Success! Primary Loop Operational

I had been airbound in the old boiler, but when I started the first floor secondary loop this weekend (testing the delivery to the radiators), the air all came out and I was able to start circulating with ~52 gallons of heated water in my primary loop.

I'm not getting quite the balance in the radiators that I had hoped for (granted, I only ran the system for an hour or so) and that may be because my LR rads are almost twice the size as the other three, however given the rad capacity and my heat loss, I'll never need all five radiators to be heated at one time. At ~180f water temp, I can easily maintain the downstairs temp during the coldest part of the winter with only three radiators going.

Didn't you install valves so you can balance the flow to the radiators?

If your home has a lot of radiation, run the boiler at a lower temperature and circulate longer.

Rob R. wrote:Didn't you install valves so you can balance the flow to the radiators?

If your home has a lot of radiation, run the boiler at a lower temperature and circulate longer.

I ran an indirect return loop, I think it's called, which is supposed to self balance if the radiators are similar in size. I'm assuming at this point that the size of the LR radiators is what caused the lack of flow through them, but I'm not one hundred percent sure (I'll be able to check that theory when the upstairs is wired in, because all the rads up there are the same size). I needed, adding the balancing valves will be a snap with the PEX.

As for running the boiler at lower temperatures, I''m actively considering that. I need a minumum temp for the boiler for the DHW, and that means I wont be able to run the heat through the rads continuously (~28k heat loss, at 120f boiler temp I can put out 49k through the rads). I'll be playing around with the boiler temp this winter, and I'm hoping I can keep it around 140LL and 160HL. If it holds temp as well as it did this weekend, I may even drop the LL down to 135.

dont forget about the long term effects of water heated to those lower limits regarding corrosive effect.....

water treatment might be a concideration

Poconoeagle wrote:dont forget about the long term effects of water heated to those lower limits regarding corrosive effect.....

water treatment might be a concideration

A quick check uncovered this:

http://www.lenntech.com/applications/pr ... rosion.htm

Protection of steel in a boiler system depends on temperature, pH, and oxygen content. Generally, higher temperatures, high or low pH levels and higher oxygen concentrations increase steel corrosion rates. Mechanical and operation factors such as velocities, metal stresses, and severity of service can strongly influence corrosion rates. Systems vary in corrosion tendencies and should be evaluated individually.

I'll defer to the knowledge of this board on which is the more accurate statement.