I have a Hardy OWB that is not performing up to par. The installation was not great, and it struggles to keep my house above 68 degrees. Basically, the blower runs about all the time. The OWB is set up with 5/8" Kitec for the heating loop, 250 ft. loop distance from boiler to house (4 ton liquid/air heat exchanger in gas furnace) and back. It uses a Taco 009 pump. I now know that the Kitec is way undersized creating a very high head, so flow is probably very low. Is there anything I can do, short of replacing the lines, to increase flow through the system? How about using a second Taco 009 in series with the first? Are there any high head circulators that would work in place of the Taco 009 for this setup? I understand the electricity costs of a larger pump and all the other drawbacks, but I absolutely don't want to have to replace the lines--at least not right now. I could really use some help--PLEASE!!
OWB Setup--HELP!!
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You don't say how many BTU's your load is but 250 feet one way (500 feet round trip?) through 5/8 sounds pretty hopeless to me.
Adding a second pump could help as would increasing the delta(add a second coil in furnace?) but in the long run I think you
already know the answer unfortunately.
Adding a second pump could help as would increasing the delta(add a second coil in furnace?) but in the long run I think you
already know the answer unfortunately.
[quote author="kabbott" date="1256254134"]You don't say how many BTU's your load is but 250 feet one way (500 feet round trip?)....
Thanks. It's 250 feet total distance, not just one way. I'm shooting for about 100,000 BTU's.
Thanks. It's 250 feet total distance, not just one way. I'm shooting for about 100,000 BTU's.
Save yourself the headache of trying to work around the problem. That tubing is wayyyyyy too small for a normal load.
Any chance you can go after the installer for some of the cost? I'm not sure I've ever heard of an OWB being hooked up with less than 1". If I were you I'd go bigger than 1" if you're looking to consistently move 100k btu through it....
Any chance you can go after the installer for some of the cost? I'm not sure I've ever heard of an OWB being hooked up with less than 1". If I were you I'd go bigger than 1" if you're looking to consistently move 100k btu through it....
Thanks Stee6043. Pretty much all the Hardys installed around here, and there are a bunch of them, were done by the same guy. They all use 5/8" Kitec. Now that I understand how to do the calculations, it's really hard to believe. At the same time, 5/8" is apparently good enough for many installations. One neighbor's system does a great job of heating their house. Their house is both smaller and newer than mine. The other neighbors system works about as well as mine. His place is much smaller, but also old and not very well insulated. Thanks again.
Taco zone priority switch would help if you could get some delivered heat but if you can't heat your max load only your stuck. These will allow your zones to switch from DHW to you forced air. Can you eliminate your DHW load and see if you can heat the house. Problem compounded is it's not really cold yet.
If you end up replacing pipe foam in trench or thermo pex. Also add 1 or 2 pull pipes in case your plans ever change and you want to add temp sensors to house etc.
I had a Hardy for at least 10 years.
They supplied me with the gray plumbing pipe that was going to revolutionize how residential plumbing was done. It was introduced about 30 years ago. That was until the fittings started to leak in walls, ceilings you get the idea. When I questioned this problem the response was don't worry your installing continuous runs so you won't have those issues. Well, yeah, but.... I did not know what "Kitec" pipe was so I Goggles it. Plenty came up and it wasn't where to buy.
The stove. Keep an eye on the blower fan. Any contamination on the squirrel cage blower will disrupt the fan's output dramatically and will cause reduced output. 2 things to look for are, the fiberglass insulation particles get sucked into it, and I got creosote formation crust on them also. If the fan has the door welded on and the door stopper welded on that is the same as mine was. Grab the L shaped door stopper pull it out of the way so you can lift the door up and peak into the squirrel cage. Oh, make sure you have the power off. Besides the obvious... If that electro-magnet ever closes ( slams shut ) while you have your head in there it will scare the pant's off you. That's when you'll get hurt.
If they are using the cast iron grates. Instructions say don't let coals build up and touch. They are serious. You'll warp and burn them out.
Things to consider. Burn really dry wood. Many OWBs you can cheat with. Not with these because of the fan draft area.
Put it inside a shed so when ice, snow and it's raining the water doesn't migrate down the top pipes and into the insulation.
If I can help with any Hardy questions I would be happy to help. PM (private message ) me. Any other questions this forum is great.
Rob
If you end up replacing pipe foam in trench or thermo pex. Also add 1 or 2 pull pipes in case your plans ever change and you want to add temp sensors to house etc.
I had a Hardy for at least 10 years.
They supplied me with the gray plumbing pipe that was going to revolutionize how residential plumbing was done. It was introduced about 30 years ago. That was until the fittings started to leak in walls, ceilings you get the idea. When I questioned this problem the response was don't worry your installing continuous runs so you won't have those issues. Well, yeah, but.... I did not know what "Kitec" pipe was so I Goggles it. Plenty came up and it wasn't where to buy.
The stove. Keep an eye on the blower fan. Any contamination on the squirrel cage blower will disrupt the fan's output dramatically and will cause reduced output. 2 things to look for are, the fiberglass insulation particles get sucked into it, and I got creosote formation crust on them also. If the fan has the door welded on and the door stopper welded on that is the same as mine was. Grab the L shaped door stopper pull it out of the way so you can lift the door up and peak into the squirrel cage. Oh, make sure you have the power off. Besides the obvious... If that electro-magnet ever closes ( slams shut ) while you have your head in there it will scare the pant's off you. That's when you'll get hurt.
If they are using the cast iron grates. Instructions say don't let coals build up and touch. They are serious. You'll warp and burn them out.
Things to consider. Burn really dry wood. Many OWBs you can cheat with. Not with these because of the fan draft area.
Put it inside a shed so when ice, snow and it's raining the water doesn't migrate down the top pipes and into the insulation.
If I can help with any Hardy questions I would be happy to help. PM (private message ) me. Any other questions this forum is great.
Rob
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