Hi,
I just installed an indoor wood boiler in my shop which will heat the shop (30'x50' w/ 14' ceiling) and has a line to the house which will heat my DHW, has a rad in the forced air furnace and is connected to my floor heat of my garage. The garage already had floor heat which was heated with a 3000W DHW tank element. I had a guy come out to install the system for me because I didn't want to spend a lot of money installing pumps, mixing valves etc and then have something done wrong and it not work. Unfortunately, after the install, I found out it does not work.
First, here is the problem. My fire goes out on me before the wood is all burnt, the water is only luke warm coming out of the boiler. It is warm enough to heat floor heat, but does not do any good for the sidearm on the hot water tank, or the rad in the furnace. The boiler says that it gets really hot in fact it shut itself down because it hit the high temp alarm. I realize that the water at the top of the boiler is getting hot, but the water is stratifying in the boiler. I checked the flow and realized I do not have the minimum recommended flow. The instructions coming from the boiler say 14 gpm min. I have a total of 7.
With that said, I'll describe the system and include a couple of diagrams.
The shop is heated with one pump (15-59 Grundfos Pump). There are 4 loops of 1/2" pex in the floor. I measured 2.5 gpm on this loop.
The house is fed by one pump (26-99 Grundfos Pump). 1" pex pipe is used throughout this loop. The distance from the boiler to the house is 170'. Inside the house the first component in the system is a 4' sidearm on the DHWT. Next it goes to a 20"x20" rad in the furnace. After this it goes to the attached garage. Here there is a ball valve installed across the Supply and Return which I was told to leave open (otherwise it forces it through the garage system.) After this ball valve the return line goes back to the boiler. In the garage is a mixing valve and a pump, connected through my original DHWT element boiler. There are a lot of elbows (just over 20) in the system and the flow of this loop is 4.5 gpm.
The talked to the guy I bought the boiler from (who is not the installer, he does not install them, but recommended the guy who did the install.) and he suggested I put in a second pump in the return line at the house. Is this a good idea?
Here are some diagrams I drew of how the system has been put together.
Edited: I had two mistakes on my diagrams. One length was 5 3/8" instead of 36' and I drew one of the mixing valves in with it pointed the wrong way. (Sorry to add confusion)
![Had boiler installed, doesn't work correctly! Please Help Had boiler installed, doesn't work correctly! Please Help](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/155/155155-0ff982df79f762d1cc416b93bd9ee5ff.jpg)
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
I just installed an indoor wood boiler in my shop which will heat the shop (30'x50' w/ 14' ceiling) and has a line to the house which will heat my DHW, has a rad in the forced air furnace and is connected to my floor heat of my garage. The garage already had floor heat which was heated with a 3000W DHW tank element. I had a guy come out to install the system for me because I didn't want to spend a lot of money installing pumps, mixing valves etc and then have something done wrong and it not work. Unfortunately, after the install, I found out it does not work.
First, here is the problem. My fire goes out on me before the wood is all burnt, the water is only luke warm coming out of the boiler. It is warm enough to heat floor heat, but does not do any good for the sidearm on the hot water tank, or the rad in the furnace. The boiler says that it gets really hot in fact it shut itself down because it hit the high temp alarm. I realize that the water at the top of the boiler is getting hot, but the water is stratifying in the boiler. I checked the flow and realized I do not have the minimum recommended flow. The instructions coming from the boiler say 14 gpm min. I have a total of 7.
With that said, I'll describe the system and include a couple of diagrams.
The shop is heated with one pump (15-59 Grundfos Pump). There are 4 loops of 1/2" pex in the floor. I measured 2.5 gpm on this loop.
The house is fed by one pump (26-99 Grundfos Pump). 1" pex pipe is used throughout this loop. The distance from the boiler to the house is 170'. Inside the house the first component in the system is a 4' sidearm on the DHWT. Next it goes to a 20"x20" rad in the furnace. After this it goes to the attached garage. Here there is a ball valve installed across the Supply and Return which I was told to leave open (otherwise it forces it through the garage system.) After this ball valve the return line goes back to the boiler. In the garage is a mixing valve and a pump, connected through my original DHWT element boiler. There are a lot of elbows (just over 20) in the system and the flow of this loop is 4.5 gpm.
The talked to the guy I bought the boiler from (who is not the installer, he does not install them, but recommended the guy who did the install.) and he suggested I put in a second pump in the return line at the house. Is this a good idea?
Here are some diagrams I drew of how the system has been put together.
Edited: I had two mistakes on my diagrams. One length was 5 3/8" instead of 36' and I drew one of the mixing valves in with it pointed the wrong way. (Sorry to add confusion)
![Had boiler installed, doesn't work correctly! Please Help Had boiler installed, doesn't work correctly! Please Help](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/155/155154-8568572a7350db44cebdeb95e5911946.jpg)
![Had boiler installed, doesn't work correctly! Please Help Had boiler installed, doesn't work correctly! Please Help](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/155/155155-0ff982df79f762d1cc416b93bd9ee5ff.jpg)
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
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