Orlan Super 25Kw + Akvaterm 2000 litre installation blog

[Moxi]

Based on the photo's and light surface rust the steel appears to be a mild steel, if there is a sacrificial anode it wll beed to be bolted face to face with the steel with NO rust, grease, paint or other barrier between the two metals.  This will allow a good circuit enabling the Zinc to protect the mild steel from corrossion.  On large vessels they normally allow an anode every 2 meters or so for complete protection.  I would also suggest something for the support bars holding the coils as the gasket will prevent a good electrical bond between the tank body / anode and the support bars.

Stainless 304 grade can rust if contaminated with iron particulate, eg grinding dust etc and in these instances it should be returned under warranty as the pitting corossion sets up a very localised galvanic cell leading to pin hole penetration of the stainless steel in very short order.  0.6mm per year have been recorded for this type of corrossion failure mechanism.

That said a properly protected and maintained mild steel tank can last a lifetime so please don't worry just make sure its protected to start with and the protection is maintained with anodes changed at recomended intervals.

Moxi

[noelsquibb]

Hey Moxi

where did I go wrong ?

Not a fraction of the steel and all nicely painted too.

Magnesium, titanium or zinc anodes ?

Think you have a point about the steel prong and the gasket debonding but perhaps the bolts that hold the flanges together will make the connection ?


Theres something that Akvaterm have sussed that I haven't grasped yet ......

Perhaps its just the full tank with no room for oxygen and the sacrificial anode.
Other hot water tanks seem to use expensive coatings like glass, epoxys and specialist cement based coatings though.

[billi]

thanks Fiddlers

just found out that a German stove producer  joined up with akvaterm  to supply a bundle package  solar heating  idea


i understand now more    (saw some pictures)



 thanksBilli

[knighty]

the inside of the tank looks galvanised to me.... ?

[Moxi]

Noel,

Sorry for the delay I'll read your thread over the weekend and have a think before replying in actual thread.

Moxi

[Fiddlers]

Hi all, long time no post!
Installers start next week with the chimney for the boiler and plumbing shortly after. I've been busy digging a trench for the pipework to connect the garage to the house. Two and a half days of back breaking pick axe swinging and shovelling and I'm finally done! sadly, I found the current water main (that we plan to T into to get decent pressure through the coils in the Akvaterm) isn't quite up to standard.... 15mm copper buried at 200mm 

Now I'll start another trench to put a new water main in too 

[pontiff]

Perhaps its just the full tank with no room for oxygen and the sacrificial anode.
Other hot water tanks seem to use expensive coatings like glass, epoxys and specialist cement based coatings though.

I think your right Noel, the lack of oxygen is crucial.  After a few months I suspect the water inside will look like something similar to a normal CH system. I assume the water is treated with Fernox or something similar and that you would need to bleed the system quite a bit at the start ( and when it's hot)  to remove dissolved gases as there is a huge volume of water.

Only thinking out loud here by the way, I've no experience with any of this stuff, at first I thought it was a rocket too! looks fantastic though.

[Fiddlers]

Indeed, the installers are planning to add Fernox when finished. 2000+ litres = £lots of Fernox

[noelsquibb]

 

I've been busy digging a trench for the pipework to connect the garage to the house. Two and a half days of back breaking pick axe swinging and shovelling and I'm finally done!

old engineer say  " If it cant be done with a digger, it cant be done " 

[noelsquibb]

Indeed, the installers are planning to add Fernox when finished. 2000+ litres

James

any idea what % and which particular blend of fernox ?

cheers

noel

[Fiddlers]

I'll find out Re Fernox blend.... plumbing isn't happening for a while though <sigh>

In the mean time - day 1 of the chimney installation is over. A roof truss had to moved a few inches to give enough clearance but we now have an 8" chimney poking though the garage roof. And, my new toy arrived - how do you make holes for 175mm 4 core insulated pipework? with an 8" core drill of course!

[Fiddlers]

I've been busy digging a trench for the pipework to connect the garage to the house. Two and a half days of back breaking pick axe swinging and shovelling and I'm finally done!

old engineer say  " If it cant be done with a digger, it cant be done " 

I find lots of Tea, Cream Eggs and a Pick Axe to be an equally good tool :-)

[Fiddlers]

Good progress made this week.. the installers got the flu in place. Not tightened up, sealed or smoke tested yet but looking good!
The large black box above the T from the back of the boiler is the chimney fan supplied as part of the boiler package.

[mespilus]

Looking good.

Where did you get the core drill from?

[Fiddlers]

The drill bit came from eBay (where else!) and I hired the drill from a local hire shop. I couldn't find anyone that hires bits larger than 150mm so opted to buy one instead. Not sure what else I'll use it for though

Made my first cut this afternoon through the garage floor. 4" of cast concrete took over 2 hours of tedious slow speed screeching drilling. Ear plugs are essential.  Hopefully the concrete blocks in the foundation will be a lot quicker!

Whilst on topic, does anyone have experience with passing Uponor through a floor & foundation wall? (at each end of the pipe I'm going though/under foundations at trench depth then curving round under the building to come up about 400mm inside the building) I'm wondering what's best to line the hole with. In theory I should probably use Uponors own wall seals but they need an even larger hole and I'm not sure would sit well. I'll probably just pack sand evenly around the pipe when its in place.