Soon we will have heat again......

Here's a few photos of the revised heating system.  Since the whole house is torn apart, and the original radiators were covered in 2000 coats of paint, we took the "oportunity" to install radiant floor (pex) heat.  The radiant floors combined with the wood stove should have the house feeling toasty warm on even the coldest days.

+ I started by downloading a free copy of Taco's FloPro Designer software.  Laying out the system was not completely intuitive, but not difficult either.  Taco's tech support: Ra Puuri (FloPro designer questions) and George Taber (control systems) was very helpful.  I emailed the FloPro files to Ra several times and explained my issues; he made corrections and sent the files back.  The website also includes a plethora of wiring diagrams, which I used to tie-in the zone valve controls, Domestic priority switch, and pump relay controls.

+We ran 2000' of red oxygen barrier pex tubing in the joist spaces on the first floor and in the basement.  Each floor now has it's own manifold, each with four tubing loops.
+ We installed a new SS chimney liner for the boiler flue; now the boiler flue gasses are isolated completely from the fireplaces in the dining room and Liam's room. Safety First!

+ The two green boxes to the left of the manifold are the Zone valve control (Taco ZVC403) and the circulator pump relay control(SR504 Exp).  There are two zone valves on the radiant floor loops, one for each floor of the house.  The pump relay control is switching 3 high temp radiator pumps (kitchen/mudroom, third floor, and domestic hot water) along with the primary boiler loop circulator pump.  Lots of pumps!

+Here is the Raidant Mixing Block.  The RMB houses a radiant circulator pump, and an injection pump in one unit.  The pump elements are servicable and are stock items at most plumbing sullpy houses.  The RMB control modulates the injection pump based on the set temperature for the radiant tubing.  A mixed water temperature sensor was supplied with the unit.  The RMB included an outdoor sensor that will be used to reset the radiant floor tubing temperature based on the change in outdoor temp.

+ The tubing is currently clipped to the floor joists, up against the floorboards.  Before we insulate the joist bays and install the ceiling, I'm going to test out the system and compate the heat transfer with and without aluminum plates.  I made a manual press to form aluminum heat transfer plates, similar to the one that Tom Massie built in this link...

A few odds and ends to clean up, and we'll be ready to fire the boiler.