Turkeyslayer
Smells Great
No problems with my insurance company, no savings either.
Homemade OWB Questions
- Thread starter Turkeyslayer
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Turkeyslayer
Smells Great
Time to drill the foundation and start the install.
Turkeyslayer
Smells Great
Insulated pex in house and hole filled with hydrolic cement, sidearm installed on water heater, hydro wired into panel and run to boiler, and new plug run for sump pump. Today I will put exchanger in furnace and run all the pex in the house so that everything will be ready to rock inside. I am getting 1'x1' tin boxes with a flex hose adapter made up to hook my blower fans into. They should be ready on Tuesday. Then I will try to get the outside structure framed in this week, I want to have it framed in before I complete the hydro outside.
This weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving and I am thankful that my Dad was here to help me yesterday and is coming back today
He was a maintenance foreman at a government agricultural research facility for 30 years. He holds many trades licenses so alot of knowledge to be had from him.
This weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving and I am thankful that my Dad was here to help me yesterday and is coming back today
He was a maintenance foreman at a government agricultural research facility for 30 years. He holds many trades licenses so alot of knowledge to be had from him.Greywynd
ArboristSite Lurker
Good progress!! Of course this needs pics!! :msp_biggrin:
Turkeyslayer
Smells Great
And we have fire!!! After not being able to work on the owb last weekend, I was able to get back at it yesterday and today. We got a fire going in it about an hour ago. I will try to take pics of the install tomorrow. I still have to finish the building around it but having it running makes me very happy
uttahere2:
uttahere2:
Turkeyslayer
Smells Great
I was wondering, right now I am taking hot water out of the bottom of the tank with the thought that the pump should never run dry if anything were to happen. Is this the normal plumbing or should I be taking the water out of the top of the tank like on a hot water heater?
woodman6666
ArboristSite Guru
ON the ones I have built I always pull water from the hottest part of the boiler which is near the top near any baffles. But I would stay 6" below normal water line. On this outgoing line is where you should put your aquastat as well, this way you are controlling the hottest part of your boiler and should never boil over.
Turkeyslayer
Smells Great
Here are some pics as promised.
Chimney and aquastat.
Pump and Y strainer.
This is my manifold.
And the exchanger in the furnace.
And sidearm on water heater.
Chimney and aquastat.
Pump and Y strainer.
This is my manifold.
And the exchanger in the furnace.
And sidearm on water heater.
You, sir, have been busy! Nice work.
I also have the feed to the house coming from the top of the woodburner. Looking back I would probably have designed my inlets and outlets a little differently - outlets are a bit high on the tank (same concern about running low on water.) Yours appear a bit lower so they should be fine. My return is centered in the bottom of the tank so if that was used as the feed it could pick up sendiment anyway I figured.
There is also a proper inlet and outlet for the heat exchanger in the furnace - water inlet should be on the outlet side of the airflow. That is the hottest water should be the last thing before air goes to the house vents.
From your picture it reminded me of one other thing that I often see - the pump mounted in the OWB shed. I chose to mount mine in the basement so even if there was a freeze issue at least it wouldn't get to the pump. And if I have to replace it I can do it in a warm and dry basement.
I also have the feed to the house coming from the top of the woodburner. Looking back I would probably have designed my inlets and outlets a little differently - outlets are a bit high on the tank (same concern about running low on water.) Yours appear a bit lower so they should be fine. My return is centered in the bottom of the tank so if that was used as the feed it could pick up sendiment anyway I figured.
There is also a proper inlet and outlet for the heat exchanger in the furnace - water inlet should be on the outlet side of the airflow. That is the hottest water should be the last thing before air goes to the house vents.
From your picture it reminded me of one other thing that I often see - the pump mounted in the OWB shed. I chose to mount mine in the basement so even if there was a freeze issue at least it wouldn't get to the pump. And if I have to replace it I can do it in a warm and dry basement.
I did my own install on a unit and I'm sorry but the pex growing a couple of feet is something I Have a hard time believing. My lines are cut off within 6" of the block and there has never been any movement.
I would have to see a line expand in person to believe it to be true.
I understand there are estimated expansion rates for pex, but I'm here to tell you I've never seen movement in the lines, maybe it's possible if the lines aren't contained in foam suspension???
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Come one over for a beer then!
We'll change the set temperature and watch it grow. (Might take long enough that we won't care after that many beers of course. 
)I can even tell if the temperture on mine is running high (happened mostly on a moderate day when the damper wasn't fully closed) by how much the length changes. It's really apparent from summertime when the PEX is say 60 degrees in the ground to say 150 degrees with hot water in it. Absolutely no doubt there is a significant change in mine. It may be that PEX-Al or others don't expand as much.
Come one over for a beer then!
I can even tell if the temperture on mine is running high (happened mostly on a moderate day when the damper wasn't fully closed) by how much the length changes. It's really apparent from summertime when the PEX is say 60 degrees in the ground to say 150 degrees with hot water in it. Absolutely no doubt there is a significant change in mine. It may be that PEX-Al or others don't expand as much.
I had to edit my post, I re read it and it came across harsh, which I didn't intend... I've no doubt that there is a factor of thermal expansion... I've just not seen any on my setup, I installed the thermo-pex if I remember right... Maybe it's a different material comp than normal pex? I've been trying to find material data, however I'm not coming up with any.
Turkeyslayer
Smells Great
My building is now about done, just have to fill in some cracks and box in the eaves. This weekend has been a cut to feed the beast weekend.
Turkeyslayer
Smells Great
Sorry for the slow reply, just saw your question. My underground is Ecoflex, I filled the end sticking up in the shed with silicone to seal any moister out.
