Newbie with Harmon PB105 questions

[wil lanfear]

yea i'm good with that,, but what prevents the water from traveling through the zone instead of just circulating through the two boilers.

. The flo-check on each heat zone prevents the hot water that is circulated between the PB and OB from traveling to each zone. A call for heat on a given zone starts the circulator for the zone, thus the flo-check for that zone opens , hot water flows to supply the heat demand, heat demand meant, circulator shuts off, flo-check closes.

 

[taperk600]

have you paid for yours yet? They have my deposit for the boiler, but I'm not paying in full till it does what it was promised to do.

Yes...paid in full 2 days prior to the install. I thought it had to be paid before they installed it...but never actually asked...

 

[taperk600]

Does anyone know if a circ can be wired up to be activated by 2 different sources ? Here's what I'm thinking...the way that mine was installed, I have the circ that they put in for overheat issue that is between the 2 return lines. If I could have that turn on when the PB runs to circ hot water between the 2, maybe based on an aqua stat on the OB, then both boilers would be kept hot by the PB. But I'm still going to need it able to be used as the over heat circ too, hence the reason for needing 2 different input sources.

Just a thought on how the correct this with the least amount of changes....

 

[Wayne64SS]

I would think it's no problem.. the circ itself isn't what would matter its just how you wire it

 

[taperk600]

Ok, here's the pics now that I reduced them to less than 1/2 size:

 

[taperk600]

Guess I need to get used to how this forum works....here's a couple more

 

[Wayne64SS]

yea, that guage is the same way on mine! junk! I wonder if it isn't supposed to have teflon or something on it...

 

[taperk600]

The smaller circ is the one that operates when the zones call for heat. The larger 3 speed on the return to the PB is the one I'm thinking could be used to circ between the 2 boilers

 

[taperk600]

<deleted>

 

[Wayne64SS]

sure there is... its on the bottom left of your post. right next to the quote button.

 

[wil lanfear]

Does anyone know if a circ can be wired up to be activated by 2 different sources ? Here's what I'm thinking...the way that mine was installed, I have the circ that they put in for overheat issue that is between the 2 return lines. If I could have that turn on when the PB runs to circ hot water between the 2, maybe based on an aqua stat on the OB, then both boilers would be kept hot by the PB. But I'm still going to need it able to be used as the over heat circ too, hence the reason for needing 2 different input sources.

Just a thought on how the correct this with the least amount of changes....

The overheat circulator,I'm a little confused, the way your boiler is piped with a circulator in the return between both boilers, what controls this circulator running and when it does run, where is the water circulated to and from?? I've piped a few wood boilers with a overheat zone located in the basement using a seperate circulator and flo-check with a aquastat that controlled the running. The aquastat set to 200 degrees would start this circulator to take care of an overheat situation in the wood boiler ~ oil boiler. Is this the purpose of your overheat circulator??

 

[Wayne64SS]

it's basically a BS attempt at an overheat zone. It just pumps the heat through the regular zone, they didn't even check my existing circ for a check to make sure it would work. If it had a check then it would not work correct? They are calling it an overheat zone, but its not a seperate zone in any way, shape, or form. It's simply another circ on the existing zone. It's a shame there was no test at the end of this so called "class".

 

[wil lanfear]

it's basically a BS attempt at an overheat zone. It just pumps the heat through the regular zone, they didn't even check my existing circ for a check to make sure it would work. If it had a check then it would not work correct? They are calling it an overheat zone, but its not a seperate zone in any way, shape, or form. It's simply another circ on the existing zone. It's a shame there was no test at the end of this so called "class".

If the existing circulator has a check it will not work as intended. I have the circulator installed in the return line at the PB, this circulates the water from the bottom of the oil boiler through the pellet boiler, back to the supply (top) of the oil boiler. This circulator will run until the aquastat that is located in the oil boiler is satisfied. IMO, if you require an overheat zone, another circulator and a aquastat will be needed to start and stop this circulator in a overheat situation. The way that the installer installed the overheat circulator, I don't see how your going to get a flow between the two boilers.

 

[Wayne64SS]

you won't and thats our point. i have no flow between boilers.

 

[wil lanfear]

you won't and thats our point. i have no flow between boilers.

Is it possible to get the installer back to install it so as it will circulate the water between both boilers as it should, without any additional costs to you? After reading some of the posts here, I would have to question what classes by installers were attended. ???

 

[taperk600]

They put this circ in line between the 2 boiler returns. Said the check was removed and that it would only come on if the PB signals an overheat from the control unit. I posted already (possibly in another topic) that I didn't understand how this was going to circulate any water as (when they left the house) the OB was completely isolated with the shut off valves and my zones are both valved. Nothing was hooked up the zones, so IF an overheat occurred, this circ would turn on and push water no where. That's why I'm thinking of making it work off an a-stat and circ water between the 2.At least that way it serves some purpose other that just being there......... I'm really hating the fact that I paid these guys good money to do this. Should have made the time to do the research and done it myself. Lesson learned for sure !!

 

[taperk600]

sure there is... its on the bottom left of your post. right next to the quote button.

Thanks....I'll get used to it someday....not like the snowmobile forums I'm used to that's for sure.....

 

[Wayne64SS]

lol yea its different, but get used to it .. from the way this sounds we'll be here more than anywhere else this winter lol.

Wil I am waiting for a call back from these guys. They are going to make it work it my way at no charge to me, they might just not know it yet. We both paid ALOT of cash to have these installed and all through this process we were told that it wouldn't effect the way the oil boiler works etc. I realize the flue is kind of expensive, but it isn't gold plated, and as such i know i have less than $1000 in parts here not counting the boiler. I ask where the other $1200 went for an install that is half-ass at best?? I will definitely keep everyone in the loop as to what happens this week when I speak with them.

 

[Richardin52]

I wanted to comment of the whistle you are hearing.

First I have a Pinnacle PB 150 not the same boiler you have but when you mentioned a whistle my boiler also had one when they first started it up. The guy I bought my boiler from at evergreen heat does not install but he knows a lot and is always present when his boilers are started. Mine had a whistle and he said it was common to have one if the flue had a leak. This was the first install for the boiler guy so he didn't know anything about how the boiler was supposed to run. Anyway the guy from evergreen caulked around the clean out cover on the chimney and put a little chalk around a couple other joints and it has never whistled since.

Also my boiler runs on a 15 minute cycle where it is idle for 15 minutes then everything starts up for 1 minute and then it sets for 15 minutes again. It might smoke a very little on start up but it's so little that no one sees it.

You might want someone that has hook up a few pellet boilers to look at it. Sounds like the guy that did the install needs some help. I'm a State certified building inspector and I have seen a few boiler guys that just should not be in the business if you know what I mean.

Where are you located?

 

[Wayne64SS]

we're both in Upstate NY ... he's around the Lake George area I believe and I'm out near Rotterdam.

 

[Richardin52]

I'm in Maine so don't know any body in your neck of the woods you might make a post looking for people who had good luck with an installer in your area so you can find sombody that can look at the install for you.

 

[taperk600]

Wayne, other than my "over heat" circ being in the return line and your being in the supply off the PB, looks like we are pretty much identical as far as how they hooked them up. Let me know what response you get from John & Jeremy....I'm going to call Mark tomorrow and ask a whole bunch of questions. I'm also going to try to get info about a regional Harmon Rep and see if that could lead us in the right direction......

 

[Wayne64SS]

sounds good, I talked to Mark the other day and he definitely seems like a decent guy. We'll get there.

 

[Wayne64SS]

oh you know what... post after you talk to mark and I'll give him a shout and talk to him about this whole deal as well. Maybe he'll figure it out if more than one of us calls ... know what i mean?

 

[taperk600]

Whistle is the air wash over the glass. Dealer said if it was annoying, to just cover the slit in the door..it won't affect the burn quality.

Also had me change a couple of the DIP switch settings in an attempt to control the smoking at start up.

Will post result of the switch changes after watching it for a few cycles.