine). If you've got a long run, you _do_ want to check rather than ballpark.

 

[killick]

Trevor,I presently have 1.5" feed and return lines running 65 feet or so.

Earl

 

[NNYorker]

My 100 is reduced to 6" because of the Yugo I had installed prior had 6" thru the roof. 1 1/4" supply and return---copper----short runs, all inside, approx. 30 ft. each run.

 

[killick]

NNY what's your heat loss for the house?

Earl

 

[NNYorker]

NNY what's your heat loss for the house?

Earl

Never did a heat loss. Have a 117K Weil-McClain oil-fired boiler. 2 story house built in 1994--6" walls, 14 ea. windows/double hung 33"X54"(junky & leaky Peachtree), 6' slider, 2 ea. entrance doors, 1300 sq. ft. Attached insulated garage 24'X26' w/ 2 ea. insulated(R-8??) garage doors w/ 1 man door. Currently -7 now , thermostats set at 70 up & down all night. Loaded the 100 @ about 10 P.M. Wake up @ 5:45 to good bed of coals, load again dependent on weather, who is home.......... The house could use a good tightening up----we all know the days of .75 fuel oil (1994) are over. If I had to do it all over again---I would have not wasted using my ARXX blocks for a basement and built a 1 story on a slab with the whole house of ARXX blocks. House is situated on hill with no protection subjected to winds/high winds 90% of the year. No complaints with the Econo.

 

[altheating]

The factory allows the use of a 6" chimney on the EBW-100's EBW-150's and the EBW-200's as long as the draft is adequate. As far as using 1" PEX, that is also fine as long as you get the flow that you need. The units are all plumbed with 2" piping to accommodate multi building installs.

 

[killick]

altheating;that's great info.I should be ok with the 7" chimney as draft is not a problem and the Pex will be a minimum of 1.5".

Earl

 

[heaterman]

If you wish to replace the Kitec you have now that's fine but you don't have to change it for the sake of sizing alone. If it takes care of your load now it will take care of it with the Econoburn too. Just get some reducers as needed and connect.

The 7" will do fine in most cases. At worst you may have to add a length or two to develop the correct draft but usually i find the draft is too high rather than being insufficient. Get a manometer and chck it once connected and firing to be sure.

 

[killick]

Heaterman,thanks for that. The Kaitec is 1.5" and that is what I would be replacing it with in Pex.My installer has been telling me the Kaitec is a problem waiting to happen but it has been in place for 11 years now with no issues so I am inclined to think if it ain't broke why fix it.My understanding of the problem with the Kaitec is not the pipe itself but the dezincification of the brass fittings.It may be a problem finding a 2" to 1 1/2" reducer for Kaitec as they no longer make the fittings and IPEC has gotten out of Kaitec I believe.

Earl