Vedolux 37

[Floydian]

Hello everyone-

Finally up and running and must give credit where credit is due. Thank you to all the folks that share so much time and knowledge here.

More details and pics to follow.....

Noah

 

[Clarkbug]

Glad to hear it Noah! Thats great news! Nice looking flame you have there. We need more pics!

 

[dogwood]

Congrats Noah. Give yourself a pat on the back. And Happy Holidays

Mike

 

[Floydian]

Thank you, Scott and Mike.

My install was certainly a long and slow process due mostly to other projects (building a house for my folks and working with my brother in law on his house and shop) and a bit of paralysis by analysis on my hydronic endeavor. But I am burning smoke free and the house is more comfortable than it has ever been and that is really gratifying.

OK, more pics,


1-Boiler and 1000 gal. of storage(it is now insulated) with LK810 loading unit. 1.25" piping, 2" diffuser with (3) 1.25" holes facing up in the tank.

2-(2)Flexcon SXHT110's. 124 gallons total with 50 gal of acceptance. Caleffi autofill and backflow preventer.

3-Future DHW. Supply from top of storage on right, return on left with dip tube to bottom of storage.

4-The heating side. Supply from top of storage, spirovent, taco ivalve with outdoor reset, Grundfos Alpha on constant circulation, mr pex manifold, PERT tubing (raised temp polyethylene), return to bottom of storage with existing dip tube on tank.

5-7 loops(<300' ea.) of tube and plate installed over the subfloor. Light weight stamped aluminum plates
(9"x24") with omega shape for tight fit with tubing. 120supply temp at a design temp of 0 . At these mild temps(mid to upper 20's) I am supplying approximately 105-110 deg water, pumping about 2 gpm and I am seeing a T of about 17 . The alpha and the ivalve are drawing about 20 watts total.

6,7-Each loop is controlled with a non electric capillary tube TRV.

That is all for now,
Noah

 

[Clarkbug]

Looks good Noah!

I really like your distribution setup. Is that controlled with a zone valve controller, or only based on the TRVs on each leg? If so, do you just turn on the alpha manually and let it run for the duration of the heating season?

I see you didnt put the boiler up on a stand at all. How are you handling pulling ashes out of the combustion tunnel?

 

[maple1]

Another Varm - awesome! Congrats on the fire - looks great!

How will you be finishing the DHW? An indirect tank?

 

[BoilerMan]

Nice setup Noah, I do like the non-electric ZV. Great install Make sure you put the pics on Gass's boiler pics thread
TS

 

[dogwood]

What did you use for tank insulation Noah?

 

[Floydian]

Looks good Noah!

I really like your distribution setup. Is that controlled with a zone valve controller, or only based on the TRVs on each leg? If so, do you just turn on the alpha manually and let it run for the duration of the heating season?

I see you didnt put the boiler up on a stand at all. How are you handling pulling ashes out of the combustion tunnel?

Yeah,that's about it, switch on the alpha and ivalve and let the TRV's determine the flow thru each loop to maintain the setting. Position 3 is about 68 degrees, which I had the living room and kitchen set to on Christmas. Eleven people in those rooms and it didn't take long to see the flow stop completely in both loops. I love em so far.

Ahh the stand. I wanted it but it really made my plan for thermosiphon more difficult and plus my wife wants some shelf space above the tank for drying green ware when we get our pottery biz running again. So I need to find or make the right trey that can live right under the boiler, between the two front bricks. I have to kneel down for that and of course to look at the awesome flame!

Noah

 

[Floydian]

Another Varm - awesome! Congrats on the fire - looks great!

How will you be finishing the DHW? An indirect tank?

Thanks Maple.

I will probably use my fairly new 40 gallon electric water heater with a side arm and rely on thermosiphon only. It will be located directly above storage, now it is on my basement floor using electricity-Grrr.
I believe you're using a side arm? How is that working for you? What kind of scald valve are you using?

Noah

 

[Floydian]

Nice setup Noah, I do like the non-electric ZV. Great install Make sure you put the pics on Gass's boiler pics thread
TS

I appreciate it, Taylor. Will do on the pics-thanks for the reminder, that is a great thread!

Noah

 

[Floydian]

What did you use for tank insulation Noah?

I used fiberglass batts, held in place by chicken wire. I inadvertently posted a pic with evidence! R30 on top and R19 everywhere else. The plan is another R13 on the whole thing and box it all in.

Noah

 

[Clarkbug]

Yeah,that's about it, switch on the alpha and ivalve and let the TRV's determine the flow thru each loop to maintain the setting. Position 3 is about 68 degrees, which I had the living room and kitchen set to on Christmas. Eleven people in those rooms and it didn't take long to see the flow stop completely in both loops. I love em so far.

Ahh the stand. I wanted it but it really made my plan for thermosiphon more difficult and plus my wife wants some shelf space above the tank for drying green ware when we get our pottery biz running again. So I need to find or make the right trey that can live right under the boiler, between the two front bricks. I have to kneel down for that and of course to look at the awesome flame!

Noah

So the iValve adjusts the supply temp based upon the OA temp, correct?

Thats pretty slick. I like the setup. I wondered if the lowering of the boiler was to help with flow, and the idea of drying pottery with your heat loss is a pretty slick one!

Im sure you will come up with some good means of catching the ash. I just find that I have to scrape my combustion tunnel out once a day or so, and the ash drawer is nice for that.

 

[maple1]

Thanks Maple.

I will probably use my fairly new 40 gallon electric water heater with a side arm and rely on thermosiphon only. It will be located directly above storage, now it is on my basement floor using electricity-Grrr.
I believe you're using a side arm? How is that working for you? What kind of scald valve are you using?

Noah

I did some re-arranging of the sidearm to get it lower relative to my electric tank. I have it all back in place & ready to close & tighten the unions, but I'm waiting for the stop-leak I ordered to get here since with the sidearm plumbing apart I have the perfect place to put that in. Getting tired of the wait though. I do have some pre-heating going on of DHW while the sidearm is out of commission. I just plumbed in a typical mixing valve I got with the sidearm - not sure it's 'proper', but it's what I got.

I waffled on the stand also, but now that I have it I think I'm happy with it - I still use my old ash buckets for the ashes though. I open up the drawer just enough to catch any that might get away when I take the ash door out, then slide the ash bucket up against that & use a stove scoop I got to scoop the ashes from the ash chamber to the bucket. I save my ashes for my slippery driveway. Do you have any old frying pans kicking around? They come in handy around a boiler for scooping ashes into, or sliding under a drip.

 

[Floydian]

So the iValve adjusts the supply temp based upon the OA temp, correct?

That is correct. The ivalve is probably overkill but it basically guarantees the minimum flow thru storage. The main reason I installed it was because I went "cheap" with the lightweight plates and PERT tubing. They have a reputation of being noisy...tick...tick..with on/off type control. Pex-al-pex expands/contracts a lot less and would have solved the noise potential but I also chose to run my tubing 12"o.c. with the 9" plates so heat striping was a factor. Constant circulation with O.R. means no abrupt changes in supply temps and should even out the floor temps between the tubes. It works great so far.



1. 12" o.c. tube and plate with 3/4" osb infill.

2. 9" centers and some radiant wall in the bathroom to up the output as I didn't have enough floor area to cover the heat loss.

3,4. 3/8" AC plywood. Yes, that is my finished floor. The ply and 3 coats of Emulsion(Basic Coatings) for just under a buck a sq. ft.


Noah

Edit: It's worth mentioning that when I first turned on the infloor system, my house was in the upper 50's. Supply temp of 110 degree and I did not hear a single noise associated with expansion and PERT expands a lot. Same as PEX, 1"/100'/10 degrees, I believe.

 

[Floydian]

And some pics of moving the tank into the house. All went as planned, fortunately!




Covered firewood storage for 3 to 4 cords right outside the boiler room-with a view!

Sorry for the low quality pics,

Noah

 

[maple1]

Is that your secondary chamber in your avatar pic? Looks quite a bit different than mine - mines just a rectangular box.

That's a sweet setup you've got there - I would have more storage if I had the room.

 

[Floydian]

Is that your secondary chamber in your avatar pic? Looks quite a bit different than mine - mines just a rectangular box.

That's a sweet setup you've got there - I would have more storage if I had the room.

Yeah, that is the secondary chamber. Does the UB have the high temp stainless steel combustion tunnel? Or is it ceramic?

Here is a pic with no fire:



It will be interesting to see how long this part lasts.

 

[Clarkbug]

Noah - the top bar on mine is starting to give way after a year of burning. Admittedly, I hook my ash scraper on it to pull it out of the boiler, which may be causing some of the wear. Otherwise, the front edge is showing some rust/wear, but still OK.

Im going to order a replacement after this season, just to keep it on hand.

 

[maple1]

Mine is all ceramic. If you take the 'round' metal part out of yours, that's pretty well what mine looks like - except all ceramic. I guess there are more differences than I thought there were in these. I'm hoping for a decent life out of mine before I need to replace - but I did get a set of spares when I got the boiler. I'd like to come up with something about the same shape of the nozzle I could just set in the nozzle hole to protect its edges from future erosion. I was thinking stainless or cast frying pan with holes or slots cut in the bottom until I realized it wasn't round but more football shaped. For now I just keep a good layer of ashes in the wood chamber.

 

[Clarkbug]

That is correct. The ivalve is probably overkill but it basically guarantees the minimum flow thru storage. The main reason I installed it was because I went "cheap" with the lightweight plates and PERT tubing. They have a reputation of being noisy...tick...tick..with on/off type control. Pex-al-pex expands/contracts a lot less and would have solved the noise potential but I also chose to run my tubing 12"o.c. with the 9" plates so heat striping was a factor. Constant circulation with O.R. means no abrupt changes in supply temps and should even out the floor temps between the tubes. It works great so far.

Do you ever have to worry about the pump deadheading?

 

[Clarkbug]

Mine is all ceramic. If you take the 'round' metal part out of yours, that's pretty well what mine looks like - except all ceramic. I guess there are more differences than I thought there were in these. I'm hoping for a decent life out of mine before I need to replace - but I did get a set of spares when I got the boiler. I'd like to come up with something about the same shape of the nozzle I could just set in the nozzle hole to protect its edges from future erosion. I was thinking stainless or cast frying pan with holes or slots cut in the bottom until I realized it wasn't round but more football shaped. For now I just keep a good layer of ashes in the wood chamber.

The frying pan idea is a pretty good one maple! But I also think that there are air channels that come out right in the nozzle also, so you would have to take those into account.

I keep a layer of ashes in the firebox and in the metal combustion tunnel. Given the intensity of the flame, its got to be good metal to hold up the way mine has so far!

 

[Floydian]

Im going to order a replacement after this season, just to keep it on hand.

Sounds like a good idea, I'll probably do the same next year.

Do you ever have to worry about the pump deadheading?

Apparently not an issue for the ECM variety pumps. It is my understanding that if all the TRV's are shut than the pump will idle, drawing 2 or 3 watts and pumping 0 gpm, just waiting for something to do.

Noah

 

[Floydian]

Mine is all ceramic. If you take the 'round' metal part out of yours, that's pretty well what mine looks like - except all ceramic. I guess there are more differences than I thought there were in these. I'm hoping for a decent life out of mine before I need to replace - but I did get a set of spares when I got the boiler. I'd like to come up with something about the same shape of the nozzle I could just set in the nozzle hole to protect its edges from future erosion. I was thinking stainless or cast frying pan with holes or slots cut in the bottom until I realized it wasn't round but more football shaped. For now I just keep a good layer of ashes in the wood chamber.

Interesting Maple-definitely more differences than I thought as well. How many HX tube's does the UB have?

Noah

 

[maple1]

6 tubes - 3 long & 3 short. Came with 3 long turbs that can be cut in half & mixed & matched. I've still only got two in, but might move to three with the colder weather.