Hi all,

I am so happy that we finally got rid of our old crappy propane furnace and replaced with climate master Tranquility 27 3 Ton unit. Drilled 2 well outside, my contractor will soon dig out the underground propane tank when the weather is nicer. My geothermal setup is now using the old propane water heater tank as a buffer storage tank feed by the furnace, then it feed to my Stiebel Eltron Tempra 29 Plus electric tankless water heater. We had to install add new circuit breaker panel for the tankless but it is fine. I haven't used the unit much yet, but I started the cooling and its awesome. I will find out how much electric bill will cost me since I'm all electric now, peco will give me discount rate for winter. I live in PA.

Any feedback or input will be welcome, I will post picture when I get home.

San

San,

Get rid of the old propane water heater and replace it with an electric unit. Standby loss on the propane unit is about 7*/Hr. and about 1*/Hr. on the electric.  You don't have to power the electric unit...It's just a buffer tank for the desuperheater.

Bergy

PS 
Post some pics!

the old propane water heater is now the buffer tank for the desuperheater, and then it feed to the electric tankless.

Right, but what Bergy is trying to say is that the propane tank makes a lousy buffer tank.  The idea is that the buffer tank is meant to store the heat coming out of the DSH, but the propane tank leaks that heat seven times faster than an electric one will.  So you aren't getting anywhere near the maximum efficiency from your DSH.

And electric water tanks are relatively cheap, especially since you don't even need to wire it in.

If the gas is off a can or 2 of expanding foam in the flue at the top and fire box at the bottom will help to

can you tell me where the leak is happening?

I'm I missing something.....why would you need to have an electric 'tankless' water heater also that feeds off of your propane hot water tank??

I no longer use propane, its all disconnected, I use the propane hot water tank as the storage tank that feed to the tankless.

here is the setup

Up the flue in the center of the water heater. Cooler air is being drawn in the bottom and exhausted out of the top with a LOT of heat from the tank.

One thing from your photo. You need to have the supply and return hoses between the unit and the pump pack insulated, otherwise they will sweat.

Bergy

so all I have to do is somehow seal that center piece of the water heater and is good to go. Where is the pump pack you are talking about, the flow controller? you saying those those clear hose need to be insulated?

In the photo you can see two insulated lines coming through the wall and leading to the pump pack mounted on the wall.

You said the pipes were clear? What kind of pipe is it? As far as I know, the only flexable hose that should be used is a reinforced "radiator" type hose. If that is just a clear vinyl hose it might collapse. I would find out if this hose is recommended by the heat pump manufacturer. If not, have it replaced with the proper hose and insulate it.

Bergy

I'm pretty sure the house is radiator type hose that came with the unit by climatemaster, we actually had the climatemaster person from the company worked on the unit little bit and everything looks good. so all i have to do is insulate the hose?

Really? If it is the proper hose then insulate it. Why didn't your contractor do it?

Bergy

DSH lines are generally insulated as well, but it is a nice looking install.
Joe

not sure why they didn't, but I'm going to insulate all the pipe and hose

I should mention that, like Bergy, I'm not familiar with a clear hose recommended by Climatemaster or anyone. Perhaps someone is familiar with these and can clear it up? Or perhaps the hose is labled and you could tell us what it is.
J

Its not a complete clear hose, I'm pretty sure its a reinforced radiator hose, it have line across the hose and its pretty thick. I'll go look at it when I get home.

Can anyone help me with a few problem i'm currently experiencing? 1. 1st stage heating seems to only heat for few min and then it goes to 2nd stage and it takes a while before the air register to have warm air, is this normal? 2. 2nd stage heating doesn't seems to be hot enough to heat the room up fast, is there a problem? 3. aux heat comes on after 2nd stage on for about 5min, I think I fixed by turning on the smart heat staging options on the t-stat with an hour delay and it doesn't turn on until the time delay I set, is this correct? 4. the water hose between the unit and the pump need to be insulated? what kind? 5. Should I replace my old propane water tank with a new electric tank so it will keep the hot water better? 6. What is the correct setting I should have on my t-stat? should I have a thermometer to measure the exact temp where the t-stat is and then offset the room temp on the t-stat to keep it to the correct temp? thanks

I'm not a pro.
1) Our system starts in 1st stage for 1 minute before switching to 2nd stage (if needed). Check your owners manual to see if your system operates similarly. A few minutes sound right for the air to heat up.
2) Heat pumps don't heat the air as much as furnaces do. If the air at the vent is roughly 20 degrees hotter than the return air the system may be fine.
3) Are you setting the thermostat back? If so, how much?
4) Yes (you received good advise above). Our installer used Armaflex pipe insulation.
5) Yes (you received good advise above).
6) You could use a temperature offset if you want to. I would leave it alone and just set the temperature to where it is comfortable.