Indirect fired on steam

Misterplumber

Has anyone ever connected a tankless coil on a steam boiler to an indirect fired water heater heater (boiler side on the i.f.), thus creating a mini closed loop? All the standard closed loop safety and function devices would need to be in place, .i.e backflow, pressure regulator, relief valve, and expansion tank, etc., as well as special controls (there are several ways to do the controls, thats easy). I am also NOT referring to an Aquabooster.



The benefits would be that the Superstor tank has a lifetime warranty and excellent performance, and the tankless coil would not be subject to "liming" up as it is recirculating the same water. The downside would be the cost.



This type of setup isn't commonly done in my area but I encourage you to think outside the box!

icesailor

Indirect/Steam:

If your tankless coil is "liming up", you probably need to have the water tested and get a water softener. I have seen "indirect" coils lime up just as bad as a "tankless" coil.

And a indirect is just a "tankless coil" removed from the boiler, which is designed to extract vast amounts of heat energy from a flame and convert it to water. Moving the coil from the boiler doesn't solve the problem, it just moves it somewhere else.

It is like a "geographical cure" for a drunk. Moving doesn't solve the problem. It just moves it somewhere else.

Cleaning the coil is effective if it doesn't lime up too quickly. But if you have a lot of dissolved lime deposits in the water, you are fighting a loosing battle.

Hard water means more soap and it is harder to get it off your body. You always feel slimy in the shower.

Get the water tested and then treated.

IMO, it is cheaper to treat the water and solve the problem than to spend a lot of complicated time, money and energy to just move the problem rather than solve it.

Like being "Just a little bit pregnant".

Steamhead

Don't need to use the tankless coil

you can run the water from the boiler directly thru the coil in the SuperStor, and save the cost of all those extra components. Here are pics of one we did recently.



You need to make sure the SuperStor's internal coil is below the boiler's waterline. Use an aquastat to make sure the boiler doesn't reach steaming temperature when only the indirect is calling- preferably one that can reach all the way into the boiler section.  And the circ must be a bronze unit with a mechanical seal and oil lubrication, since the water in a steam boiler can be rather nasty.