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Multiple Boiler System
A multiple boiler system has been configured to supply two loads as shown below.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | February 1, 2010 | Comments (0)
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Floor Heating Dilemma
Using a gas-fired cast-iron boiler to supply zoned radiant floor heating.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | January 11, 2010 | Comments (7)
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Hydraulic Separators Need Help
A multiple boiler system is being planned to
supply several independently controlled heat zones.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | December 8, 2009 | Comments (0)
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Primary Or Secondary?
A designer needs to connect an indirect water
heater to a multiple-boiler system.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | November 20, 2009 | Comments (0)
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Flooring Follies
The owner loves the idea of warm floors, but
also wants nail-down hardwood flooring.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | October 16, 2009 | Comments (1)
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Over-Looped
Circulators
are experiencing overheating issues. There’s also heat getting into zones when
that heat is not needed.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | September 20, 2009 | Comments (4)
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Boiler vs. Pool
It takes more than simply running pool water
directly through the boiler. Don’t laugh; it’s been done!
August 31, 2009 | Comments (0)
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One After The Other
In some systems, outdoor reset control can vary the supply
water temperature from a relatively high design temperature down to just above room temperature.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | July 21, 2009 | Comments (0)
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Overly Separated
Eager to keep up with new technology, an installer decides to install a hydraulic separator
between a boiler and distribution system.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | June 19, 2009 | Comments (0)
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Peculiar Piping
To say this system is a piping aberration is going easy on it.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | May 20, 2009 | Comments (2)
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More Complicated Than Necessary
An installer is asked
to provide a system that supplies two zones of fin-tube baseboard and two zones
of floor heating.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | April 15, 2009 | Comments (0)
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Been There, Done That
When floor heating
and domestic water heating occurred at the same time, I discovered there was no
flow through the heat exchanger in the indirect tank.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | March 15, 2009 | Comments (0)
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Adjusting A Multiple-Boiler System
The cardinal rule of multiple boiler systems is to only provide flow
through a boiler that’s operating.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | February 18, 2009 | Comments (0)
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By The Book
At one point in time, this schematic appeared in a manufacturer's installation manual.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | January 19, 2009 | Comments (0)
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Trouble Waiting To Happen
An installer was
asked by a client to use both a ground source heat pump and a boiler as
alternative heat sources in a zoned, low-temperature hydronic distribution
system.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | December 19, 2008 | Comments (1)
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Proper Replacement
An
installer decides to replace a 30-year-old cast-iron boiler with a modern
mod/con unit.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | November 17, 2008 | Comments (0)
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Mastering The Mixing Valve
An installer uses a 4-way
motorized mixing valve to interface between a conventional gas-fired cast-iron
boiler and a low temperature radiant panel system.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | October 1, 2008 | Comments (2)
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Lowering Radiant Temperatures
A project requires both
medium and low temperature radiant floor panels. The installer proposes the following system design.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | September 15, 2008 | Comments (0)
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Boiler Substitute?
As the price of fuel oil skyrockets, there is increasing interest in
geothermal heat pumps as a heat source for hydronic radiant floor heating.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | August 15, 2008 | Comments (0)
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Heat Pump Helper
Given the rapid increase in the price of propane, this contractor decided to install a geothermal heat pump system to supply several zones of radiant floor heating ...
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | July 10, 2008 | Comments (0)
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Solar By The Seat Of Your Pants
Some choose to jump into designing or installing solar thermal systems with no additional training.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | June 17, 2008 | Comments (0)
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Dual Load Dilemma
Can you identify at least four errors in this design?
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | May 14, 2008 | Comments (0)
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So You Want To Go Solar
Given all the recent
interest in solar domestic water heating, Joe Wrenchturner decides to have a go
at it.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | April 28, 2008 | Comments (1)
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Regulating Supply Temp
A manually set three-way mixing
valve was installed to regulate the supply temperature to the concrete-slab
radiant floor system.
March 1, 2008 | Comments (1)
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Trying Something New
A heating contractor, who’s tired
of coaxing 500-pound cast-iron boilers into homes, decides to try out a
wall-mounted mod/con boiler because of its light weight and side wall venting.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | February 1, 2008 | Comments (0)
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Hybrid Gone Wrong
The installer feels
that a mix of primary/secondary piping along with some “alternative techniques”
is appropriate.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | January 1, 2008 | Comments (0)
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Steam To Hot Water Renovation
As
part of an extensive renovation and insulation upgrade, the owner decides to
upgrade the heat and convert the 2-pipe steam system to hot water.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | December 1, 2007 | Comments (1)
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Preventing Short Cycling
An
installer is advised to use a buffer tank to prevent short cycling of a low
mass boiler serving several independently controlled space heating zones ...
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | November 1, 2007 | Comments (1)
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Designing With Geothermal
An installer is asked if a
geothermal heat pump can be combined with radiant floor heating.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | October 26, 2007 | Comments (0)
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Error In Design
The
installer got a great price on a “contractor pack” of 3/4-inch copper tees, so
the supply and return manifolds are built with 3/4-inch copper, as are all the
zone circuits ...
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | September 13, 2007 | Comments (0)
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What Were They Thinking?
Here’s
an extremely messed up installation
for you to ponder.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | August 8, 2007 | Comments (2)
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Supplying Multiple Loads
There are several
piping errors in this proposed multiple boiler system installation.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | July 12, 2007 | Comments (0)
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Noisy Pipes
Every time the circulator shuts off, the owner hears banging and
gurgling sounds in the pipes ...
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | June 1, 2007 | Comments (0)
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What's Wrong?
What's wrong with this arrangement for a low-temperature radiant floor panel?
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | May 9, 2007 | Comments (0)
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Can You Spot The Errors?
There are at least four design errors in this schematic.
Can you spot them?
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | April 11, 2007 | Comments (0)
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Finding Better Performance
As it exists, this system works relatively well, but it could be further refined. See if you can spot some design details that would provide equal or better performance while using less hardware.
March 22, 2007 | Comments (0)
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You Can’t Make This Stuff Up
This month, rather than “synthesizing” an incorrect piping schematic, I’ll show you a system based on a sketch sent to me.
by John Siegenthaler, P.E. | February 15, 2007 | Comments (0)
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Mod/Con Decision
Overview: An installer has decided to use a mod/con boiler with a high head loss characteristic and connects it to the rest of the system as a secondary circuit with its own circulator. The two load circuits require the same water temperature, so he connects them as shown.
January 12, 2007 | Comments (0)
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Plenty Of Capacity?
The following system has been planned with three 200,000 Btu/hr. boilers with plenty of capacity supplying a primary loop that serves several secondary loops.
November 15, 2006 | Comments (0)
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