Piping to Oil Boiler?

[strmh]

Still working on my EKO 60 install......

EKO is located in my shop 200'+ from house. The install is mostly complete at the EKO, but now I'm working on the connection to my existing oil boiler.

I'm going to connect in series for now and see how it goes. Initially, I was going to tee into the 1 1/4 supply and return, but after some reading and looking at other installs, I see that some are piping into the 3/4" fittings that house the pressure relief valve (top fitting) and the boiler drain (bottom fitting).

My question: All of my piping is 1 1/4". Is it OK to reduce to 3/4" when connecting to the oil boiler or should I tee into the existing 1 1/4? The piping on the other side of the oil boiler is also 1 1/4"

Thanks for any input.

TH

 

[Sting]

no its not "OK"

Lets do a little reading!

http://www.bellgossett.com/literature/files/1195.pdf

 

[strmh]

Thanks for the link Sting.

Looking for just a little more direction......I might have given the impression that I would not have a relief valve. That's not my plan.....I would incorporate the relief valve with the connection to the oil boiler.

I quess what I'm wondering is do you say no-way because of the reduction to 3/4, or the concern that I might eliminate the relief valve?

Again...I appreciate your input.

 

[Eric Johnson]

In theory, the 60 puts out more btus than you can transfer with 1" pipe, which is what I'm using in getting hot water into my existing gas boiler from the 60, which is 100 feet away. I've never had a problem with the 60 overheating, so obviously, it's not putting out the full 205K btu. Or maybe it is, and I'm losing some in the process of moving the water that far. Probably some combination of the two.

Anyway, if you want to do it by the book, use 1.25-inch pipe. If you want to save a few bucks, you can probably get away with 1" I don't think I would go all the way down to 3/4" That's just not enough pipe to move that much heat with that boiler.

I should add that I actually have two lines coming out of the EKO--the 1" and another 3/4" but I'm not using the 3/4-inch line at the moment. But that would accomplish basically the same thing as going with 1.25.

Like you, I'm piped in series. I run the input water into the top of the gas boiler and draw the return from the GB's return line. In the past, I have run the supply into the same tapping as the relief valve and it worked fine.

 

[strmh]

Thanks Eric,

Earlier today I read one of your posts advising to look for other connection to the oil boiler......that's my next step. I'll see if I can find another input/output.

If that fails, should I just tee into the existing supply/return on the oil boiler? (somehow, to my untrained eye, that just looks more confusing....)

Thanks.

TH

 

[Eric Johnson]

I'm a little rusty at this since I've been distracted by other things all summer and haven't done any of my usual heating system "upgrades," but I think that teeing into the supply line as close to the boiler vessel as you can get should be fine, especially if you don't have any other viable options. You might need a flow check valve, depending on how you plumb it.

 

[strmh]

10-4, thanks.

Glad to hear you mention the flow check because that's was I was thinking as well. It looks to me that, without the flow check, I stand the chance of "reverse feeding" the existing heating zones.