Thread: Plate exchanger hook up?

Received my 20 plate exchanger yesterday. I'm not using a side arm, only the plate exchanger. My question the best way to hook up my domestic hot water. should i use my hot water heater or can i bypass it? i will be using a mixing valve. how are you all hooking them up?


THANKS,Rodney

Is it gas or electric?

May I ask which mixing valve you went with?? I'm in about the same spot you are, hopefully picking up my new owb next week!

It's elecrtic. don't have a mixing valve as of yet, but i would like to have everything together sometime before the 1st. of the month. that's when my cozeburn 250 should be in.


THANKS, Rodney

Turn off the breaker!

Yea, can't wait to get turn them off how are you doing your set up on the domestic side? If you don't mind me asking? Is your's gas or electric ?


THANKS,Rodney

mines gas. plan on running from the owb to the plate heat exchanger then to the furnace heat exchanger and back to the owb. uing a b&G PL36 pump to push the water through. I've got a diagram on my work computer. I'll try to remember to post it tomorrow

i'll just turn the tstat on the water heater down so it wont use any gas

These seemed to work for me last year, I heat the water and then dump it into the hot water tank. My Water to Water plate exchanger is on the top. I just turned down my propane thermostat on the water heater and did not notice the pilot firing last year at all.

Before I fire my stove this year, I am going to change the lines a little, move the first hot in to the water to air exchanger, then to the water to water plate exchanger. Just seems to make more sense, getting the hottest water to the water to air exchanger first.

The cold soft water out to OWB is for filling, ran three lines of PEX to the OWB, the blue is just for filling levels and the two orange are the hot loop.

My 20 plate is installed so the hot water goes into the tank. This is how all the MFGs recommend it to be installed. If you have young ones or guests in your home DO NOT install it until you have a mixing valve installed, the water the plate produces (even with my boiler set to 165 max) is smok'en hot and WILL hurt a person. There are two popular automatic valves, one works pretty well and costs $, one is less $ but doesn't work well or for very long. Cant remember the part numbers or the name of the bad one but I got the good one, made by TACO. Expect to pay around $100.

You asked about the best way to hook up your water heater and I am not sure there is a best way unless you are spending lots of money to heat water. We use a heck of a lot of hot water at my place. To give you and idea our gas bill (water heat only) this summer was running over $100. So I have more room to work than most others when it comes to spending money to save some, if you know what I mean? I started out with a side arm unit and while it does make hot water it is slow. Might be OK for single men or households with low usage, no way one will keep up with 5 in the house and clean freak wife. I added the 20 plate this summer and it will make all the hot water that will run out my taps at 60 PSI. Problem with a plate is that nothing is heating the tank when your not running water so you must leave the water heater on or have less than hot water when the system has not been used for a long period. How long? depends on how well your water heater is insulated I guess. Once it cools off I am sure that a person would have to run lots of water to heat things back up. Anyway, with my side arm still hooked up and a plate exchanger I am now totally independent of the utilities for domestic hot water but it came at a huge cost because of the cost of copper fittings and valves. Guessing I have $550 in everything, maybe more. I have as much in by building by-passes as I have in the heating units but I can by pass the plate, side arm and the heat exchanger in the duct work. Did I go overboard? who know but I can isolate any of the units and remove them while leaving everything else running. My camera is broken so cant give pictures right now. Sorry about being so long winded in my response.

I'll be using this method, but adding a mixing valve right in between where it says TO HOT TAPS and COLD SUPPLY

Thanks for the tips everyone.

iCreek do you have a mixing valve on your set up?

Butch where do you have your mixing valve located.

Do you mix the water before or after the tank? I'm thinking it should be mixed after the tank like Madspeed is doing his but, I just want to be clear.


THANKS, Rodney

The mixing valve needs to be where it sences the temp of the water that will be coming from the faucets or on the "out" side of the water heater. Mine is right on top of the tank where it is an easy and short run to bring the cold water to it. Again sorry for no pics, that would make it easy, camera is broke,, and so am I, LOL.

I hear yea! This OWB stuff has broke me and the bank. Not to metion all of the confusion that's running through my head! Might have been easier if i had of waited on the unit to arrive first, but i would like to have everything in place when it does. Pad poured, lines ran, air exchanger, water exchanger, electrical, etc. Still waiting on my fittings. Dreading the thermostat hook up I have electric heat. would like to use a single thermostat to operate the air and OWB and to use my electric as a just in case back up. like if i had a problem with my OWB.

Do you run temp at 160 year around? have any ideal what temp coming out of air and water exchanger is?

THANKS, Rodney

One reason it is recommended to run from the OWB to the water heater first is it gives you a storage buffer to continue to supply hot water to the heat exchanger if the fire gets low or goes out.