Is it too good to be true? (HeatManager)

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jtraxler

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I just received a brochure from my heating company that included information on a "HeatManager" which is guaranteed to reduce fuel use by 10 to 20%. Anyone have experience with one of these? If they are so great, why don't the boiler companies just install these with their boilers in the first place?

See below for details.

http://www.becketthm.com/

The HeatManagerâ„¢ fuel economizer is the newest advance in boiler controls for residential boilers. It works with any fuel, and improves hot water home heating systems. And, it's guaranteed to reduce heating fuel consumption by at least 10%!

-JT
 

Leejosepho

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Governors on just about anything can do the same kind of thing, and I can imagine this system could make a little difference if a given burner is regularly coming on a bit late or staying on longer than truly necessary. In my own regular gas furnace, I have made some similar-type adjustments to better match burner-blower functions, and doing the same to my son-in-law's oil-burner furnace has also reducing its fuel consumption a little bit.

Personally, I am usually skeptical about claims made in advertising written more to sell that to meet a crucial need, yet I would nevertheless suspect this controller could make a little difference if one is willing to wait for actual savings by spreading its cost out over at least the one to two years already acknowledged by the company.
 

Geniescience

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agree TGTBT. Optimize another way.

(these comments don't relate specifically to this product or this market.)

i agree with the basic question. If it's so "true" then why are not all manufacturers implementing it? Why does it come as an add-on? The truth is usually in a gray zone.

Manufacturers are all aware of how to improve their products. They'll advise you if call them and ask about how to implement some or all of this without using the ** add-on product. They may tell you about interesting tradeoffs that make it worthwhile for you not to go all the way. I can think of a couple that make sense in most situations: the life expectancy of the base (not the add-on), and pollution (which may dirty more than just the environment outside your home).

Second major remark: the word "guarantee" is not a regulated term, except in certain professions and fields (e.g. investments, insurance). This particular product web site says guarantee so often it makes me sick.

Reminds me of a P.R. person i once knew who kept saying that capital gains were guaranteed to happen in her employer's real estate investment packages, since capital gains were always guaranteed in the long run. That was in her first year on the job, and she had never taken any Securities exam or Insurance exam. The employer promoted her to VP the next year. The firm is now out of business, and along the way they got sued many times by many people.

david
 

Southern Man

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I've been looking into this particular unit in a different thread, and found this discussion about it. The concept is simple and deserves a look-see, since it regulates the operation of the burner slightly differently than the usual control method. A bit from the owner's manual describes it simply:

ng Modes / LED’s
Standby: There is no call for heat from any of the thermostats. The burner is not running.
Economizing: There has been a call for heat from a thermostat, but the HeatManager detects that there is available heat in the boiler that can be used without burning fuel. The burner is not running.
Burner Enabled: The ‘Economizing’ period has ended and the HeatManager has allowed the burner to fire. The burner is running.
Low Temperature Limit (Red Light on Steady): HeatManager has sensed that there is not enough available heat in the boiler to go into ‘Economizing’ mode. This will happen occasionally and does not indicate a problem. The burner is running.

Web site for the product is here.

I would appreciate y'alls comments on this.
 

Redwood

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Its function pretty much guarantees results in older high mass boilers. Not so much the new low mass units with modern controls. I'd say its a "No-Brainer" go for it. If it doesn't work for you there is a money back performance guarantee from Beckett. Its not like its a fly by night operation offering some Voodoo box.

Q: What if I don’t see a reduction in my heating costs?
A: Beckett guarantees a minimum annual reduction of 10% on your heating fuel usage. Each HeatManager unit comes with a money back performance guarantee.
 

Jadnashua

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On mine, the thermostats only turn on the circulators...the boiler decides if it needs to come on, and, it has an outside reset control that helps it determine how warm it needs to get.
 

Southern Man

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On mine, the thermostats only turn on the circulators...the boiler decides if it needs to come on, and, it has an outside reset control that helps it determine how warm it needs to get.

This is a vacation home that I use primarily in the winter weekends, and I set the thermostat down to 45F when I leave on Sunday night, where it stays until I call for heat 5 days (or longer) later. The boiler is in an insulated, but unheated basement garage, so there is a possibility that it could freeze. I discussed this with the installer when we set up the system, and we agreed to wire the boiler to maintain its temperature, thus eliminating any chance of freezing. It has run this way for three years, and I am disappointed in the amount of fuel that I have been using. With the recent price rise, I really need to rethink this stategy.

I suppose I should to re-wire the boiler like yours, and to stay off until there is a call for heat. On winter operating days the garage stays as warm as the house, heated by the boiler itself, so under normal conditions there shouldn't be a possibility of the garage freezing while the house is maintaining 45F. My only concern is if a garage door gets blown in (its a high wind zone) or broken into.

Perhaps I should put a second thermostat next to the boiler set at 35F or so, to call for heat if such an unlikely condition occurs.
 

Jadnashua

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The logic board in my boiler automatically senses when it is getting too cold and will fire to maintain a value above freezing. This is built into the logic board. Adding a thermostat to keep it above freezing is necessary unless you switch to an antifreeze mixture. Note, though, that that decreases the effective heat transfer capability of the boiler by something like 20%, so a 100K BTU boiler would now look like an 80K BTU one. But, then you would have one less thing to freeze. It would not keep the rest of the interior potable water pipes from freezing, so may not be worth the effort.
 

Redwood

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One thing for sure...
With the oil situation raping us this bad and its only summer...
I'm figuring it;s going to be a KT-200 bonus year this winter!:eek:
I figure there is going to be enough people turning things down too low to prevent freezing that it should be a $$ker-ching$$ situation.

Pipe_Thawers_web.jpg
 
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Ian Gills

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The best devices for saving fuel or water are ones with "ions" in.
 

Bob NH

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. . . I am disappointed in the amount of fuel that I have been using. With the recent price rise, I really need to rethink this stategy.

. . .

Perhaps I should put a second thermostat next to the boiler set at 35F or so, to call for heat if such an unlikely condition occurs.

The most likely thing to freeze is the water in the baseboard units against the walls, or the pipes running to them.

The engineer in me would put the circulator pump on a timer with a relay that would run it for 5 minutes every hour. If the water leaving the boiler drops below 40 degrees (temperature sensor attached to an insulated portion of the pipe leaving the boiler) then close the thermostat circuit until the temperature rises to some value that you can determine.

You can determine the circulation interval, circulation time, and temperature setting based on how quickly things might get frozen.
 

Southern Man

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The most likely thing to freeze is the water in the baseboard units against the walls, or the pipes running to them.

The engineer in me would put the circulator pump on a timer with a relay that would run it for 5 minutes every hour. If the water leaving the boiler drops below 40 degrees (temperature sensor attached to an insulated portion of the pipe leaving the boiler) then close the thermostat circuit until the temperature rises to some value that you can determine.

You can determine the circulation interval, circulation time, and temperature setting based on how quickly things might get frozen.
Its not a hydronic system. I have an air handler with hot water coil that is a zone off the boiler. A second zone does the indirect domestic hot water.

I shut the water off to everything in the house except the boiler. With the heat in the house set to 45F the first thing that would freeze would have to be in the basement garage. The water line comes into the house through the basement floor right next to the boiler, and its 3/4" copper. From there I branch with a 1/2" copper to the boiler, and then I go to a a globe valve, then to a sprinkler valve, then onto the rest of the house. The sprinkler valve is rigged to an X10 module. That sytem is described here.

So I suppose the first thing that would freeze is the 1/2" line to the boiler.
 
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