My Windhager BioWin 100/150 Install Thread

[velvetfoot]

Dana.....my install will not take a day like yours! Delivery should be in May, I would think. Install...it's already begun! And when it will end? Hopefully before winter!

In NYS: Nothing. Not that we don't pay a lot for electric and everything else.

 

[velvetfoot]

The boiler and buffer tank are in the basement.

 

[Mpodesta]

Nice, looking forward to seeing the instal pics.

Cat yours? I have a 226b

 

[velvetfoot]

Nice, looking forward to seeing the instal pics.

Cat yours? I have a 226b

Project is very slow.

Cat is not mine. I paid a local landscape contractor $100 to move it. He and his son also helped me get it through the door. He set it on my pallet jack and that's how we moved it through the door.

 

[velvetfoot]

I drilled a couple of 4" holes through my 8" basement wall today for the relocated oil tank supply and vent pipes.. I rented a Husqvarna wet drill with stand and diamond core bit. I hung plastic around it and gathered a portion of it into a plastic tote, so the water was routed into it. The inside edges are very sharp, but not so much the outside, but as sharp as possible. It went very smooth-no dust, no mess, but I should've worn ear protection for the first hole I drilled. Hopefully the pipes will fit okay. I'll attach some pics.

 

[velvetfoot]

Well, I managed to get the boiler off the pallet and onto some 2x4s. Now I can pick it up with the pallet jack, move it where I want to and set it down on some concrete patio blocks, or whatever the 4" thick 8x16" units are called. I might cut a couple blocks so there are a couple of slots for the pallet jack forks.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend the way I did it, although it wasn't dangerous or required any muscle. I used the levelers as little jacks to jack it up a little at a time, block it off and do it over again until a couple of 2x4s could fit underneath. Thing is, the levelers were never meant for that kind of duty, and the thing that the levelers screwed in to broke its hold somehow and just spun in place. I put a vice grips on it and that worked. It was a little dicey, and it happened on two of the levelers; luckily they were on the pellet bin side and there was access to the keeper for the vice grip, as opposed to the boiler side. Anyway, all's well that ends well. Here's a pic:

 

[velvetfoot]

Here is a picture of the moved oil tank. I did some sheet rock and window and door trim while the area was open. I put 20 gallons of diesel in it and purged the burner-easy. The flare fittings don't seem to be leaking, but that took a little repetition. I sealed the outside of the oil fill and vent pipes with that clay penetration sealer stuff. I will spray some great stuff in there-will attempt to mask off the sheetrock to avoid mess. I got a gun for the great stuff which I like. Will call the oil man. Hopefully the fill will go smoothly-can't imagine why not and the 2" fill and vent pipe can't hurt. Still not sure how much oil to order-I'm currently thinking 100 gallons.

 

[DBNH22]

Here is a picture of the moved oil tank. I did some sheet rock and window and door trim while the area was open. I put 20 gallons of diesel in it and purged the burner-easy. The flare fittings don't seem to be leaking, but that took a little repetition. I sealed the outside of the oil fill and vent pipes with that clay penetration sealer stuff. I will spray some great stuff in there-will attempt to mask off the sheetrock to avoid mess. I got a gun for the great stuff which I like. Will call the oil man. Hopefully the fill will go smoothly-can't imagine why not and the 2" fill and vent pipe can't hurt. Still not sure how much oil to order-I'm currently thinking 100 gallons.

Are you still using your oil for domestic hot water int he non heating months? I got a Nyle heat pump water heater for that but I wanted to have some oil in my oil tank for emergencies and to exercise the oil boiler periodically. I called the oil company the other day, after not having purchased oil from them for at least a year and asked what the minimum delivery they will make is. The lady told me 150 gallons despite the fact that they've always done 100 gallon deliveries in the past. I asked if she could do 50 and she copped an attitude with me. I guess it's not worth their time, even this time of year, to work a 50 gallon delivery in. Screw'em. I'll find an oil company that will deliver 50 gallons.

 

[velvetfoot]

Are you still using your oil for domestic hot water int he non heating months?

No, I too am using a Nyletherm attached to an electric water heater; it's been working great. I'll probably be using the pellet boiler for hot water in the winter time.
I'm getting a 100 gallon delivery day after tomorrow.

 

[velvetfoot]

Got 100 gallons today-whistled like a top and no leaks. Filled in pipe penetration space with foam. Again, I love that foam gun.

I measured 100' to the window from where a bulk truck could park. The pellet guy's hose is 100'. I'm thinking I could put the bin next to the oil tank and run some hoses through the window. If that works, I could drill another couple holes through the foundation and supply a couple of extension hoses, because I can't see an easy way to get the hose through the rim and adjoining joists because the hose (more like 'pipe') is quite stiff.

 

[DBNH22]

I'm curious, what did you pay per gallon?

 

[velvetfoot]

3.55

 

[velvetfoot]

I took the cardboard off the Froling tank. It is tall. Here's a pic, in hopefully approximate final position.

 

[velvetfoot]

I got a package in the mail yesterday. It is a Windhager barometric damper with pressure release and a Tee with clamps. The baro damper intrigued me because there is a gasket that provides a seal in the event of some transitory positive pressure. It also has a spring loaded ring that pops off in the event of an explosion, which doesn't intrigue me as much, but is interesting.

I'm having trouble getting my head around how the whole assembly goes together in the system. The Tee is of very rugged construction: 2mm (.079") thick wall and welded. It also came with two very heavy steel bands that are lined with a sticky kind of material.

The trouble for my mind are the diameters and where to locate the damper. The baro damper seems to be meant to slip into the 6" diameter right angle section of the Tee, which incidentally has 5 holes in it. That's fine, except for the 4 holes that have to be plugged since the damper is only lone enough to engage the one screw. The other two ends of the Tee are 5-7/8" in external diameter, so that would seem to mean that they both would slip into a 6" pipe with the heavy steel clamps holding things together.

I guess things will become evident at some point. I'm going to order the DVL double wall smoke pipe shortly.

 

[heaterman]

I've never used one although I saw something similar installed in the factory training room in Austria.
It is a very well designed barometric damper (pricey)

As far as how in particular it all goes together..........I would say that depends on where the metric/US adapter comes into the picture.
Is the Tee the same diameter as the back of the flue outlet on the boiler?

 

[velvetfoot]

Is the Tee the same diameter as the back of the flue outlet on the boiler?

No. The tees two ends are just shy of 6", so I guess it could plug into an adapter.
The Tee is INCREDIBLY heavy and well built. Maybe in Europe the smoke pipe is thicker than here. I'm now leaning on going DVL all the way from the adapter and plugging the baro into a DVL tee, not using the Windhager tee, and also using Tarm's datasheet on their boilers and mount the baro in a tee under the chimney cleanout tee. It's gonna be a little tricky at the chimney termination because my chimney guy but an insulated liner through a 8" double wall chimney-it may be that I'll need to call him, but I'll order the parts and try to fit it up myself first.

 

[velvetfoot]

I've been ordering the doo dads; they sure are expensive.

 

[velvetfoot]

I've been bummed out because after ordering a bunch of DVL stove pipe ($$) the 5-6" increaser didn't fit. The mfr's tech dept said they didn't make anthing suitable, and maybe I could modify it by crimping. I tried that this morning with no luck. While in the hardware store buying some metal duty jigsaw blades (!) I found two 5-6" adapters: one with the crimp on the 6" end and one with the crimp on the 5" end. The one that fit was the first one, what they call an "increaser", but I can't see that, only it had to go in backwards. It is a very nice tight fit even though not technically the most desireable. I can put some sealant in at the crimp end and 3 screws, and the other end goes over the heavy duty flue extension on the BioWin and which I'll probably just put a hose clamp on. The BioWin extender comes off easy as well, so removing for future cleaning, either the extender or the hose clamp and adapter/extender connection will be a snap.

It's amazing how my mood has improved. It may prove transitory, but I'm loving it!

 

[velvetfoot]

Back to earth. I'm fitting up the DVL pipe and it's not super easy. The liner came down crooked (chimney guy did that), the T didn't wind up going in just like it should, but I think it should be all right. I'll put some rtv on the interior seams, maybe some tape on exterior, but I don't think I'll be taking that down again for maintenance if I can help it. I think if I had to do it over again I'd do it in single wall. It's lighter (I might need an add-on support just for the sliding section-that'll be a great look, it assembles (and disassembles easier), I don't need the clearance relief, and it's much cheaper; I just don't think I'm getting the value out of it.

 

[velvetfoot]

DVL stove pipe fit up. Will mark, take down as unit, assemble and seal, and store elsewhere for better access.
The telescoping section is pretty heavy. I think I will use a hanger but not sure what's best. I'll post a question in wood stove forum.

Boiler is now where it's going to be. Will arrange termite blocks (some cutting of same is in the works).

 

[velvetfoot]

DHW is now tapped into for the new tank with isolation valves. Took an outage today since the better half was out for the day.

 

[velvetfoot]

Took on a diversion yesterday and loaded 4 tons of pellets into the basement. Shoulder aches. I can see the attraction of bulk pellet delivery.

 

[velvetfoot]

I finished sweating the domestic hot water pipe today and had only one a connection that leaked, a 1.5"/.75" threaded brass bushing that I was luckily able to tighten a little with a couple 24" wrenches.
I'm pretty certain I'm going to set it up to load pellets manually for this winter and maybe use the bag next winter.
I thought about controlling the oil boiler backup and I think I'm going to use DZL_Damon's approach of a time delay/temp reading of the pellet boiler water, as I explained in another thread.
I'll take some pictures when I get the boiler piping tight, knock on wood.

 

[DBNH22]

Shouldn't be much longer now before the party starts eh velvet.......

 

[velvetfoot]

Well, I put in another fill line-it didn't occur to me that the mixing valve would block the flow when flushing and filling. Perhaps not necessary. This morning I cleaned up the basement, partly so that not as much stuff would get wet, lol, and partly to delay the inevitable. I'll start putting water in it after lunch. Nervous.
There's still the electrical work to go as well, but if I can get it to hold water, I'll be a happy camper. Wish me luck.