Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.

homeowner

Options
Dragon
Dragon Member Posts: 2
in THE MAIN WALL
We have just installed a Buderus GB142 as backup heat for our 1800 square foot home. The main heat source is a pellet boiler. Our propane gas supplier (Suburban)  has told us we need two 95 gallon tanks to run the boiler properly. Is this necessary? Why two tanks? And is this size necessary for backup heat?

Comments

  • CMadatMe
    CMadatMe Member Posts: 3,086
    edited November 2011
    Options
    Back Up

    Can't anwser your question concerning boiler size unless you tell us what the heat loss of the home is? Didn't they provide you with the heat loss they did to properly size the boiler? The GB142 comes in 4 sizes, which size do you have? A average 2,000 sqft home with decent insulation and good windows would have a heat loss in the less then 60,000 btu range. As for the tanks, volume has no bearing, it's about gas pressure. One of those tanks holds 420lbs of propane. There are 21,650 btus in a lb so one of those tanks can make 9 million btu's. Its equiv to roughly 65 gallons of oil.

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,426
    Options
    A consideration

    which is often overlooked with propane (LPG) tanks is the maximum evaporation rate in the tank, which is a function of tank size, gas mix, and temperature.  Your LPG dealer is in by far the best position to determine what the minimum tank size -- or sizes -- is in your area to deliver the required minimum flow rate at a design minimum temperature and gas mix.  It has very little to do with how much gas is actually stored -- just how fast the gas can be evaporated.



    If you object to two 95s -- a very common setup, and one which your dealer probably likes as 95s can be changed out, while anything bigger has to be filled -- you might ask him about a 200 gallon tank.  The evaporation rates are similar.



    And yes, the minimum tank size he recommends is required for back up heat or normal heat or anything -- it is determined solely by the required gas flow rate of the appliance(s) and not by how often or why they are used.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • lchmb
    lchmb Member Posts: 2,997
    Options
    some other

    considertation is location and delivery. Even though you only plan to use it for backup, if you do have a need and he cannot deliver fast enough to keep your house heated, you'd be upset with him. As a rule of thumb we alway's install (a minimum) 2-120s for proper vaporization at the coldest point in the year...
This discussion has been closed.

Categories