A 15-55. Don't know how many different ones they make. Think it is more or less equivalent to a 15-58 3 speed, size wise.
I need a little more flow than that one can offer, I think. I have one pretty long zone that is probably going to have a decent pressure drop too.
Parts are showing up. Won't be long and I can start putting things together. I went with: Caleffi 10 port manifold w/thermal actuators Taco 6 Zone Controller Grundfos Alpha 2 (x2 in parallel). This probably overkill for what I need...but better to have an not need than need and not have. Worst case scenario I'll only have to run one and I'll have a "hot backup" ready to go. Honeywell FocusPro Wireless Thermostat for the one room where I can pull an new thermostat wire without a lot of drywall work. Watts fill valve pressure regulator and relief valve combo Extrol 7.6 Gallon Expansion tank Lots of pex fittings and valves Still shopping for a mixing valve. Most of the ones for DHW don't have enough flow...and most of the ones for heating don't go up hot enough (made for in-floor radiant that runs a lot colder than baseboard). I might just omit it and add in a ball valve between the cold and hot and manually adjust...then plumb it in later if I think I really need it.
Looks like quite the list! Regarding the ball valve to adjust temp, i tried on my radiant floor in the shop and it was a bit frustrating to say the least, eventually went with a mixing valve, but you want it for dhw which might work better What i found was that the hot line varied from the boiler between 160 to 180, hard to dial it in when temp wasn't constant
I figured that might be the case. Better keep looking for a mixing valve. I'm going to plumb a spot for it regardless....if I can't find one I'll just valve it off.
Got all the zone valves wired into the Taco controller and the wireless thermostat receiver wired and operational. Mounted a new receptacle powered by the controller to turn the pumps on and off. Used a desk lamp to validate that the thermostat fires the zone valves and the zone valve end switches turn on the pump receptacle. Next I need to mount the pressure tank and install the pumps. That's going to have to wait a few days...got a road trip for work tomorrow.
Got my pumps mounted. Not a whole lot else I can do until I'm ready to make the leap and abandon all the old piping, make new connections to the radiators, and plumb into the heat exchanger. Not sure when that's going to be.
OK, I'm a little stuck on a wiring situation. Right now I have a thermostat that hooks up to the propane boiler. In the future I want that thermostat to still fire the propane boiler as well as run back to my new Taco controller to open up the zone valve and turn on the pump. I thought I could just hook them up to the same terminal on the boiler, but it appears that terminal is normally closed, so the Taco controller thinks the thermostat is always calling for heat. If I spliced into the wire I think the same thing would still happen since the Taco panel would provide continuity (normally closed when energized). If I hooked both wires up to the back of the thermostat then the Taco controller would provide continuity for the propane boiler all the time...which isn't good. There's an aquastat relay on the Taco controller that I can use to fire the boiler...so I just need to get a wire from the Thermostat to the Taco...and a wire from the Taco back to the boiler....right?
Welp, that's not going to work. Propane boiler aquastat is 120VAC. I think I'm going to have to get a 24VAC relay to power 120VAC to the entire boiler.
OK, so I found a set of dry contacts on the Taco that close when a zone calls for heat and the end switches on the valve close. I'll use this to close the 24VAC circuit on a 24VAC / 120VAC switching relay...and use that relay to energize the 120VAC power supply for the boiler. Need to get the thermostat to the Taco and add a low voltage line from the Taco to my new relay.
A new switching relay arrived that will energize the propane boiler when any zone calls for heat. I actually had to order two...the first was a Honeywell that buzzed like crazy....I sent it back and got another Taco single zone controller. Everything is done except for making the cutover into the radiators. I'm working on the left coast starting this weekend until ? so I have no idea when this is going to happen.
New single zone switching relay to energize the propane boiler (and right now the main circulating pump) is installed. Currently I have 3 thermostats active (basement, mud room, everything else) that will turn on the circulating pump and deliver heat everywhere. While this isn't ideal, it doesn't allow any part of the house to get too cold, which was a problem during more mild weather. It also proves that my controls design is working. Last post on this thread for a while....literally nothing else to do until I ditch all the old plumbing and switch over to the new stuff. The only part I'm concerned about is getting some of the 60 year old pipe connections to the radiators unthreaded...most of which are in tight places. Any suggestions (tools, tips, tricks, or otherwise) would be appreciated. I have a hot wrench (MAP torch) and a few standard pipe wrenches...but would a chain wrench and/or offset pipe wrench be worth it? TurboDiesel might have some words of wisdom on this.
