Wiring help urgently needed

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joejoe

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I have a Shaver furnace that I have been installing for a long time now as and when I have free time, and I am at that point where I need to connect the power and I don't have a clue how to do this.
I have contacted Shaver but continue to be ignored, so I am really hoping some kind folks on this forum could help me.

I need to understand what components I need and how to connect them so the OWB works independently from any other furnace. I wish to install a thermostat so the Shaver will supply heat to the cast iron radiators I installed when the temperature drops below a certain point and turns off when the temp reaches the desired number.

Thanks in advance

Joe
 
I had to hire a guy to wire the thermostat. I couldn't figure it out.


You'll need two thermostats. one for your existing furnace and one for the OWB.


I tried wiring it myself but both furnaces would kick on.


The guy that wired it for me had to instal a relay so both wouldn't kick on.
 
Wiring help

Thanks for all the input, I wish to understand the wiring design so I can do the work myself.
I have one thermostat for the OWB and I am trying to understand what else I require. Do I need a 24 volt relay that provides power to the circulator when the thermostat comes on?

The OWB is independent of any other heating system. I plan to have the thermostat for the OWB control the heat level in the area first, and if the temp drops below a certain point then the existing oil furnace will kick in when its thermostat detects the ambient temp has gone below its setting.

Thanks
 
The first question is if you have an installation manual with a wiring diagram?

Have a link to that?

Or what came with your OWB? Just a circulation pump and that is the only electrical thing which needs to be connected?

One way to connect just the circulation pump would be with a 24 volt AC transformer (converts 120 volts AC to 24 volts AC), a 24 volt relay, and a simple on/off thermostat.

A relay is just an electrically operated switch. So where the relay goes - that could instead be just a regular on/off switch. But instead you can place a relay there, then "remotely control" the operation of that relay switch via low voltage wiring and a thermostat.

24 volts power supplied to the coil side of the relay would make it turn on, then also that would switch on the circulator pump.

And a simple thermostat is also just an on/off switch. This would make the connection between the 24 volt transformer - 24 volts and the relay.

Thermostat switches on -> causes relay to switch on -> causes circulator pump to switch on.

Thermostat switches off -> causes relay to switch off -> causes circulator pump to switch off.

And the "switching" part of the relay or contacts would need to be "rated" for the voltage and amperage of the circulator pump (120 volts AC? Amperage?)

Then relays which are used for 120 volts or more are called "contactors". These are also designed to be mounted inside a large metal box and designed with lug nuts so you can easily connect large wires.

Then *very* important to ground the metal box which holds the contactor (relay) as well as ground the circulator pump and all metal piping / metal radiators.

Wires can come loose, then touch a metal part of the piping / OWB. Then a person (or child) touching the metal part can be electrocuted. Some areas may require a GFCI outlet or GFCI circuit breaker as this could be considered a "wet area".

You are best to get an electrical permit if you want to do this yourself. Then they will come and inspect your work. Then if they see anything which is unsafe, they will tell you what needs to be corrected. Certain do-it-yourself wiring can potentially cause a fire or cause someone to be electrocuted. And that is all the electrical inspectors do - look over your work to be sure it is safe. (Inexpensive expert advice!)

An advanced design could use a "microcontroller" and temperature sensors. Then you could program the microcontroller to do what you wanted depending on what the temperature sensors are reading. Like if the water in the pipes is cold, then wait until warm until turning on circulation pump. Or if outside temperature dropping fast, turn on pump before it gets cold in house. Or if warming up outside, turn off pump sooner. Etc.

You can get an easy to program microcontroller at Radio Shack. It is called a Basic Stamp. (Get it for the kids for Christmas, then let them figure it out for you!)
 
wiring help

BillyBob, this is just what i needed to know, thank you so much.

I will get a local electrical inspector to check afterwards great idea and thanks again.
 
wiring help

BillyBob
Answer to your previous question. The shaver 290 came with a fan that also needs to be wired but I think that is taken from the Thermostat that senses the water temperature in the back of the furnace.
Is it possible to wire the fan so that rather than working with the thermostat at the back of the Shaver furnace to keep the water within a certain temperature range, I can wire the fan so that when the thermostat in the house comes on to provide power to the calculator, it also turns on the fan.
That way the water can be cool in the furnace and heated only when the thermostat in the house calls for heat and turns off when the house is warm.

I am assuming it is a waste to keep the water within a certain temperature range at all times if the thermostat in the house is not calling for heat, but not sure about that yet.

The wiring diagram that came with the Shaver 290 OWB shows how to connect the furnace to an existing oil furnace using a heat exchanger and the relay on the oil furnace, but not how to connect it as an independent heat source.

Regards
 
You need to have the boiler up-to-temp when the in-house thermostat demands heat. Otherwise, it could be a very long time before the boiler heats up enough to actually provide usable heat. By a "long time", I mean anywhere from 30-60 minutes, depending on the boiler temp and the state of the fire.
 
This may be much simpler than the above suggests. The dirty way is 2 thermostats, One connected to the OWB set where you want the house. A second one connects to the oil furnace set somewhat lower. If the OWB fails to keep the temperature high enough, the oil furnace kicks on.

A more elegant solution is a 2 stage thermostat. Stage one operates the OWB, and stage 2 the oil furnace. It should have the advantage of kicking off the OWB when it isn't producing heat.

Read the directions. I have learned a lot that way.
 
BillyBob
Answer to your previous question. The shaver 290 came with a fan that also needs to be wired but I think that is taken from the Thermostat that senses the water temperature in the back of the furnace.
Is it possible to wire the fan so that rather than working with the thermostat at the back of the Shaver furnace to keep the water within a certain temperature range, I can wire the fan so that when the thermostat in the house comes on to provide power to the calculator, it also turns on the fan.
That way the water can be cool in the furnace and heated only when the thermostat in the house calls for heat and turns off when the house is warm.

I am assuming it is a waste to keep the water within a certain temperature range at all times if the thermostat in the house is not calling for heat, but not sure about that yet.

The wiring diagram that came with the Shaver 290 OWB shows how to connect the furnace to an existing oil furnace using a heat exchanger and the relay on the oil furnace, but not how to connect it as an independent heat source.

Regards




Yes, youare going to want the OWB to maintain a temp. Whether you want your water at 160* or 180* or whatever, you want that water already hot so that when the house needs heat, it is up to temp to provide that heat.


Otherwise if you do not maintain a temp and let's say your water temp dipped to 70* and the house calls for heat, you will be waiting and waiting and waiting for the temp in the OWB to get up to temp before it could provide heat.

I hate to admit this, but I'll give you advice my wife gave me when doing the install. I had trouble with the thermostats and getting them to work independantly. She said," Get someone who knows what there doing to fix it and be done with it."

I hated to do it but I knew she was right. Other than the thermostats I did the rest of the instal myself.
 
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