DIY Heat Bank Part Deux

[Bigburn]

Fumbduck wrote

I wanted to make sure that if everything went pear shaped I could etill use the old setup

I was doing some head scratching and just figured that out as you posted. It must be late.
Well done any way.
I think you will get some grief however about the open vent.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Go to the heat bank website and click on "Mains conversion kit" and you will see how their system is put together.

I think the pump on the flow into the primary side of the plate heat exchanger would have been better.
The pressure drop across the plate is greater than the pressure drop of the water sitting in the vent pipe hence the pump trys to use this water as its just easier.

 

[fumb]

The open vent thing was just plain dumb on my part. Of course, hindsight gives you 20/20 vision about such things

Fortunately the feed pipe is connected to the end of the pipe heading towards the camera from the pump so it's still the high point of the system. Caught a bit of a lucky break there.

Now I'm hatching plans for a pump speed controller based on the outlet temp of the heatex to the store

Then there's the even more crazy plan to eventually run the CH circuit off the coil and direct feed the store to avoid connecting my nice new boiler to a 40yo CH system which is undoubtedly full of sludge........ Course I have to save up for the boiler first

 

[Bigburn]

Good luck with your endeavors Fumbduck .
Its good to see a diyer on these forums with a bit of tenacity and only spending £200 to acheive a mains pressure system from a vented cylinder.

 

[Buzzark]

Hi fumbduck

You mentioned in my thread about the reheat performance not being as you'd hoped for the cylinder - I'm curious what cylinder you've got there?
I intend to use a fast refresh cylinder and will probably initially use a plate heat exchanger just for the shower supply and the normal tank for the rest (which is fine).
Oh - I notice you were gravity fed to your cylinder, did you upgrade to pumped or is that half the problem?

A plated heat exchanger, pump, switch and a bit of plumbing is about the same cost as a decent shower pump so that's the plan at the moment.

 

[fumb]

I have the same system as (I think) you

Gravity mfeed to the indirect cylinder coil with a pump running the heating

I don't think there's a problem with the system as such. It's just a conflict of how I'm using it at the moment with how it was intended to be used

I work away during the week and turn off water and heat in the house when I'm away. By the time I get home the hot cylinder is pretty cold as is the rest of the house. When I turn the boiler back on the heating pump "steals" a lot of the gravity DHW flow for the rads and continues to do so for an hour or more while the house comes up from about 12-13C to the 18C that I'm accustomed to as a southern jessie . During this time the water gets luke warm at best

But having looked at the boiler operating I'm not convinced I could do much better. Even the heating pipes take about 5 mins to start getting warm from switch on. So I think the problem is more that the boiler doesn't have enough power to really heat the water up quickly. It takes a good 30-40 mins for the rads to reach full temperature

In normal use the system is just fine and I've never run out of hot water. It's no worse than it was before th conversion so if your setup works as is, apart from low pressure, then it won't be significantly different.

 

[Softus]

It's just a conflict of how I'm using it at the moment with how it was intended to be used.

You need one of these:

http://www.c-p-p.co.uk/product/asp/ProdID/2367/CtgID//af/page.htm

 

[Balenza]

Softus wrote

and that the very call that leads to his demise is the one he makes to his heating system.

Or he could be fined.

And the pink piped icing on the stupidity cake is to postulate that this risk makes the remote switching product a bad choice.

With the host of simple timeclocks on the market these days I think remote switching via telephone would be a bad choice and more expensive.

 

[Softus]

Or he could be fined.

Or he could make the call while not driving.

With the host of simple timeclocks on the market these days I think remote switching via telephone would be a bad choice and more expensive.

More expensive? Certainly.
More flexible. Indubitably.
Bad? Only for people who can't cope with the sophistication.

 

[fumb]

LOL

I have three handsfree setups - bluetooth headset, bluetooth to the GPS and an old fashioned wired setup. Are any of them ever plugged in when someone calls? Are they bugger. I still have to switch to speakerphone mode and shout at the blasted thing

I have considered hooking the heating up to my web server and making it controllable via t'interweb though

 

[Softus]

To whichever moderator is making the cowardly deletions: kindly have the courage and the good grace to post a reason for your actions, or otherwise Email Admin with your complaint.

MOD 2

it's me as you well know and any more of it will finish up in more deletions

you have been cut some slack now behave

 

[Balenza]

Fumbduck wrote

I have considered hooking the heating up to my web server and making it controllable via t'interweb though

No offence Fumbduck but theirs not a lot to control at the moment.
You have an outdated system (albeit some good diy work on the PHE if I may say so) gravity circuits etc and no hot water priorty by the sound of it .

 

[Softus]

it's me as you well know and any more of it will finish up in more deletions

No - your usual style is verbose, so I didn't know.

 

[fumb]

Fumbduck wrote

I have considered hooking the heating up to my web server and making it controllable via t'interweb though

No offence Fumbduck but theirs not a lot to control at the moment.
You have an outdated system (albeit some good diy work on the PHE if I may say so) gravity circuits etc and no hot water priorty by the sound of it .

LOL, it's a fair cop guvnor. Kinda like hooking up my old mini to the Ferrarri F1 pit garage setup. I think the contrast is why it appeals to me lol
Plus it gives me a way to start testing the development DIY (suprise suprise) home automation setup I'm working on.

I can't use that phone thing since I don't have a phone line in the house. VOIP and all that

 

[Buzzark]

I have the same system as (I think) you

Gravity feed to the indirect cylinder coil with a pump running the heating

Yes, a basic "old fashioned" install.

I don't think there's a problem with the system as such. It's just a conflict of how I'm using it at the moment with how it was intended to be used.

...So I think the problem is more that the boiler doesn't have enough power to really heat the water up quickly. It takes a good 30-40 mins for the rads to reach full temperature .

Yeah, that sounds like a long time I think ours is about 15 mins from fully cold for the rads but the water takes too long but even switching off the heating didn't help much. It needs pumping and a faster recovery coil to get it where I want it. From the data I've read, pumping literally halves the DHW cylinder heating time - the other reduction comes from the better cylinder.

...In normal use the system is just fine and I've never run out of hot water. It's no worse than it was before th conversion so if your setup works as is, apart from low pressure, then it won't be significantly different.

The heating's fine the water isn't but now at know the cause and I have solutions.
Incidentally, went up in the loft to take stock today plus install a seperate cold shower feed from the tank (sort of temporary). OMG that tank is yukky! Another one for the list, along with: no drain cock for existing cylinder, the gravity feed should have been 28mm but it's 22mm (although just fine for pumping ) and REALLY poor mains supply into the loft - the tank fills at a trickle Bathroom cold mains is fine so I think the bathroom floor will be coming up soon! Need to sort that, or it'll all be in vain and I'll end up with a shower pump which might be a simpler but less interesting solution!

 

[fumb]

I'd ditch the tanks personally. Remeber though, I'm a DIYer not a plumber lol

In fact I have a pair of galvy ones here you can have if you want
There's even a new float valve (or ballcock until the word filter gets hold of it)
They are also full of crud but underneath the conctreion they appear to be in reasonable shape. Bit of a bummer really as it was the apparent poor condition of the tanks that started me off