Wood Boiler

hot_rod

between the oil fired and wood fired. If you tied them together properly they would both "see" and share the current expansion tank on the oil boiler.

There are a couple piping options to assure that the oil fired never heats the wood fired, or vice versa to prevent the wood fired from warming the oil fired "cooling tower :)

OR if there is a reason for the HX isolation you could use glycol in the wood boiler. This would require an additional expansion tank, of course.

That's quite distance apart, be sure to well insulate the piping from the outdoor boiler.


hot rod

Dan_48

Wood boiler

Instaling a Orlan wood gasification boiler in an outside shed. Piping underground lines to house basement to tie into 400ga water storage. That in turn will feed main loop of oilfired hotwater boiler through a heat exchanger. Question: I can not install water feed for Orlan outside because of freezing concerns. Could I install water feed, expansion tank, air eliminator, circulator "pump away module" on supply line just inside basement and before water storage tanks or would this cause pressure relief problems back at Wood boiler? Orlan and house are 190 feet apart. Any thoughts on this system would be greatly appreciated.

Dan_48

I have debated using the heat exchanger. I am using glycol in the wood boiler and did not like the idea of glycol in the house system. But maybe I am concerned about nothing? I am also not sure about piping without the heat exchanger. I have run pex-flex by Logstor underground its preinsulated dual pex and should keep my heat loss to a minimum. Only problem is the cost. Thanks for your thoughts

hot_rod

I use InsulSeal

pre-insulated PVC for underground. Better r-value, a bit less cost, and it allows you to install multiple tube, water, electrical, etc. You can buy 1-1/4" pex these days fo long lengths like that. It easily slides inside 4" InsulSeal.

I'd skip the glycol you really don't need it if you don't leave it un-attended for days.

You're looking at quite a bit of fluid capicity with the boiler and all that piping.

hot rod

Steve Ebels_3

190' ?

First, I'd say that 190' may be a good application for 1 1/4" pex depending on your required flow. You'll likely need a high head circ if you run 1" that distance. Less amp draw with a normal 007 or 15-58. Do the math.

We have come up with a different type of insulating system for our underground pex and it has always been less expensive while providing superior insulation. After the trench is in we support and shim our bare pex to keep it about 3" off the bottom and spaced out from the sides. I found an insulating company that will come to the job site and spray urethane foam over the tube for about $4-7 a foot depending on the length and travel distance. We wind up with 3-4" of foam around both pipes. We've had jobs were the tube has to be within 18" of the surface due to ground water levels and have never been able to see any sign of heat loss. We typically measure less than a 1* drop in supply temperature per 100'.

Just food for thought.

Dan_48

I started out with the idea to sprayfoam pex in the ground like you sugest. However, when we trenched we had a lot of ground water and our foam man said no go. My question now is: if I try this first with no glycol and heatexchanger I could just put an appropriate size add onexpansion tank with my house boiler tank. With my wood boiler 190 feet away would I have any problems there. Relief valve poping etc?

coalcracker

This is my first time to this site. I have a fully automatic efm wood boiler and I love it. Insert a firestarter, pile on some wood and walk away in less than one minute.

Don't see any links to become a member, so let's see if this message gets posted.

Steve Ebels_3

The only membership qualification

Is that you're a member of the human race. We tend to keep our discussions and opinions civil and profanity free while trying to at least create the impression of intelligence.

Welcome aboard and tell us more about your system!!

Steve Ebels_3

Interesting................

What type of foam was he spraying? The stuff our guy sprays hardens to the point it can be walked on in about 5 minutes and is closed cell structure when cured.

What about the tubing size? If you're going to use a HX you need pretty good flow rate to get maximum heat transfer to your storage tank.

coalcracker

This reply should be under another listing, so as not to steal the thread, but my system is a closed hydronic system which works in conjunction with my oil boiler which is about 50 feet away at the other end of the house.

It's rated at 60,000 BTUH and has heated my large garage and all three floors of my eastern Pennsylvania house at the same time. So much for sizing the boiler to the house. As an employee of efm (electric furnace man), I received a call about 3 years ago from a homeowner who had an efm wood/coal boiler in his cellar and asked if anybody wanted it. The only problem was a leaking coil gasket, so I offered him $100 and took it away. It had seen little use in its 25 year lifespan.

In the end, with many relays, aquastats, and controls, I was able to use it for three individual purposes. It will circulate to my house oil boiler to create heat for my domestic water and my baseboards. It will heat my garage separately from the house. I can use the house oil boiler to heat the garage.

Most of its use is to heat the house and domestic coil or the garage. I don't need to use heating oil anymore. I put the equivalent of one cut-up pallet into the boiler and that will produce enough hot water for the dishwasher and several showers. Then the fire goes out until the next evening. In the colder months I just dump the heat into whatever floor I choose with a toggle switch and we like to keep the indoor temperature about 80 degrees all the time. I can also regulate the heat with thermostats in each floor.

There are some pictures enclosed.