K-6 Fired up Tonight

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Sun. Aug. 03, 2008 3:34 pm

I can see the damper.... it's trying to hide, but it's there.

My AA is not in PA, nor in ME. It's someplace in between! Shipped last Wed, I expect delivery this week unless it get's hung up at some terminal between there & here.

vtec350 · Post by **vtec350** » Sun. Aug. 03, 2008 3:54 pm

coalboy wrote:One more picture of the back would be great. coalboy

Hope these pics help, it gets kindda tight back there

CapeCoaler wrote:The pics show no baro damper, galv pipe and thimble to pipe not sealed. Has this been fixed?

The baro's hidding behind the expansion tank, tomorrow the installer will finish the rest of the install including sealing the pipes.

Richard S. wrote:There are some other considerations other than simply running it for DHW:

Your flue pipe will last a whole lot longer, to the best of my knowledge the flue pipe we have now is the same one installed 25 years ago.
You will extend the life of the furnace itself, corrosion is greatly increased if its not lit.
Is there any gaskets on that like one for the hot water coil? Boilers that are turned off for the summer have more of a tendency to begin leaking around these gaskets after a few years.

Thanks for the advise Richard, I'll have to now consider running it throughout the summer. I had just installed a on demand Noritz last summer for DHW, back then oil was only $2.00 and I knew nothing of coal then.

gaw · Post by **gaw** » Sun. Aug. 03, 2008 5:22 pm

vtec350, looks like a nice job. I have never seen a relief valve on the domestic coil like that before but I am not a master plumber so I don't keep up on that kind of stuff. She should serve you well in a few months from now.

gaw · Post by **gaw** » Sun. Aug. 03, 2008 5:26 pm

Freddy wrote: My AA is not in PA, nor in ME. It's someplace in between! Shipped last Wed, I expect delivery this week unless it get's hung up at some terminal between there & here.

Freddy, what will you do if some dock worker or truck driver decides they need your AA more than you do?

coalboy · Post by **coalboy** » Sun. Aug. 03, 2008 5:55 pm

Why is there a tee on feed line, below the grunfos circulator going to the return ? don't get it.

Razzler · Post by **Razzler** » Sun. Aug. 03, 2008 5:56 pm

One question I might be looking at this wrong, the pump on top of the K6 is pulling the hot water out? shouldn't the T to the return be above the pump? with it below the pump isn't it going to pull the colder water from the return and mix it with the hot? Shouldn't it be pushing some hot water down to the feed going in to the K6?

timberdoodle · Post by **timberdoodle** » Sun. Aug. 03, 2008 6:16 pm

Great job v tec, My k6 is still awaiting hookup I have a question....did you shim up the bottom to level the unit I couldn't tell in the pics... hat did you use if you did ? Thanks! Looks great best of luck with it and enjoy the winter!!

vtec350 · Post by **vtec350** » Sun. Aug. 03, 2008 6:47 pm

timberdoodle wrote:did you shim up the bottom to level the unit I couldn't tell in the pics... hat did you use if you did ?

I used 2" concrete patio blocks, you can just about see them under the ash door.

Razzler wrote:One question I might be looking at this wrong, the pump on top of the K6 is pulling the hot water out? shouldn't the T to the return be above the pump? with it below the pump isn't it going to pull the colder water from the return and mix it with the hot? Shouldn't it be pushing some hot water down to the feed going in to the K6?

coalboy wrote:Why is there a tee on feed line, below the grunfos circulator going to the return ? don't get it

This is all new to me, I will have to ask the installer tomorrow, otherwise any answer I can give you would be pure BS.

Dave

sterling40man · Post by **sterling40man** » Sun. Aug. 03, 2008 7:06 pm

vtec350,
What is the size of your expansion tank? Thanks, Bob.

1975gt750 · Post by **1975gt750** » Sun. Aug. 03, 2008 7:46 pm

looks like a nice install if you have any question on some settings maybe I can help. I have a kaa-2 and I screwed around with it for month to get the most out of it . in the winter I was burning one bag every 24 hours and now for my dhw I am only burning 10 pounds a day to make water for 5 people.

chris

vtec350 · Post by **vtec350** » Sun. Aug. 03, 2008 7:50 pm

coalboy wrote:Why is there a tee on feed line, below the grunfos circulator going to the return ? don't get it.

Ok,I was just down looking at the boiler and I think ( key word think ) that the tee below is there so if I want to bypass the oil boiler and not run the DHW through it, I can just loop it back around through the KA-6. I think I remember him telling me this along with all the other leasons in plumbing I had last week

sterling_40man wrote:What is the size of your expansion tank? Thanks, Bob.

Bob,
It's a Watts model etx-60
http://www.wattsreg.com

Dave

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Sun. Aug. 03, 2008 8:43 pm

gaw wrote:Freddy, what will you do if some dock worker or truck driver decides they need your AA more than you do?

I hope one does....I insured it for 7 million dollars. LOL

That tee under the pump.... I'll venture a guess that it's a balancing loop. You adjust the ball valves a little and it allows water to spin in circles through the boiler. This keeps the temperature even in the boiler so you don't get a huge differential. That being said.... I've only seen it done on cast iron boilers. They will give specs on allowable temperatue differential from top to bottom. My boiler, if I remember correctly, wants to have no more than 20 degrees difference between the top and bottom of the boiler. It's hard on the casting and gaskets to have a large temp variation. Steel boilers don't have sections and gaskets and steel doesn't care so much if it's hot on top & cold on bottom. But... any balancing loop we ever did was it's own pump and ran only when the burner was on.

Highlander · Post by **Highlander** » Sun. Aug. 03, 2008 10:12 pm

Very nice install, really like that teal that Keystoker paints thier cabinets with. A couple of comments if I may:

You have electrical controls mounted to the hopper, if you ever want to service the stoker, you won't be able to move it very far with the electrical boxes mounted to it.

With your hot water coil, your plumber didn't use any unions, so if you ever need to pull the coil, you will have to cut pipe to remove it.

For DHW, I am currently burning about 10# per day, in a very similar sized boiler, you should be able to get close to that especially if you keep your water temps low in the summer, say 140 to 150.

Good luck with your new boiler.

Don · Post by **Don** » Fri. Aug. 22, 2008 8:34 pm

Where do u live in Ma I live in hartland Ct its in the northwest corner. Did the installer use the installation instrutions on your k6? I don`t have my boiler yet but I have been reading the install instructions and they are different than your installation. Don

vtec350 · Post by **vtec350** » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 9:55 pm

Don wrote:Where do u live in Ma I live in hartland Ct its in the northwest corner. Did the installer use the installation instrutions on your k6? I don`t have my boiler yet but I have been reading the install instructions and they are different than your installation. Don

Hey Don

I'm just outside Springfield, Ma. My installer plumbed the boiler in series with my oil boiler so if the coal goes out or I go away the oil will kick in, it's been running for over 3 weeks now for DHW using about 12lbs. a day. If you need any more pictures PM me and I'll send you them.When are you getting your K-6, I ordered mine in May and it came in the end of June about 6 weeks, but I know they're running way behind now.

Dave

K-6 Fired up Tonight

Attachments