L.L. 110K Boiler Pictures After 1 Year in Operation

Pex will do fine off the tankless coil. I have copper out of the tankless coil about 6 inches aand then a 1/2" copper sweat x 1/2" pex crimp 90* elbow

It is worth mentioning that traditional "crimp" pex fittings have a smaller ID than the pipe itself...1/2" pex fittings are about 3/8" ID...if you ever intend to use more than one fixture at a time, I would use 3/4" pex off the tankless.

mark viii wrote:

coal burner wrote: Heating season is 2 to 3 hrs a 24 hr run per day 36 minutes of that is on timer alone The balance is heating 3140 sq ft of house at 70 to 74 degrees between two heating zones this year will be three zones

That is very impressive. Is your house in town and/or surrounded by trees? Wind exposure can make a huge difference in heating load, and I'm wondering if that has something to do with your exceptionally low coal consumption.

My house is a 1948 coal ash cinder block house Ranch 1640 sq ft upstairs 1500 sq ft basement with a unfinished Attic
with old celsius insulation blown in between floor joist's no other insulation in house The house in on a hill in a valley
I heated this place with hand fed stove for years using oil boiler for DHW I used the same amount of coal per winter
that I use now all year I am not doing anything special with the efm it is the way they are if they are set up and sealed
correctly well there is five things I do different from most set ups I only use one return port the other side is plugged I use a loop of supply line down to return right at the port for mixing hot water with the cooler return water a ball valve is at top of line.

Two I use # 1 Buckwheat size coal and never had to replace any shear pins if you read post or talk to people who have efm 95 % of them that break shear pins are using rice coal I do Not Use Rice size /Buck # 2 & Three My 8" stack pipe goes into a 6" chimney liner reduce at thimble. Four my auger tube is S.S thin wall pipe . Five I do not piggy back efm to oil burner water coil or boiler It is on it's own. I have 11 Rads and 90 ft of baseboard copper finned 3/4" 60 ft of 1 1/4 "
supply line into 200 ft of 1" copper pipe feeding Rads another 200 of 3/4" copper pipe feeding baseboard 230 ft of 1/2 " copper pipe going to rads and hot & cold water lines.

Now most if not all efm's should be getting the same or similar numbers if not look into set up & piping and make sure everything is sealed that is suppose to be sealed up.

Are you running PEX off your boiler supply??

Yes I have pex al pex off of both my boilers supply and return. That being said I run the boiler @ 165 because I have a much more base board than is required to heat my house. So I am not running the pex to its limit.

jpen1 wrote:Yes I have pex al pex off of both my boilers supply and return. That being said I run the boiler @ 165 because I have a much more base board than is required to heat my house. So I am not running the pex to its limit.

Most pex is only rated for 180F max

What are temperature limitations for PEX?

PEX tubing can be used up to 200° Fahrenheit for heating applications. For plumbing, PEX is limited to 180° F. Temperature limitations are always noted on the print line of the PEX tubing.. PEX systems are tested to and can be used with standard T and P relief valves that operate at 210” F and 150 psi

I just looked at the roll in my basement, it is rated for 200F at 80 psi. In any case, it is important to check the temperature rating.

markviii wrote:I just looked at the roll in my basement, it is rated for 200F at 80 psi. In any case, it is important to check the temperature rating.

PEX tubing can be used up to 200° Fahrenheit for heating applications. For plumbing, PEX is limited to 180° F. Temperature limitations are always noted on the print line of the PEX tubing. Recommended 140 max for safety and conservation

https://www.ppfahome.org/pex/faqpex.html

https://www.ppfahome.org/index.html

coal berner wrote:...Temperature limitations are always noted on the print line of the PEX tubing.

Good point. Whatever is printed on the tubing itself has the last word. I prefer Uponor (Pex-a) tubing; both their hePEX (for heating) and AQUAPEX (for domestic water) are rated for 200F at 80psi.

jpen1 wrote:Yes I have pex al pex off of both my boilers supply and return. That being said I run the boiler @ 165 because I have a much more base board than is required to heat my house. So I am not running the pex to its limit.

I wish I could heat my place with 165F degree water all winter.

markviii wrote:

coal berner wrote:...Temperature limitations are always noted on the print line of the PEX tubing.

Good point. Whatever is printed on the tubing itself has the last word. I prefer Uponor (Pex-a) tubing; both their hePEX (for heating) and AQUAPEX (for domestic water) are rated for 200F at 80psi.

jpen1 wrote:Yes I have pex al pex off of both my boilers supply and return. That being said I run the boiler @ 165 because I have a much more base board than is required to heat my house. So I am not running the pex to its limit.

I wish I could heat my place with 165F degree water all winter.

Well I heat mine with 170 Temp it depend how much sq ft your heating that little boiler would run non stop at my place 12 gals of water is not a lot a few of my big rads hold that much water I have 11 rads not counting all the piping and 90 ft of baseboard Plus heating a ranch style house takes more BTU's to heat then two or three story homes to heat . Heat rises
right out Thur the roof even with insulation in attic or crawl space no second or third floor to hold it in

I have 35 gallons between my 2 boilers and my viega fosta pex is rated for 220* @ 80 psi. If you plumb that system right a low mass boiler will handle it without any problem. The majority of the system on my lower floor is copper with the exception of the lines connecting the 2 boilers.

Recommended Uses
FostaPEX tubing is intended and recommended for use in hot and cold potable water distribution systems and hydronic radiant
heating and cooling systems. Like ViegaPEX Barrier, which has a barrier layer that resists the passage of oxygen through the
wall of the tubing, the aluminum layer in FostaPEX offers even higher resistance to oxygen permeation in radiant heating
applications. FostaPEX tubing can also be used in water service applications and is virtually impermeable to any soil
contaminents.Design temperature and pressure ratings for FostaPEX are 160 psi@73°F, 100 psi@180°F, and 80 psi@
200°F. For information on the suitability for other hot and cold water applications not listed here, consult with your Viega
representative.

Property ASTMTest Method Typical Values
English Units SI Units
Density D 792 – 0.944 g/cc
Melt Index1 (190° C/2.16 kg) D 1238 – 8.5g/10 min
Coefficient of Linear Thermal Expansion @ 68° F D 696 1.3x10-5in/in/°F 2.4x10-5mm/mm/°C
Hydrostatic Design Basis @ 73°F (23°C) D 2837 400 psi 2.8 MPa
Hydrostatic Design Basis @ 180°F (82°C) D 2837 250 psi 1.7 MPa

Very good Jay I stand corrected it is 200* F @ 80 psi.

coal berner wrote:Well I heat mine with 170 Temp it depend how much sq ft your heating that little boiler would run non stop at my place 12 gals of water is not a lot a few of my big rads hold that much water I have 11 rads not counting all the piping and 90 ft of baseboard

It sounds like you have a lot of radiation for the square footage you are heating. That is the way to go, and it definitely allows you to use lower boiler temperatures. On cold/windy days, my radiation has a hard time keeping up with the boiler at 160 degrees...then again I do live on a small hill with about 500 acres of wind-tunnel creating fields to the West. You can say that conditions are "extreme" at times.

jpen1 wrote:If you plumb that system right a low mass boiler will handle it without any problem.

That is a big "If". You would defiantly have to have it piped with a bypass, or in a primary/secondary fashion. Either way, it would probably run a long time to get the system up to temperature. As long as the heat loss of the house is less than the boiler's net output it would catch up eventually, but you probably wouldn't want to use a set-back thermostat.

markviii wrote: On cold/windy days, my radiation has a hard time keeping up with the boiler at 160 degrees...then again I do live on a small hill with about 500 acres of wind-tunnel creating fields to the West.

I think maybe your latitude has something to do with it, too, "eh"?

Mike