major plumbing changes Need advice.


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Old 07-06-10, 04:31 PM
G
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major plumbing changes Need advice.

So I have been getting quotes to pretty much re do the plumbing from the boiler on out in our house. All base boards were replaced in a remodel done in 09 the home owner would not let them touch the plumbing at the boiler though.


To start I ave a hugely over sized boiler 175k btu and my heatloss calc says I need 80k btu. The boiler is a Well Mclain WTGO. It supplies our hot water which sucks at best. Tt gets colder and hoter based on the boilers cycling. and this bad boy is burning 1.64GPH Since it's summer we only seem to be burning 2.6GPD.

Any who I'm getting estimates and recommendations for intalling 3 zone valves(everyone wants to replumb from the boiler on out) and adding a 50gal electric hot water heater and capping the tankless setup in the boiler. First estimate was $2200 Honeywell valves unknows water heater.

Im in Juneau ak. I was thinking thet we could plumb the water heater in so in the winter the boiler could feed it and in the summer we could make the boiler cold firing. Does this make sense?

It was explained to me that to hook the boiler and water heater up so the boiler could feed the water heater would require pumps and all sorts of stuff and the water heater would have a shorter service life because it would have REALLY hot water going into it.

I want to do what makes sense and will cut our oil consumption/energy usage. the zone valves are a given as presently I am using gate valves to control flow throught the zones. and one day in the future we will get a much smaller boiler but for now we just bought the house so money is tight.
Thanks for all the advice.
GG
 
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Old 07-06-10, 04:37 PM
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Hi, can you boil your exact question(s) down? It seems like you're all over the place.
 
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Old 07-06-10, 10:05 PM
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Can an electric water heater and boiler be plumbed in to use as I describe? Is it complicated? risk to the hot water heater. Any questions I should ask when getting bids?

Thanks
GG
 
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Old 07-07-10, 04:45 AM
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you can feed the hot water heater from the tankless coil.
If the boiler is firing it will feed the tank with pre heated water and therefore the electric element will not come on.
It should not reduce the life of the tank, it may actually extend it. Its hard to say though as electric tank are not the best made or eff. tanks to begin with.

Have the plumber put in a heat trap between the tankless coil and the tank, as you don't want heat migrating back into the boiler in the summer.
 
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Old 07-07-10, 05:13 AM
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I would nix that idea altogether. Anything that makes the boiler maintain temperature is a waste. To do what you want you will need to maintain temp in the winter and that is a huge waste of fuel. I will probably get flack for this but I would not even zone the system until you replace the boiler. Your boiler which is now 100%+ over sized will become even more over sized when you zone. Let's assume the zones will be 27K apiece. In reality One will probably be larger and one will be smaller. At 27k per zone your boiler is 6.5 times over sized. How loudly can you say SHORT CYCLING? Your fuel consumption may even go up.
When you re-radiated did you add more radiation than you needed? This would have helped in the future when installing a new boiler. Your choice of a mad/con at that time would make much more sense.
With the many heat losses I have done for Alaska I have found Juneau (design Temp 1º) to be one of the more mild areas (Kodiak the mildest 13º design temp) of Alaska and one of the areas for the most oversizing of equipment. The last heat loss i have done for Junior was just over 60K for an existing home of almost 2700 sq ft. This past winter was the first winter since the boiler was changed out. I did not hear about the fuel savings but no complaints on the heating.
 
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Old 07-07-10, 09:09 AM
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Id love to replace it with a much smaller furnace but we've got a 2300 budget and I imagine that's not going to get a boiler installed. I could install one but I dont have the equipment to set it up. then I have to find some one willing to sell me a boiler.

Some of the fitting are leaking, most of the isolation valves are frozen(worried i'll break the stems if I force them). and if I dont want heat and close all the valves the flange leaks at the pump.


Champagne taste on a beer budget.
 
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Old 07-14-10, 09:07 AM
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ok so after recieving bids ive been doind some reading. Ive already decided to install the hot water heater myself. now I am debating do it all myself.

I am looking for some refrences or links on how the wiring should work with 3 thermostats/zone valves.

also what should I use for the zone valve install a pre built manifold and add the zone valves onto that or build a custom manifold?

Thanks
GG
 
 

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