Circulator Course, a Pump Primer

[Chad Fabry]

I'm in the process of installing a staple up radiant heat system in my house (The first floor is gutted) . So, I've been reading up on stuff and came across this explanation while I was comparing pump curves.

It's really basic, and that's why it's good.

Bell and Gosset's explanation of how a circulator pump works.

[kurt]

Very nice. These things get overcomplicated. Are you using a Series 100?

[Chad Fabry]

I'm using 6 of the Taco cartridge pumps for closed loop zone circulation. I already use a B & G LD3 to move water from the boiler to the house and I was refreshing my memory on its stats to ensure I'd have adequate volume for the open loop supply to the tube-in-shell heat exchanger. It turns out I have enough volume for about 8 of my houses. When the LD3 craps out in 20 or 30 years, I'll replace it with a 100.

A good example of working head and static head- in my current open to atmosphere system, the water to air heat exchanger is higher than the boiler by about 12 feet- even the big LD3 wouldn't lift water to heat exchanger, but in a closed system it moves 100gpm +. I had to install an expansion tank in the attic of the barn.

I felt compelled to share why I own an LD3.

[Marc]

The boiler's in the barn or a basement?

Marc

[Chad Fabry]

The boiler's in the barn or a basement?

Both