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-Chronological Recent Posts Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope Appliances Bathrooms Central Vacuum Condensing Modulating Gas Boiler Construction Deconstruction Design Style Distractions Electrical Energy Efficiency Family Room Finishes Fireplace Boiler Floating Walls Green Building Interests House Systems Inspections Kitchen Landscape LEED Project Living Room Local Products Maintenance and Repair Master Bedroom Mini Split Air Conditioner Moisture Intrusion/Expansive Soil Monitoring Moving Planning Plumbing Project Team Radiant Cooling Radiant Heat Radon Mitigation Reduce Reuse Recycle Solar Spa Tile Tools Trim Trombe Wall VentilationBy Date
Category Archives: Radiant Heat
Gleaning More Materials
I’ve used most of the building materials that have been stockpiled in the past; although there is more finish work in the house that needs to be completed. I hope to use the log railings for door and window trim … Continue reading
Posted in Reduce Reuse Recycle, Solar, Spa, Trombe Wall
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Safety for the Birdies
Covering the chimney opening with barrier wire has been on the to do list for some time. Luckily some square wire mesh was accessible in the full garage so I cut some and installed it on the chimney. Every spring … Continue reading
Posted in Fireplace Boiler, Maintenance and Repair
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Nest Thermostat Info
It’s been cold outside. We woke up this morning to negative ten degrees. The Nest thermostat is only recording the temperatures and boiler use in the living room so it is an incomplete picture of our heat use. I need … Continue reading
Posted in Monitoring, Radiant Heat
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Back to the Siding
My brother generously offered to visit and help with the house construction. It is sort of a vacation for him and he likes house building projects almost as much as I do. He is much more of a perfectionist though, … Continue reading
Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope, Construction, Trombe Wall
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Coolness
I had to give up on the chiller again. I had repiped through the heat exchanger with a single path for the return water to pick up the coolness but the chiller could not reduce the temperature in the floor … Continue reading
Posted in Radiant Cooling, Ventilation
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Trying a Chiller Again
I do not give up easily on an idea, especially when my research shows it is viable. It is just a matter of setting up the right combination of cooling and circulation to create a chilled floor. About a week … Continue reading
Posted in Radiant Cooling
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Cooling and Thermal Mass
We are finding that the house holds heat well. In winter that is a good thing. In summer, it is more difficult to cool the house. It gets cool at night in Colorado. The humidity can go up at night … Continue reading
Posted in Planning, Radiant Cooling
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Concrete Bricks as Thermal Mass
While painting the kitchen block wall I started wondering what kind of block is our inner south wall made of anyway? At one point I heard this type of block called “slag block” and in Arizona where there are many … Continue reading
Posted in Green Building Interests, Trombe Wall
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Tweaking the Pump Wiring Again
As part of the pump install I changed the wiring again. In the past I had trouble with the primary and secondary pumps working independently. I thought that was one of the things that wore out the Taco 011 pump … Continue reading
Posted in Condensing Modulating Gas Boiler, Maintenance and Repair, Radiant Heat
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Heat is Back On
I left the heat off until the days stopped being sunny. During that time the house temperature didn’t go below 64 degrees. Even when it got down to 20 degrees outside at night. We woke up to a steady 64 … Continue reading
Posted in Condensing Modulating Gas Boiler, Maintenance and Repair, Radiant Heat
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Over-sized Pump vs. Undersized
How did I end up with a Taco 011 pump for the secondary system anyway? The project spreadsheet has the original calculations. Pressure Loss Zone Length Delta T 20 degrees Loss @ 20 Rear Bedrooms 1 50 0.03 1.50 Family … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Efficiency, Radiant Heat
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Ach Phooey! Taco Pump Siezed
Since we returned from a trip to see our newest grandson about a week ago, I’d been noticing that the floor was not warm but the radiators in the back were. I thought since I had turned the heat down … Continue reading
Posted in Condensing Modulating Gas Boiler, Maintenance and Repair, Radiant Heat
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Another Flaw in Boiler Piping Redesigned
The placement of the Taco iSeries mixing valve is designed to temper the water going into the stove, however, that valve also limits the flow of water returning from the storage loop. I realized this in the middle of the … Continue reading
Posted in Fireplace Boiler, Maintenance and Repair, Planning, Radiant Heat
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Fireplace Boiler System Re-design
During our first fire in the fireplace boiler the hot water was not getting out of the stove. I took some thermal photos to try to capture where the heat was going. The photo appears to show that the hot … Continue reading
Posted in Deconstruction, Fireplace Boiler, Maintenance and Repair, Planning, Radiant Heat
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Fireplace Boiler in Action
On Christmas Eve it was cold outside and we finally made a fire in the fireplace boiler. The fireplace outside air draft worked perfectly, and the glass door makes a spectacular fire show. The fireplace water got very hot but … Continue reading
Posted in Fireplace Boiler
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Cleaning the Challenger’s Heat Exchanger
When I was wiring the boiler, I checked the condensate overflow system on the boiler and noticed the plastic drain was full of black gunk. I cleaned it out and about a week later checked it again and it was … Continue reading
Posted in Condensing Modulating Gas Boiler, Maintenance and Repair
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Boiler Wiring Fix
This summer I re-built the zone valves for the boiler. And I planned new logic for the wiring so that I could include the fireplace boiler and hopefully a chiller. I had the new single pump relay using the output … Continue reading
Posted in Condensing Modulating Gas Boiler, Radiant Heat
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Interesting Original Construction Details
One great thing about deconstruction is that it reveals interesting construction details. I am removing siding around what used to be the front door but will now be our Master Bedroom door. The foil covered polyiso is being replaced because … Continue reading
Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope, Deconstruction, Trombe Wall
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New Twist on the Chiller Problem
I have been doing a lot of reading about DIY chilling systems and looking at systems that immerse a coil in a box of water and pump water in and out etc. Most of them are rather primitive, but there … Continue reading
Posted in Appliances, House Systems, Radiant Cooling, Reduce Reuse Recycle
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More Chiller Disappointment
I could not get the new Penguin chiller to cool the 50 gallons of water in the old hot water tank. The company was very helpful but also could not figure out why the chiller was not chilling. It actually … Continue reading
Posted in Radiant Cooling
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