Lochinvar high limit manual reset - keeps locking out

[Dana]

You can do either. Changing the outdoor temperature to the 99% outside design temperature is a relevant point on the outdoor temperature scale (+5F, in your case), then adjusting the temperature to where it's keeping up at whatever your mid-winter overnight temps happen to be (usually 10-20F warmer than your 99% number, but sometimes cooler.) When the outdoor temperature drops below the 99% outside design temperature the boiler will still continue to increase the boiler temperature if it can- it's not setting temperature limit, just a point on the curve that you are defining.

Since the response of fin-tube isn't very linear with temperature as average water temperatures drop below 115F or so, it's better to pick a minimum boiler output temperature of ~120F or so, then keep raising the outdoor temperature until it doesn't keep up.

At the warmer-outdoors/cooler water temp end of the curve you also have the issue that at an AWT of 120F a single 40' zone can't emit the minimum fire output of the boiler, and it will be cycling on/off. That cycling would only get dramatically worse if the minimum output temperature dropped to 110F or lower, taking a toll on efficiency and putting wear & tear on the boiler, so you really need to hold the line at about 120F out of the boiler to get both a predictable curve that covers the heat load at all outdoor temperatures, but doesn't short-cycle the boiler on zone calls.

When you add a zone to the basement (after insulating it first), even though it won't need even the 25' of baseboard you were thinking, increasing it to 40' would be nicer to the boiler, since a 25' section would induce short-cycling when only that zone was calling for heat.

 

[Dwassner]

OK. The display shows the total number of spaceheat cycles and also the number of dhw cycles, and it doesn't appear that this can be reset so I am recording this number daily over the next 10 days to find what the average number of cycles per hour is. I believe you had suggested earlier that it should be less than 10.

If the boost is meant for working with the night setback, how would you prevent it from activating during the day? I have it currently set to 5F after 25 min. Would you recommend setting it to something else? I am still experiencing times where the boiler is not running for 15-20 min, but this is contracted with a few times that I have seen the setpont experienced 2 boosts, so I am not sure if I should leave it where it is or adjust the low end of the curve? What would you suggest?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Dana]

Anything more than 10 cycles/hour is true efficiency-robbing equipment-stressing short cycling. Under 5 would be better.

With boost activated to improve overnight setback recovery ramp times you can't keep it from happening during the day. Programming the boost to a higher temperature jump say 10-15F but a longer delay (say, a hour) would avoid most mid-day calls for heat that hit the boost zone. You may have to adjust the thermostat to an earlier start time on the recovery ramp to compensate for the delayed boost.

When it's actually cold out (say <25F) with the boost function off, keep lowering the boiler temperature at the low end of the curve until the thermostat isn't being satisfied. The off-cycles may still be 15-20 minutes- it depends on the amount of offset there is built or programmed into the thermostat, and the amount of thermal mass of the building & contents, but the on-cycles should lengthen. If the thermostats are still being satisified in 30 minutes you still have some room for lowering the boiler temperature. If it's taking close to a couple of hours, with 90-100 minutes on, 15-20 minutes off, you're pretty much there, with an ~75-80% duty cycle that will increase as outdoor temperatures fall.

With a lot of tweaking you can get that close to 100% duty cycle, but in most cases that isn't going to buy you more than 1% in average efficiency over a curve tuned to an 75-80% duty cycle at 20-25F outdoors.

 

[Dwassner]

Awesome. This is exactly what I was looking for.

What would you suggest starting the night setback at? We usually turn our thermostats down to about 60F at night. Since I will not be awake to observe and dial this in, how does one dial it?

Also, we have the old round mercury bulb style thermostats with the big dial on the face, obviously not programmable.

 

[Dana]

The local forecast for then next few days in Rochester is that it'll be in the 30s, which might be the time to start tweaking in the other end of the curve, not the cold weather end of the curve. If you have more time at home during weekends to play around with it, start by setting it to 120F @ 60F outdoors, turning off the BOOST, then bumping up the thermostat settings a couple of degrees so that they are both calling for heat. If you don't already have them, buy a couple of cheap digital display thermometers for observing the room temperatures. (I like the $10-12 AccuRite humidity & temperature monitors for this sort of thing.) Note the starting room temperatures in the zones, and write down your curve setting numbers. If the thermostats get satisfied within the first hour, you're pretty much done with that end until warmer weather arrives.

If either zone seems to be losing ground and drops a degree or two in the first hour or two, change it to 120F @ +50F. Take note of the curve setting and room temperature, come back in an hour to see if the room temps are holding steady, rising, or continuing to fall. If it's holding steady turn on BOOST (set up for a 20F rise, short delay) and bring the house back up to your normal temp. After the thermostats are satisfied, turn BOOST off, turn up the thermostats, and see if it holds ground. Finer adjustments from there can be by moving the 120F boiler temp up and down in 5F increments until it pretty much holds ground at whatever your desired indoor temp is for hours without satisfying the thermostat set a couple degrees higher than your usual indoor temperature.

The next time there is a COLD weekend you can be more aggressive on tweaking the other end of the scale. When the high for the day is going to be in the teens, after the AM warm-up has satisfied the thermostats, turn off BOOST, then drop whatever boiler temp you had set at +5F by 30F (eg: if you had it set to 180F @ +5F, set it to 150F @ +5F.) Then bump up the thermostats by a good 5F or more, and observe the room temperatures as it tries to keep up. If it's losing ground fast (say 2F in a half hour), move the setting back up by 20F (to 170F in the example), note the room temps, then then check a back in an hour to see if it's rising/falling/steady. If it ever gets uncomfortably cold, turn the thermostats to your usual setting, turn on the BOOST until the thermostats are satisfied, then turn off BOOST, turn the thermostats back up by 5F and see what the room temperatures are in an hour. If the thermostats are satisfied in that hour or the temperatures are rising, back off by 10F. Keep going back & forth, eventually in 2F boiler temp adustments up /down until the rooms stay within a couple of degrees of where you normally like them, but without satisfying the thermostat (which is set a few degrees higher than usual.)

If you're just cranking the knob to set the temperature you'll need to set the delay to be pretty short, and the BOOST to something like 25F to get a reasonable response time out of it when the curve is dialed in. It's worth spending $50 for a pair of cheap 5-day + 2-day programmable thermostats such as the Honeywell RTH2300B or Hunter 44157 programmables if you intend to keep using overnight setbacks to be able to run a lower BOOST step up and longer BOOST delay. (There are others in that price range, but also some a bit nicer with nicer displays or more features for only a bit more money.) With programmable thermostats and a finely tuned curve you can do things like start the recovery ramp 1-2 hours before you normally get up, and set the boost delay to an hour, and you'll get hour+ burns during the day, with only a few minutes of BOOST before the thermostats are satisfied.

So instead of 3-5 burns an hour (x 24= 70 to 120 burns/day) you'll be down to the 20 burns per day range during cold weather. Without BOOST enabled you would get even fewer burns per day, but would have glacially slow recovery from setback.

IIRC BadgerBoilerMN has a house or zone heated with a radiant slab where he as eliminated the thermostat, and lets it run entirely on a well-tuned outdoor reset curve, and it stays within a 3-4F window all season long with one extremely long burn. That sort of thing is at least remotely possible with high-mass radiation like radiant slabs, probably not with fin-tube baseboard, but that's sort of the Holy Grail of condensing boiler operation.

When you have it tuned to a 75% or higher duty cycle it's time to look at possibly replacing the system pump with a programmable ECM drive pump with similar pump curves, like a Grundfos Alpha or Taco Viridian series or similar. A smart pump that can be operated under constant-pressure feedback is useful when using zone valves, so that it bumps up the power and flow only when both zones are on, dialing it back when only one is calling for heat. The power consumption rate would be about 10% of what you're currently using, so even though the pump is running many more hours, it'll use even less power per month.

 

[Dwassner]

It is currently 35F outside and I am now above the high outdoor temp on the reset curve by 5F. The thermostats are a little higher than we would normally have them and the boiler is still keeping up fine with a 120F. I have the outdoor shutdown temp at, I believe, 60F. This would mean that from 35F-60F outdoor temp, I am stuck with my current inlet water temp. A day like today is the best it gets.

I will heed your wisdom on suggesting no lower of a setpoint of 120F, but if I should not drop the high end of the curve below 120F, what should I do to stop short-cycling from an outdoor temp of 35F-60F?

 

[Dana]

I couldn't find the Knight Wall Mount Service Manual detailing how to set up all of the outdoor reset parameters the WHN055 on line, but I did find the service manual that covers programming the WH056.

See Figure 1-1 on p.23. It looks like Lochinvar only sets hard minimum & maximum setpoints for both ends of the curve (other vendors' approaches differ), so if you program it to 120F as the minimum, 180F as the maximum, it the boiler output will never exceed those temperatures no matter how cold or warm it is outdoors, and with those numbers chosen you then only adjust the outdoor temperatures at which that occurs. It seems the WH056 has two curves to be able to serve up different temperatures to different zones if only one zone is calling for heat- does the WHN055 have a similar feature? (It makes programming it a bit more confusing if it does.)

Each curve is created using four (4) adjustable parameters: low outdoor air temperature, high outdoor air temperature, set point at low outdoor air temperature, and set point at high outdoor air temperature. The set point is calculated using the individual curve for each zone.

So correcting my prior statements, if setting +5F as the low end of the curve it won't deliver hotter water when it's colder than +5F. It's a hard limit. With 180F /120F chosen at the max/min water temps, the curve can only be tweaked by adjusting the outdoor temperatures for each end of the curve, leaving the water temperatures at 180F and 120F.

If it's keeping up with the load when programmed for 120F out @ 35F outside leave it there for now, and test for short cycling. With both zones calling for heat with both thermostats cranked way up, with ~80' of baseboard I would expect the burn to be continuous- can I assume with both thermostats cranked up it's burning continuously, but not gaining or losing room temperature?

To test for short-cycling on zone calls, set the DIFFERENTIAL to 10F, OFFSET to 0F, then turn one zone thermostat way down, and timing and counting the burns for an hour or so with just the one zone calling for heat then switch, turning one thermostat way up, and the other way down, and time the burns when just the other zone is calling for heat. If the burns are >3 minutes with any single zone calling for heat and 120F output you're in pretty good shape. When warmer temperatures arrive the duty cycle will drop- the time between burns will increase since it takes longer for the house to cool off, but the minimum burn times will be about the same. That may change a bit when you change thermostats, but opening up the DIFFERENTIAL would likely be enough to suppress short cycling on 40' zones.

If it's maintaining ~70F indoors with 120F water out of the boiler at 35F outdoors with nearly continuous burns, not gaining or losing temp, and an AWT of about 115F, the baseboard is only emitting about 175 BTU/hr per foot, so x 80' of baseboard indicates a load of ~14,000 BTU/hr. There is a bit of solar gain covering some of the load during the daylight hours, so the the total load is probably between-20,000 BTU/hr @ +35F outdoors, 70F indoors. Assuming 20,000 BTU/hr when it's +35F at night, getting no help from the sun and 70F indoors that's 20,000/(70F-35F)= 667 BTU per degree-F. With 180F out of the boiler and a 170F awt the 80' baseboard can emit about 40,000 BTU/hr, so a 667BTU-degree hour the 180F water isn't needed until there is an indoor-to-outdoor temperature difference of 40,000/667= 60F, so +5F would be the right outdoor temperature to set for the low-end.

If the real load without the sun helping is only 15,000 BTU/hr @ 35F that's 15,000/(70F-35F)= 429 BTU/hr per degree F, and you wouldn't need the 180F to happen until there is a 40,000/429= 93F temperature difference between indoors and outdoors, so for a 65F room temp that would be 65F-93F= -28F outdoors, so there's quite a range.

As a starting point for the low end of the curve try 180F @ -20F and see if it keeps up during the overnights. If it still keeps up overnight, drop it to 180F @-30F. If it doesn't keep up, set to 180F @ -20F with bump it up to 180F @ -10F. When it eventually keeps up, then start tweaking the low outdoor temperature up/down in 5F increments up/down on successive cold (colder than 20F outdoors) nights. The finer tuning of that end of the scale is best done when outdoor temps are under 20F.

 

[Jadnashua]

Ideally, the boiler could run 100% of the time while adjusting its output to match the heat loss in the dwelling. As was said, the fin-tube doesn't have a linear output with temperature, so you have a more complex situation to try to control verses what might happen if you had cast iron radiators. IOW, when more heat is needed, the boiler outlet temperature needs to go up more than it would as a percentage of the change. Many of the controllers work closer to being linear.

YOu might try getting things setup for best performance without any setback. A setback complicates things since you want a reasonable recovery time, but a slight increase in outlet temperature won't let that happen with low-mass radiators in fin-tube. Then, add enough margin back again until your recovery time reaches your acceptable level.

 

[Dana]

I agree with jadnashua that simply fine-tuning the reset curve and keeping a constant temperature is easier and burns less gas than using overnight setbacks, but some people find it uncomfortable or difficult to sleep in a 68F or warmer room. Fine tuning the reset curve then employing the BOOST function is a reasonable compromise.

Newer Lochinvar's can program overnight setback steps on the reset curve, which avoids the issue of BOOST cycles during the day. I don't believe (but don't know for sure) the WHN055 has those capabilities, but the WH056 does.

In the spring one might experiment a bit with dropping the minimum output temp to 115F to see if it still responds well enough to the heat load without short-cycling the boiler, which might buy another 1% or so in as-used AFUE, but the reponse becomes increasingly non-linear the lower the temperatures go, and the zone radiation is too limited in heat output and thermal mass for running really low boiler temps without inducing short-cycling. Some cast-iron radiation systems do just fine even with 100F water, and can yield combustion efficiencies north of 95%. It's pretty easy to tune a fin-tube baseboard reset curve for 120F output, but nearly impossible for 100F output, even when there is enough baseboard that it doesn't short-cycle.

When the basement gets insulated the whole-house load will be lower, and re-tuning the curve at the cold-outdoors end will be worthwhile. If possible, install at least 40' of baseboard in the basement, not 25', so that it won't short cycle when only the basement zone is calling for heat. That much baseboard is almost certainly overkill for the likely heat load of that zone, but the extra $150-200 for the other 15' of baseboard is being nice to the boiler, and will "pay back" in slightly higher efficiency, lower maintenance, and a longer lifecycle on the boiler.

I haven't pored over the details, but the service manual for the WHN055 survives online on a webstore's site. The outdoor reset programming material starts on page 22

 

[Dwassner]

As I am researching how to insulate the basement and have spoken to contractors, the general approach is to at least begin with rigid foam sealed and butted up to the block. From there the differences in opinion arise.

I do not understand why I cannot use a plastic sheet between the block and studded wall with batting, as opposed to using rigid foam against the wall with a stud wall and batting. Will the plastic sheet and foam not perform the same vapor barrier task?

FWIW, I used two coats of drylock on the entire basement and the soil drains very well. The downspouts all drain behind the house, running away from it downhill, and we have 2f+ soffets. So, the basement is quite dry all year. There is no sump or perimeter drain and with a small dehumidifier running, I can't think of a time it has smelled musty, no less had visible moisture.

Half of the basement is already finished with a workshop. I used 2x3 studs with tyvek in the correct direction between the studs and block. There is NO insulation, and with the amount of work to rip down all the shop accessories, there probably never will be. Of its 3 exterior wall, once is not below grade, one is below grade but it is the grade below the garage floor, and one has a large empty cistern that runs its whole length and height, so it is essentially a large air pocket against it.

Another suggestion from a contractor was to do 1.5" rigid foam with osb adhered directly to the foam, and drywall directly adhered to the osb. I would then have a vapor barrier, insulation (granted with a low R value), and material for a screw to bite into if I were to hang decorations on the drywall.

 

[Dana]

As I am researching how to insulate the basement and have spoken to contractors, the general approach is to at least begin with rigid foam sealed and butted up to the block. From there the differences in opinion arise.

I do not understand why I cannot use a plastic sheet between the block and studded wall with batting, as opposed to using rigid foam against the wall with a stud wall and batting. Will the plastic sheet and foam not perform the same vapor barrier task?

FWIW, I used two coats of drylock on the entire basement and the soil drains very well. The downspouts all drain behind the house, running away from it downhill, and we have 2f+ soffets. So, the basement is quite dry all year. There is no sump or perimeter drain and with a small dehumidifier running, I can't think of a time it has smelled musty, no less had visible moisture.

Half of the basement is already finished with a workshop. I used 2x3 studs with tyvek in the correct direction between the studs and block. There is NO insulation, and with the amount of work to rip down all the shop accessories, there probably never will be. Of its 3 exterior wall, once is not below grade, one is below grade but it is the grade below the garage floor, and one has a large empty cistern that runs its whole length and height, so it is essentially a large air pocket against it.

Another suggestion from a contractor was to do 1.5" rigid foam with osb adhered directly to the foam, and drywall directly adhered to the osb. I would then have a vapor barrier, insulation (granted with a low R value), and material for a screw to bite into if I were to hang decorations on the drywall.

The difference is that without the foam, the cold side of the batting will be colder than the dew point of the indoor air during winter, and if the vapor barrier is between the batting and foundation copious amounts of moisture will collect, increasing the mold hazard, and taking a toll on performance. If a vapor barrier is added on the WARM side, ground moisture that makes it through the slab or up from the footing into the below-grade portion of the wall has nowhere to dry into, creating mold conditions for the studs.

The solution is to put sufficient R-value of air-impermeable insulation (foam board) against the foundation so that the average temperature in winter at the foam/fiber boundary is above the average dew point temperature of the conditioned space air in winter, and allow the interior side to be semi-permeable to water vapor (not air), such as standard latex paint on wallboard (3-5 perms.) The amount of foam-R necessary for dew point control of course varies with local climate. The absolute minimum R is called out by DOE climate zone in the IRC in TABLE R702.7.1 CLASS III VAPOR RETARDERS.

The code minimum total R-value in the IRC also vary by location, called out by climate zone in N1102.1.2.

Rochester is in zone 5, so a code-minimum would be R15 continuous insulation or it's equivalent. Using 1.5" nailbase foam with the OSB facer is barely half that.

An inch of foil faced polyiso trapped against the foundation with a 2x4 /R13 studwall gets you there with sufficient dew point control to not accumulate moisture. Leave an air gap between the bottom cut edge of the polyiso and the slab to avoid wicking moisture into the polyiso, or insert a strip of polystyrene (EPS or XPS, neither of which wicks moisture), under the bottom edge of the foam, and under the bottom plate of the studwall, leaving a 1/4" gap between the polystyrene & foundation for any wall condensation to drain into. Tape all of the foam seams, and use can-foam to seal the top edge of the wall foam to the foundation and any foam board you use to insulate the foundation sill & band joist.

If there's an air gap between the Tyvek and foundation it's relatively safe to blow cellulose at low pressure into the wall cavities of the already built walls, which is way better than nothing, if only ~1/2 the current code-minimum performance.

Using reclaimed roofing foam can make this a lot cheaper than a 1" foam + studwall approach. At 3" the 2lb fiber faced polyiso runs about R16.5, and can be secured to the wall with 1x4 furring through-screwed with 5" masonry screws, hanging wallboard on the furring as the thermal barrier against ignition. Alternatively you can hang the foam on the foundation using foam board construction adhesive then put a layer of half-inch OSB over it, through-screwed to the foundation wall. Tape the seams of the foam with housewrap tape, and seal the top edge with can-foam, and stagger the seams of the OSB with those of the foam.

 

[Dwassner]

ok, thanks. Would foil faced be adequate rather than fiber faced?, and if so, since this is reclaimed, would it be an issue if the foil in in imperfect condition?

 

[Dana]

Foil face goods are fine, and can be better air sealed with purpose-made aluminum tape that sticks better than housewrap tape does to paper or fiberglass faced foam. Imperfections in the facers aren't a problem, but if you have a choice put the less-scarred up facer on the foundation side. Big gouges you might want to tape over with foil tape.

R5 is the minimum for a 2x4 wall. Most foil faced polyiso is labeled R6-R6.5 but will perform more like R5 during the weeks that matter when on the exterior side of the assembly. Using 1.5" foam would give you more dew point margin when going with the foam/fiber hybrid.

XPS is labeled R5 @ 1" too, but as it loses it's HFC blowing agents over time it eventually drops to R4.2, just like EPS of similar density. EPS doesn't have that issue, it's only R4-R4.2 when new, but it will still hit that mark in 40 years.

Assume reclaimed roofing polyiso to be at least R5.5/inch, but derate it to R5/inch if using less than 2" when used in conjunction with a fiber insulated studwall.

FWIW: I insulated my basement walls 3" polyiso + furring + 1/2" wallboard about 9-10 years ago. It cut nearly 20% off the heating fuel use despite the now much warmer-in-winter basement, and despite having only ~18" of above grade exposure on the foundation.

 

[Dwassner]

OK. I also planned on insulating between the joints of the basement ceiling with R30 batting. This is purely for sound, as the workshop is directly beneath the living room, and the kids room is directly above my office area, which is the section of the basement we have been discussing. I am not looking to make the basement soundproof from the upstairs, just looking to significantly reduce sound transmission.

Do you have any suggestions aside from batting that are cost-effective?

I would have to imagine that such insulating would have a dramatic impact on the dynamics of the home's heating.

The stuff I am looking at apparently is not foil faced. He said it is craft faced like tar paper. Would you recommend tyvek tape on this or foil tape?

 

[Dana]

Air sealing all penetrations of the subfloor with acoustical sealant or polyurethane caulk would be the first and most important step in soundproofing. Sound transmission through walls & floors is primarily through unsealed air paths.

R30 is overkill, and doesn't do much more soundproofing than you would get with mid-density R13s. Buy cheap "contractor rolls" of R13s, with kraft facers, and install them facer-side toward the basement but NOT tight to the subfloor, so that there's a hint of air gap between the fluff and the subfloor for less mechanical coupling, but don't make it into a huge air channel either- 1/8" will do. A slight amount of contact is OK, but don't compress them up snug. Install air-dams, either OSB, or sheet rock or 2x lumber) caulked to the joists & subfloor at both ends of each joist bay section that is being soundproofed.

Then, put an OSB or sheet rock ceiling (also as air tight as possible) to the underside of the joists. If you're really going all-out, buy some GreenGlue (tm) to apply on the joist edges as the ceiling gets installed for vibe-damping.

 

[Dwassner]

I am going to look at the roofing insulation today but it is a 1.5 hr drive one way so I want to make sure this is the right stuff. When I am researching polyiso, I am finding that it will absorb moisture? If this is the case, do I need to use plastic on both sides of it? I am not sure of the fiber face's condition, but there is no foil face.

I am not sure if either one or both sides are fiber faced. If only one, would I want this toward the warm side?

 

[Dana]

With polyiso you have to keep the cut edge off the slab, but even paper faced foam in contact with the foundation is fine. The paper facers are asphalted and won't wick moisture (they ARE used in roofing applications, after all), and are vapor-retardent. If it's a truly WET foundation wall it would be useful to install dimple-mat between the foam and wall (any type of foam). Don't put plastic on the side facing the room- unlike foil facers, paper or fiberglass facers do allow the foam to dry (extremely slowly) if it ever takes on moisture.

If there is a history of flooding put the bottom edge of the polyiso above the high tide mark. If not, use a strip of 1" EPS between the slab and polyiso, and leave a 1/4" gap between the EPS and wall as a place for any wall condensation or minor leakage of the wall to drain into.

 

[Dwassner]

I just picked up 19 sheets of 2.75". I am a little disappointed in that after I unloaded them, they appear to be far more wet than they appeared to be when I loaded them. Loading 3-4 sheets at a time made it hard to tell how different each one weighs. I have them sitting on their long edge with about 1" spacers between each, and a fan blowing between them and a dehumidifier.

I certainly hope I did not just waste my money and a 3.5 hr round trip on these... I did not think that being wet would be an issue since they are being used as a vapor barrier in the first place.

 

[Dana]

With paper or fiberglass facers they will dry out as long as they're indoors, but it'll take weeks, not days or hours. Even with some moisture in them they're still have some R-value, and unless it LOOKs saturated wet the R-value should still be pretty close to spec. Don't bother with the fan or dehumidifier, just keep them indoors, off the floor and at room temperature. It's fine to go ahead and install them, which will expose one side fully open to the room which would dry about as quickly as your fan setup with the 1" separation between sheets. Put off painting the wallboard until the summer if you can. Wallboard without the paint is VERY permeable to water vapor when unpainted but with a layer of primer + color paint it drops to 3-5 perms.

A vapor "barrier" is defined as having a permeance of less than 0.1 perms. The facers on the foam are between 0.5-1 perm, and the foam itself at 2.5-3" is likely to run about 1-2 perms (depending on density and manufacturer.) Assume about 0.5 perms for the total. For comparison purposes 6 mil polyethylene about 0.05 perms (a true vapor barrier by conventional definitions), and 3 mil aluminum foil something like 0.005 perms. So the amount of drying the polyiso will achieve in the first year would 10 years if it were covered with 6 mil polyethylene. Most of the drying will happen in the first 6 months.

If it's paper faced foam most of the moisture is likely to be in the paper, not the foam.

 

[Dwassner]

On some of the exposed sides, I can press in and see a small puddle. I don't mind letting them dry out as long as the r value is not compromised after they are dried. I feel like I messed up on this purchase.