Why would a pressure reduction valve not help?
Right now if the City connection is open, the City cold will have slightly higher pressure than the solar preheat tank output.
If the City cold connection were pressure reduced... then the majority of the flow would come from the solar preheat.
Am I thinking about this wrong?
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A PRV is not going to help you. You'll need some kind of flow control valve or a 3 way valve with a flow sensor, pretty high tech system = $$$$$$.Leave a comment:
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Would it work to install a pressure reduction valve on the 2" feed... then leave that open to the gas tank heater.
Then the solar tank would have modestly higher pressure than the cold feed to the gas tank. During peak
demand however the 2" line would eventually kick in.
Is that kind of balancing done?Leave a comment:
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1" copper is rated at 35 gpm at 50psi so if all the apartment's have 2.5 gpm flow restrictors on the showers and faucets you should be OK for most situations. If no flow restrictors you have a problem that is easily rectified by installing restrictors.Leave a comment:
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Solar thermal -- 1" feed for 11 unit apartment?
I'm reactivating a 1980's era solar thermal system that's been out of service for about 15-20 years.
It's all working now, but I have a concern.
The potable water solar loop has two 100 gallon tanks, set up to preheat the cold input to a gas tank heater.
There's a valve to force all the cold input to flow through the tanks.
The 2" main is centered. The first copper vertical is cold to the storage tanks.
The second insulated copper vertical is the hot output from storage.
PXL_20220326_231517249.jpg
The red ball valve forces everything through the storage tanks.
Yet that would mean that ALL the hot for 11 units of apartments goes through the 1" pipes and the storage tanks.
The building has no backflow check valve to the main.
Your thoughts? Is there a way to pressure balance this so the solar heat is harvested, without risking a pressure
reduction for the 11 apartments?
Leave a comment: