How to complete heating system?

Gulliver

Hi

The company I had contracted for the heating system went belly up and left me with a partial system. I have a Grant boiler, Underfloor heating (upstairs and down) 3 solar panels and a 300L triple coil solar tank for direct hot water.

Luckily the panels, tank and boiler had been delivered, so I got a local plumber to put it all together, which he has done a great job on with what he was given. He's not into "all this eco stuff" as he says himself.

Unfortunately, the underfloor runs directly off the boiler, eating through oil and generally performing very inefficiently. The manifolds cut off if the heat is greater than 40 degrees (as it is will be when it is coming straight from the boiler and I've turned it down as low as it will go) but the stats themselves don't click off until they reach 18 degrees, which takes ages with the manifold constantly cutting off.

There was mention of a buffer tank in the original quote but no details as to whether it was a mild steel or stainless steel one. What I am looking for is advice on how best to finish this off and get out of the hole I was left in.

Do I get a stainless buffer tank and try to run the underfloor and DHW from the one buffer?

Or could I use an ordinary steel buffer tank linked just to the underfloor. If this is the case, how on earth does the solar help heat this water as it is currently heating the DHW in the 300L stainless tank?

I realise the current setup is crazily inefficient, however any advice will be greatly appreciated as I want to have it straight in my head before I approach another heating company and I've been burned before (pardon the pun).

Gulliver

I'd appreciate any advice...

etcetc

Sorry to hear about your bad luck with contractor, might be a salutory warning to others following in your footsteps

I trust you didn't get stung financially

You might be better to ask a mod to move it to the plumbing and heating forum
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1320

Gulliver

Thanks. I had asked in the Renewable Energies forum but never thought of Plumbing and Heating. I did get slightly stung when I worked out what had been delivered vs. the (quite hefty, in retrospect) deposit they looked for when I made the order.

muffler

Gulliver do you want this moved to the P & H forum?

Gulliver

muffler wrote: »

Gulliver do you want this moved to the P & H forum?

Yes please. I was looking for a way to request this using the thread tools but just realised it's probably done by PM.

Cheers.

EDIT: Could you delete the dead thread in Renewable Energies too? Thanks

muffler

Gulliver wrote: »

Yes please. I was looking for a way to request this using the thread tools but just realised it's probably done by PM.

Cheers.

EDIT: Could you delete the dead thread in Renewable Energies too? Thanks

We dont get to read every post here so if you (or anyone for that matter) ever want a thread moved the best thing to do is either report your first post or PM one of the mods

I'll move this now for you.

Edit/ thread in RE deleted as per request


.

shane0007

There are many ways of improving your systems. Buffers are generally steel as there is no requirement for them to be stainless as the water stored within them is not changing so not being re-oxygenated. Anodes are normal though.
You can link solar through the buffer through a coil & then back out to dhw cylinder or a fresh water coil.
You can even have the solar heating both cylinders through a 3 port valve giving priority to dhw in summer & swapping over to buffer for storage. Then on cloudy days, the stored heat in the buffer can be brought back over to the dhw cylinder. A very efficient way of doing things. In winter priority can be given to the buffer.
Oil & UFH do not mix well, so a buffer is a must for efficiency. You can then modulate from the buffer whereas the oil boiler cannot modulate.

UFH needs controls, controls & controls! An overhaul of the controls is a must.

After that, you should have a pretty decent system. I once revamped a similar system that was using 6 fills of oil per year that is now using 2 & 1/2 so it can be done.

Gulliver

shane0007 wrote: »

There are many ways of improving your systems. Buffers are generally steel as there is no requirement for them to be stainless as the water stored within them is not changing so not being re-oxygenated. Anodes are normal though.
You can link solar through the buffer through a coil & then back out to dhw cylinder or a fresh water coil.
You can even have the solar heating both cylinders through a 3 port valve giving priority to dhw in summer & swapping over to buffer for storage. Then on cloudy days, the stored heat in the buffer can be brought back over to the dhw cylinder. A very efficient way of doing things. In winter priority can be given to the buffer.
Oil & UFH do not mix well, so a buffer is a must for efficiency. You can then modulate from the buffer whereas the oil boiler cannot modulate.

UFH needs controls, controls & controls! An overhaul of the controls is a must.

After that, you should have a pretty decent system. I once revamped a similar system that was using 6 fills of oil per year that is now using 2 & 1/2 so it can be done.

Thanks for your reply. I follow most of it but I must show that to our local guy and see does it make sense to him.

Here are the current controls. Would these combined be sufficient to control the system if a buffer tank was included?

The solar Controller is called HeatCon Pro

The control system is a Heatmiser UH1 with a PRT control panel in each room. I don't have the fancy central touchpad controller (yet) so I just set each room individually to 17 degrees (15 for unused rooms) for 1 hour in the morning and 2 hours in the evening.

(I read the Forum charter so going by that I think I am allowed to mention the equipment brands. Mods please don't kill me if I'm wrong..:))

shane0007

Heatmiser are excellent controls but to advise on what way they control your home is impossible to advise on remotely. Every installation is different.