Tag Archives: DHW

Do it yourself

Tekmar 260 help for amateur

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By marriott

Hi,
I am new to the forums and to homeownership:thumbup:. I’m having issues with my 1 year old heating system:(. Some info about it: Buderus oil fired boiler with HTP indirect fired water heater. These are hooked up to a Tekmar 240 which also has a Taco ZVC403 zone valve control plus 3 Honeywell zone valves, one of which controls the indirect water heater. Ok, now to the issue: the boiler isn’t heating up the water for the water heater even though the heater is calling for it(I know this because the lights on the ZVC403 indicate this and the honeywell valve thing is open and really warm to the touch). The problem happens during warm weather more so than cold weather. This leads me to believe that there is something in the Tekmar 240 that needs adjusting. I am wondering if changing the DIP switches to DHW priority and DHW during UnOCC will remedy the problem? I don’tknow whether to have the switch on DHW Valve or DHW Pump? Or perhaps I am way off in my assumptions about the cause of the problem.:confused: Any sugestions(in layman’s terms) would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

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Source: DoItYourself.com

Do it yourself

advice on new heating system, DHW & gas supply relocation

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By cyrus_pinkney

I recently purchased a 1750 sf 1950s raised ranch that’s currently being heated by its original, oil American Standard boiler that’s also supplying my DHW. We have recessed cast iron rads on the main living floor, with cast iron baseboards in the basement. Considering oil prices being what they are, we’re very much interested in replacing the system that’s currently operating at around 60% efficiency…which is probably being generous.

I have been shopping around for the best replacement setup for our needs, which I should outline now; we’re a young couple that have intentions of having children and possibly expanding the home down the line. The 6 gallon tank inside our boiler is barely supplying enough hot water (shocker) to our 2.5 baths. We have not even attempted heavy demand; 2.5 baths + dishwasher + clothes washer would be impossible to run within a few hours of one another. Being that it’s juts the 2 of us now and we’re already running out of water after consecutive showers, we’re hoping to eliminate the limited supply of hot water. The original, single-paned slider windows are still throughout the house, which will also be replaced eventually, but not before the boiler installation. Insulation throughout the house is average at best. The existing boiler is tied into a fireplace chimney in our basement that keeps us from utilizing the area in front of the fireplace (the oil boiler sounds like a jet when it kicks on), so we are also intending on installing the new boiler elsewhere in the basement, in all likelihood direct vented. When I purchased the home, there already was a 3/4″ gas line piped to where a dryer would go and where we were thinking about relocated the new system to–more on that below.

What does helps us is that I am an architect and pretty handy, so my intentions were to replace the boiler myself to help with my budget, which is a factor. Alsom, to pay for college, I was a plumber’s apprentice for a few summers and winters, so I am not really intimidated by the job, but rather making the right decision for my home for the next 30+ years. I have generated a manual-J for the house in Wrightsoft that is giving me around 67k BTU heat loss, so I am thinking of around an 80k BTU for a replacement. I was planning on a blower-door test, but I already know the house won’t fair all that well considering the windows and doors.

We’ve spec’d Navien combis units on a few buildings we’ve done in some urban multi-family buildings in northeast NJ which have given us nothing but trouble, but we believe it has a lot to do with shoddy installation. Our plumbers from that job has complained about the difficulty of getting Navien reps to take care of their issues and overall below average customer service. With that being said, I am still open to their product, just with a

Source: DoItYourself.com