Pressure loss questions...Yes Im a NOOOOOB

[hondaracer2oo4]

I think we have figured out that your wood boiler gauge is just bad. Now moving onto you not being able to get above 165. Can you confirm that the water leaving the thermocontrol is entering the house after the underground pipes is reading the same? You need to rule out wet underground lines. If you are getting the heat to the house without losing it next we need to track down why you can't get up to temp. I would unplug your pump sending water into the house. I would start a small fire and get a good coal bed going. After that put a good quality load of wood on it. Can you tell us about your firewood? Hardwood or soft? Size? How long has it been cut split stacked? Any idea moisture content of a freshly split piece of wood?

 

[mfoster]

U

10 psi cold or hot? Should match the oil boiler gauge.

Wood unit with expansion tank was at 145 wjen I took that reading. Oil is at 160.

 

[mfoster]

Maple is this a replacement for that air unit that looks crudded up. Different shape and no one here knows what this or any of these parts do.

 

[hondaracer2oo4]

I have no idea what that thing is. I don't think it has anything to do with heating systems. Go to the boiler section at lowes and look for air high vent. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Watts-1-8-IN-Automatic-Vent-Valve/3308036

 

[maple1]

^What he said.

Then you should also have a new one of these:

http://www.supplyhouse.com/Watts-0382008-3-4-Boiler-Pressure-Relief-Valve-30-psi

(Pipe the blow off port down to the floor - its actually supposed to go to a drain but not many do that me included, mine has a bucket on the floor).

And these:

http://www.supplyhouse.com/Boshart-...perature-Pressure-Gauge-Tridicator-3-3-8-Well

(Or reasonable facsimile).

I would also T in a couple more ordinary pressure guages wherever they will go easy, anywhere on the system. At some point.

Not 100% sure what size fittings/tappings you have, so may have to adapt.

And if you find yourself saying 'darn I wish there were valves here so I could isolate this thing' - put in some ball valves for the next time.

And when it comes time to figure out where your heat is going, a good IR temp gun is good for that, getting pipe temps etc.. If you want to measure a shiny surface though, spray it with flat black paint first.

You might be able to work thru this year without - but I would also improve your control situation for wood boiler pump start/stop [are there no controls there for that now, at all?], and add a dump zone.

 

[velvetfoot]

Expansion tank and system should probably be at 12 psi when cold.
Just because the tank is at 10 psi doesn't mean that system pressure couldn't be lower.

 

[mfoster]

Alright we have a couple warm days at the end of the week. I was able to get a new watts gauge and watts air flow. I'll work on getting those on during our warm front.

 

[hondaracer2oo4]

You haven't commented on the wood yet. Hard or soft? How long cut split stacked? Size or pieces?

 

[mfoster]

I think we have figured out that your wood boiler gauge is just bad. Now moving onto you not being able to get above 165. Can you confirm that the water leaving the thermocontrol is entering the house after the underground pipes is reading the same? You need to rule out wet underground lines. If you are getting the heat to the house without losing it next we need to track down why you can't get up to temp. I would unplug your pump sending water into the house. I would start a small fire and get a good coal bed going. After that put a good quality load of wood on it. Can you tell us about your firewood? Hardwood or soft? Size? How long has it been cut split stacked? Any idea moisture content of a freshly split piece of wood?

Got a new gauge...doing that end of week. Hope to see some change in pressure readings.

Yes...the water coming in is hot and at the temps read at the stove. I'm sure there is a small loss...but its plenty hot. It can be judged by the temp at the oil furnace gauge when oil is not running....If temps fall below 160, the oil kicks on. Otherwise, the water just sits and passed through the unit.

The firewood may be an issue. It was wet when delivered, its green and not seasoned. Now there is some ice on edges. I was told cold wood would not much adjust the temps. I'm reading other threads on here and seeing that is not correct.

I do however have some more seasoned wood...probably 4 cord, that I have been mixing in and it helps. In November when I started the boiler, it was easy to keep temps at 170 and 180 even causing the damper to often shut.

Ill get some photos of my wood pile.

I do appreciate all the help on this guys. Really want to get to the bottom of the pressure issue...make my system safer, and save as much damn money as we can this year. As we speak its 3 Degrees here....so it all helps.

 

[Fred61]

Nothing goes right when your underwear's tight. In this case the tight underwear is green wood. Not the source of all your problems but a huge contributor that makes every component of your system look like it's not working.
I doubt there are many here that can burn wet or green wood without seeing many of the problems you are encountering.

 

[hondaracer2oo4]

It seems like it always comes back to wood quality on these issues. Yes your wood is causing your issues. It's like trying to run gas with water in it. You can drive around on back roads at 30 mph ok( fall and spring) but when you get on the highway(winter) the engine backfires and runs slowly and you can't get up to speed. Split the green wood up pretty small and make sure you have a good coal bed going. That's your only way to try to help.

 

[Fingerlakes Fireplace]

Alright we have a couple warm days at the end of the week. I was able to get a new watts gauge and watts air flow. I'll work on getting those on during our warm front.

Sounds like you need more exspansion. I have an extra tank that i was going to install in my system, but never got it done.

 

[Bob Rohr]

I'm guessing you have a grossly undersized expansion tank. That would be one reason to see a wide pressure change. If it is undersized the bladder or diaphragm will fail prematurely, then you have no expansion capacity.

If you can calculate or guesstimate the total system volume, these free online calculators will size the correct expansion tank size. You can use multiple tanks to keep cost down.

http://westank.com/calculator/

 

[velvetfoot]

The boiler itself has 170 or 300 gals, depending on model (he should check this out).

 

[maple1]

Inadequate expansion could be quite likely - but I think it was also determined that one pressure guage didn't swing much, and the other one did?

If indeed there are 300 gallons in that boiler - then I would say it's a given. I didn't use the calculator, but I would likely want 30 gallons of expansion capacity and that doesn't look like a 30 gallon expansion tank - IMO expansion is one of those 'doesn't hurt to have too much' areas.

Did we also determine there is only one expansion tank? (Losing track of the thread). If so, I would add one to the oil boiler side so it could be run isolated from the wood boiler if the need ever arose.

 

[velvetfoot]

Did we also determine there is only one expansion tank?

I don't think so. You'd think if a pro installed the oil boiler there'd be one.
What's also interesting is the air handling side of things. Was it originally built with an air handler with an oil fired coil? You'd think there'd be a furnace involved with a hot air system rather than a boiler.