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Floor heat boiler condensation problem?

acbruno

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When I bought my carwash two years ago, the inlet outlet temp settings have been 110 degrees F for the outlet temp and 90 degrees F for the inlet temp.

This year, in an attempt to get the temp down to a setting just high enough to keep all the bay floors from freezing, I turned down the temp settings from 90 degrees F outlet and 40 degrees F inlet. I came in to the equipment room the next day and noticed a puddle under the boiler. It rusted the heat shield on the floor below the boiler too.

I'm going to increase the inlet temp to 50 degrees F and see what happens. Is there a known low setting that I should avoid? Is this an uncommon issue or related to my boiler temps exclusively?

Thanks!
 

MEP001

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Cold water entering a running boiler will cause condensation. You might need to temper it somehow, perhaps run a length of pipe or a reservoir and a second pump so that cold water isn't going straight into the boiler.
 

lag

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Many systems have piping between the inlet and outlet with a ball valve. The ball valve is then cracked open slightly to allow some tempered fluid to flow from the output to the input eliminating condensation.
 

Bubbles Galore

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Many systems have piping between the inlet and outlet with a ball valve. The ball valve is then cracked open slightly to allow some tempered fluid to flow from the output to the input eliminating condensation.
That is the way mine works. Never had a problem.
 

acbruno

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Ok, I increased the inlet temp from 60 to 70 degrees and the condensation went away, however, now my bays are running between 45 - 50 degrees on the floor with a outside temp of 19 degrees. I need to get this boiler turned down without the condensation. How many feet from the boiler should the pipe between the inlet and the outlet be installed. I have a spot I could add it that would be about 3-4 feet from the boiler.

Thanks!
 

lag

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The units we have with this set up are a couple of feet back from the boiler. They were installed with a T plumbed into the the pipes going in and coming out , then between the T's a ball valve. I would be careful to keep it away from the return stat.

You may also be able to put a floor stat in.
 
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