Rrcur
New Member
I have a small, two story house with a five-year-old cast iron oil boiler that provides hot water to cast iron radiators. The piping to the radiators is fairly large diameter black iron, which may have originally been steam piping. The house was built in the late 1920s, and it's all one heating zone, controlled by one old mercury thermostat.
At four locations in the basement, iron piping has been removed back to reducer tees. Two of these tees are in the supply pipe, and two are in the main return. I assume that a previous owner removed a couple of radiators and iron piping that used to connect to the main loop at these points.
Currently, one pair of these tees is plugged, and the other pair has been connected to a make a ¾†copper loop that runs to a 3’ length of fin tube in the upstairs bathroom. I recently added a small hydronic kickspace heater to the return pipe of this ¾†loop using scoop tees and 1/2" copper.
I suppose I should have expected this, but the flow through the ¾†loop at the moment is poor. The upstairs fin tube has always generated a decent amount of heat in the coldest part of winter, when the boiler is on almost constantly, but not much in the shoulder seasons.
Is it possible to increase flow through the ¾†copper loop by adding a small circulator pump (like a Taco 006 B4) at the return end of the loop, just before the copper re-joins the black iron pipe? If so, should it be wired to the primary circulator pump (located in the main return line, just before the boiler) so it cycles on and off with the main pump? I’m concerned that if it runs independently of the main pump it won’t be effective.
Any other suggestions? My, time, skills and budget are limited, so I won’t be able to tackle anything too fancy.
Thanks for your help!
At four locations in the basement, iron piping has been removed back to reducer tees. Two of these tees are in the supply pipe, and two are in the main return. I assume that a previous owner removed a couple of radiators and iron piping that used to connect to the main loop at these points.
Currently, one pair of these tees is plugged, and the other pair has been connected to a make a ¾†copper loop that runs to a 3’ length of fin tube in the upstairs bathroom. I recently added a small hydronic kickspace heater to the return pipe of this ¾†loop using scoop tees and 1/2" copper.
I suppose I should have expected this, but the flow through the ¾†loop at the moment is poor. The upstairs fin tube has always generated a decent amount of heat in the coldest part of winter, when the boiler is on almost constantly, but not much in the shoulder seasons.
Is it possible to increase flow through the ¾†copper loop by adding a small circulator pump (like a Taco 006 B4) at the return end of the loop, just before the copper re-joins the black iron pipe? If so, should it be wired to the primary circulator pump (located in the main return line, just before the boiler) so it cycles on and off with the main pump? I’m concerned that if it runs independently of the main pump it won’t be effective.
Any other suggestions? My, time, skills and budget are limited, so I won’t be able to tackle anything too fancy.
Thanks for your help!