eriksenmark

Hi All, Just wanted to say I'm sold on hydronic heat because of my experience with the Apollo 5050 dual purpose hot water heater. I handle maintenance for a 51 unit apartment. We have a tank in every unit hooked to baseboard radiant heater unit in a single loop approx. 200LF long (including where it goes under and back up out of the floor). We don't have expansion tanks hooked up to them. If it was built today they would be required. We just have Taco 007 circ. pumps, tempering valves and one dan foss style valve (mechanical radiator valves) in the living rooms. Cons: Since its one zone the bedroom the loop starts in gets warmer than the bedroom the loop ends in before returning to the tank. All the apts. are about 800SF Two bedroom units. If you open and close the door alot (i.e. children) and its below freezing outside they have a hard time keeping a steady temperature. Pros: Low Gas consumption, Low maintenance. keep steady temperature (unless you have children). The most common problem I encounter are the replaceable circ. pump cartridges freeze up over the warm months but often you can take them out and spin the impeller by hand and bingo! you're in business again (sometimes this doesn't work, a 50/50 chance). The pump motors can go out. Pipe leaks happen but I cant blame the tank for that. Nearly all are 20+ years old. I've had to replace three in the past 10 Years due to tank failure. Calcium build up is a problem on the tempering valves and Radiator valves. They can be cleaned in a acid bath, replace o-rings, etc. All-n-all I'd install one in my house with the exception being I'd use in floor heat instead of baseboard. Cooling is the problem. We just have 12K Btu thru-wall A/C units. Ouch on the electric bill in the summer. So if you're just looking for heat Hydronic is definitely the way to go in my opinion. Mark in Northwest Ohio