Is my side arm installed correctly?

[hedgerow]

I know side arms work and I have installed a few for folks and they work ok for them but on my Garn domestic set up I run a flat plate with a Ranco thermostat and pumps on both sides of the flat plate and I never run out of hot water as long as the Garn has heat in it. I heat my domestic year around with my Garn. My propane burner only comes on if I get lazy in the summer and don't fire the Garn once a week. You may have to put a pump in on the domestic side to get that side arm to work the way you want it to. Is your pump on the OWB side running 24 7 or is controlled with a thermostat? What temp is your OWB water running? Its time to check all your temps with a temp gun.  

[top_prop]

Use a temp gun to see what the in vs out temp is on each side.  I am gonna guess they should be near equal difference.  Meaning this side is leaving 20*f and that side is picking up 18 maybe.  That sorta thing.  


You said he put a valve in the bottom.  Did he put a check valve or a ball valve?   A check valve is full time automatic and is necessary to prevent a backward flowing thermal loop.

Its a ball valve... and its open

[top_prop]

I know side arms work and I have installed a few for folks and they work ok for them but on my Garn domestic set up I run a flat plate with a Ranco thermostat and pumps on both sides of the flat plate and I never run out of hot water as long as the Garn has heat in it. I heat my domestic year around with my Garn. My propane burner only comes on if I get lazy in the summer and don't fire the Garn once a week. You may have to put a pump in on the domestic side to get that side arm to work the way you want it to. Is your pump on the OWB side running 24 7 or is controlled with a thermostat? What temp is your OWB water running? Its time to check all your temps with a temp gun.  

OWB has circ pump running 24/7.    It keeps the water at 185 to 165 degrees...   ie: fires the boiler till the water heats to 185... shuts down, and refires every 30 minutes for about 1 min to keep the fire going... when the water temp drops to 165 it fires again...

[Gary_C]

Make sure you do not have an air lock at the top. You should have that air eliminator still in the top line, open it up and check for air in the line.

[top_prop]

Make sure you do not have an air lock at the top. You should have that air eliminator still in the top line, open it up and check for air in the line.

It's been bled of air... Open the bleeder at top of side arm and water instantly comes out. 
I have since insulated the lines at the boiler and more in the house  between where the boiler lines enter and the side arm.  Seems to be doing much better... But I haven't had the time to work on it more...  Or pull insulation and shoot Temps. 
And by doing better I mean I've been turning the propane t Stat down and we haven't run out of hot water...  Got it below Hot and vacation now. 

[top_prop]

Update after many months..

So after getting the installer to replumb, then insulating the side arm,  then adding insulation every where I could between the side arm and the boiler, it started to make acceptable hot water (after each step above made it just a bit better).  

Then I went to fire the boiler off for the season last week... and noticed the return manifold was hot before and stayed hotter than the supply, until the system came up to temp  (this was noticeable by touch).

I called the installer, and told him I was pretty sure he had plumbed the output of the pump on the boiler to the 'return' manifold.  That water was flowing backwards through the system, and thus the hottest water was going directly into the furnace/heat exchanger, then the side arm...

That would explain the lack of really good hot water.    He came over and confirmed my suspicions, apologized and fixed it  (this is a year after he installed it).    I told him everyone makes mistakes and I was just glad he was a good enough businessman to answer calls like this, and fix his mistake, even after a year plus.

After a couple of days with the flow corrected, it seems we cannot run out of hot water... finally!

Looking back I wish I had temp gages in the system, or had shot each manifold with a laser thermometer... probably would have diagnosed it sooner...

But atleast now it seems we have the best setup possible.

Hope this helps someone else, and thank you to everyone who posted here with suggestions/insight. 

[mike_belben]

You dont have to be a mechanic to pay for diagnostic tools.  The savings will even pay a homeowner! 

Glad you finally got the joy of free scalding water. And good on your plumber, im impressed.