Floor Heat Boiler

[Bubbles Galore]

I want to replace my thermostat and slabstat for my floor heat boiler. I believe I am still using the ones that were originally there on site and I want to make sure that they are working correctly, since I really have no way of being able to monitor what the slabstat is reading. Can anyone give me some reccomendations for a digital thermostat and a slabstat that would work well together? I currently use an intermatic timer to shut the boiler down during the 20-40 degree range. Anyone have any different reccomendations or suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Is there a lack of responses since there isn't anyone that see this as being necessary? Anything?

 

[mjwalsh]

Is there a lack of responses since there isn't anyone that see this as being necessary? Anything?

Bubbles,

We have been using Independent Energy Goldline Controllers since about 1990. They are in Rhode Island. I have not checked on them lately but is seems that they may have changed their name & it seems they specialize in Solar Systems more now. The digital readouts, the ability to check the high low temps, the staging ability, the ability to set the differentials have been really helpful & reliable for us over the years.

 

[Waxman]

Contact Bigleo. He has a great setup I think. And Dirt does, too.

 

[soapy]

I use Johnson controls that I get at my local Johnstone supply store. i think the model is A419. It is a digital thermostat with a wire lead thermostat. I have put a 1/2 inch poly tube in the cement and I slide the thermostat bulb down the 1/2 inch to to get it out into the bay for slab readings. If a thermostat goes bad just buy a new one and slide it down the tube. The last ones I bought were around $50 or so. With exact 1 degree increments it is pretty easy to dial it in to the needed slab temperature. On old installtion concrete I had to cut a small trough in the cement to put the 1/2 inch poly tubing in. The i used epoxy concrete to fill in the trough and it has worked fine for years.

 

[bigleo48]

Contact Bigleo. He has a great setup I think.

Bubbles, I'll chime in since Waxman has volunteered me

First, my systems have some controls to them as I have floor heat & de-icing (which are not the same). I suspect you are talking about de-icing.

For de-icing, my controls measure the temperature on the return manifold to get a sense of the slab temp. It modulate the circulation pump to make sure I don't crack the slab (so it brings up the slab temp slowly) and maintains it. Now you can do this yourself by bring it up slowly over a day, but without the controls, you'll be switching the circulation pump on and off (instead of modulating) at a hysteresis set in your thermostat. Not as efficient, but not terrible either.

I also use a infrared thermostat gun to measure the individual return legs of the floor heat and control the flow through them to balance out all the loops. This helps to avoid hot or cold spots. I also use the infrared gun to spot check the floor and make adjustments as required. I also added a circulation pump for one long loop I could never get up to temp. It's good now.

To be more efficient I use to change the floor temp daily (up when it's cold, down when it warms up). In my case I found that micromanaging the floor temp created problems as it just takes too long to get the floor temp back up when it gets cold. For example, if the cold snap was sooner and colder than expected, I couldn't get the temp back up to where I needed it to be until it warmed up. So now I just set it and leave it unless there is an expected warm up that's more than a few days.

Hope this helps. Big

 

[Bubbles Galore]

Anyone have a ball park estimate as to what a new boiler costs to heat 9 bays? I have called Raypak and I can't get a response to save my life.

I was also wondering since I have no idea when my antifreeze solution was changed, would that make a difference if I changed that out?