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Heating & Air Conditioning

Keep the old pipes or bring in new PEX

15 years ago

I am going to be installing a new natural gas condensing boiler to replace my existing oil boiler and the gravity fed hot water system that is feeds. I have talked to reps from both Buderus and Triangle Tube and they have both advocated keeping my existing cast iron pipes which are 2-3 inch pipes on the horizontal in the basement and 1 to 3/4 inch on the vertical feeding the cast iron upright radiators. If I do this I have to replace the current Honeywell non-electric thermostatic radiator valves with something else that will be able to open or close and call to the new pump and turn it on. I am having problems finding something that will work. What I had envisioned was an electric thermostatic radiator that had a solenoid that would open or close and had the ability to turn the zone pump on. There doesn't seem to be a product like that, at least that I can find. My other option is to replace the large pipe with Pex and put more zones in with pumps. If I keep the existing pipes there are two pairs of supply and return coming of the existing boiler, so I could make them each a "zone" of sorts with its own pump and then if I could find a thermostatic device that I could fit to each of my nine radiators which would then feed back to a relay panel that would be great. Any other ideas are welcome.

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Comments (2)

zl700
15 years ago
Here is what you are looking for in the link below

The MV100 electric valve actuator with end switch to activate circulator(s) will work well for you.

You need to pick the correct valve configuration and size to install on radiator with actuator mentioned above.

Of course, if you can afford it I would pull the basement piping and redo in order to use smaller more effiient circ pumps and have less mass to heat with the big pipes to achieve heat upstairs.

Here is a link that might be useful: H/W Braukmann
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healthyheating
15 years ago
If they are supplying the Buderus with the built in reset controls you wonÂt have to change or replace anything other than adding a spring loaded differential bypass valve.

The reset control will activate the circulator on drop of outdoor temperature and adjust the water temperature up or down to match the load so that the control valves stay open (which is what control valves are supposed to do) and in the event of overheating (solar gain, kids come home with the soccer team, cooking in the kitchen) then the thermostatic valves you have will modulate closed, the resulting rising head pressure on the circulator gets applied to the bypass valve and it opens and bypasses flow back to the boiler - voila Â constant flow variable temperature systemÂ.it doesnÂt get any simpler. If you want some fine tuning Â order the boiler control with a single RTU for control feedback Â locate it in a representative area Â kitchen/nook is generally a good place.

A few more details to consider beyond this discussion but a competent manufacturers rep or contractor can handle it.

Benchmark for bypass valve: Danfoss, Braukmann or Oventrop.
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