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If you do not mind listening to someone who burned wood and coal in a hand fed unit for 33 years I want to help you.

Piping your system as am overhead/top fed gravity hot water heating system with an open to air expansion tank is simpler to do and eliminates the need for circulators.

The top fed/overhead gravity hot water heating system ELIMINATES BLEEDING RADIATORS OR HOT WATER BASEBOARD heating methods. It also allows you to use 170-180 degree water to heat you home slowly and evenly as all the hot water reaches the radiators from the top and the cooler return water returns to a common return header pipe that is plumbed into the boiler sump.

The overhead method fills the system with water from the top down and the hot water riser that delivers the hot water to the top floor allows any air bubbles to quickly dissolve into the open to air expansion tank.

The overhead/top fed heating method eliminates the need for an expansion tank as the system pressure is allowed to rise and enter into the open to air expansion tank and the pressure/vapors exit the vent pipe through the roof or to the drop pipe that drains back into a floor drain or a laundry sink.

The drain pipe also allows the end use to fill the open to air expansion tank with make up water by simply using a ball valve plumbed into the riser to fill it with make up water and the drain pipe will show you when it is filled.

The 35EKB has 35 gallons of water and uses a 2 inch steam chest tapping if the cool water return tapping on the side of the boiler it will allow the riser and return pipes to rise closely to the ceiling of the basement to allow the simplest piping to the radiators using a common return header hung in the ceiling joists.

You will have a massive amount of thermal mass in the 2 inch piping, the cast iron radiators, the open to air expansion tank and the total water volume of the system.

The ability to provide slow even heat will warm your home no matter the weather as the boiler is operating using the high limit and low limit temperatures set on the triple aquastat in the basement.

NOW as psb75 has stated you need hot water storage being a buffer tank to extend your burn times and increase your available thermal mass; hot water storage is just like money in the bank except the bank is the thermal mass bank.

There are water heating calculators available from the web that you can download and type in all the numbers you have to see how much hot water you will need to heat and how long it will take to heat it.

The basic key to using wood for hot water heating is this:

Splitting your firewood into the smallest piece provides you with the greatest amount of firewood to heat your hot water in the shortest time.

Using coal grates and Anthracite or Sub Bituminous coal will provide you with more heat for extended periods which reduces the number of times you have to load the boiler. Using coal and wood with coal grates would also make heating your home easier with an overhead gravity heating system that will also heat your domestic hot water.

The 35EKB

Many moons ago a friend of mine's furnace stopped running in the middle of winter. Culprit was a blown transformer.

Late in the evening with everything closed. Luckily he had a pair of older desk lamps with 12V bulb and transformer in the base. Wired two of them in series for 24V, hooked it up to the furnace and fire right up. Kept it going till the replacement part arrived.

There have been many discussions on heat pumps and furnaces/boilers, so I thought I would put out some of the points that seem to keep recurring.

Heat Pumps in Cold Climates: Why Hybrid Systems Make More Sense: Heat pumps are a remarkable technology, but in cold climates with high electricity rates, they can be expensive to install, replace, and run. Fortunately, hybrid systems with a boiler or furnace offer a smarter, more flexible solution.

Bosch recommends mini splits with boilers, not just heat pumps alone.  In a training session two weeks ago, they also stated that heat pumps in New England are not a good application because the electric rates are so high.

NREL study shows a seasonal COP of 2.1 (210% annual efficiency) - that's almost $6/gal oil equivalent. Since the COP drops further with lower temperatures, electric bills increase rapidly. This May 2023 NREL Field Validation of Air-Source Heat Pumps for Cold Climates study shows the wide disparity between manufacturers ratings and field performance, with an average seasonal efficiency (COP) of 2.1. On a unit of energy basis, $0.30/kWh is the equivalent of $12.18 per gallon of oil and $8.79 per therm of natural gas. New York residential electric rates increased 50% from 2020 to 2024, and 4% in the prior 7 years…Northeast states are leading that trend and forecast to increase further.

Studies show 60% to 80% of people turn off their heat pump below 35°F, often due to high electric bills and the air the blow is colder than furnaces (multiple studies p 18-19). That’s often the right choice economically and environmentally because furnaces and boilers will cost less to operate and they use less source energy compared to electricity generated with natural gas (EPA Clean Air Markets Program Data CAMPD 40% power plant efficiency in New England less 8% transmission and distribution losses); and they have lower carbon intensity (GREET 2022 1.06% natural gas fugitive emissions means natural gas 20 year lifecycle has a 36% higher carbon intensity than fuel oil). Even more so when temperatures drop below freezing.

Imagine a power plant as a hungry pizza eater. You feed it 8 slices of natural gas, but it gobbles up 5 slices just to generate and deliver electricity to your home. That leaves only 3 slices of usable energy. A 210% efficient heat pump can stretch those 3 slices into 6 slices of heat. But if you use a boiler that's 87% efficient, it skips the power plant altogether and turns 7 out of 8 slices directly into heat, more warmth, less waste.

Furnaces and boilers deliver warmer, more comfortable heat (cold climate technical data p A230). For comparison, the air leaving mini split heat pump heat at 91°F can feel like cold air blowing at 73°F just a few feet away. A better air sealed and weatherized house with high efficiency windows and doors can improve winter heat pump comfort.

Electrification will require that the residential grid grow 4X. Cold climate heat pumps consume close to 2X as much electricity as a typical home, and EVs use the equivalent of another home's worth of electricity. In the near term, that means if just 10% of cold climate homes fully "electrify", the residential grid will need to provide almost 30% more electricity (and that does not include overall grid load impacts from AI impacts). And the cost of utility scale battery back up is astronomical, they last about 10 years and cost about $300 to $500 per kWh of storage - that's just $0.30 of electricity.

Heat pumps aren’t just expensive to run, they’re expensive to install and replace. In Rhode Island, representatives indicated that converting low-income homes to heat pumps cost the state $20,000–$25,000 per home this year. Over time, that’s $75,000+, compared to a single boiler that lasts decades.

Hybrid systems make sense, especially in a volatile energy future. It’s not all-or-nothing as hybrid systems let you choose the best tool for the job, season by season. Choosing to heat with a heat pump or a boiler/furnace could be for personal comfort, operating cost, emissions, source energy consumption, and more.

Roger