help with new install please

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
W

wayne nicol

New Member
Sep 17, 2012
2
i am about to install a new king size blaze king stove , after removing the old stove first.
the house had a system hooked up to the 70 gal. hot water tank that circulated the water through a type of radiator, and a fan then forced the warm air through the ducting. have since changed the water tank for a new heat pump hot water tank. which works brilliantly.
so the question is:can i attach a water jacket to the new stove, and circulate the hot water through the same radiator system, and push hot air to the back of the house.
is this possible,
do i need: 1. a boiler,
2.water jacket/external coil
3. pressure relief valves etc etc

could i simply just circulate the water from my new tank through the water jacke to keep the heat up, and then have a seperate circulator that just circulates the water through the existing radiator heating sytem.
all help and input is much appreciated
thanks
wayne
 
Well no responses in two days...a bit shocking.

Can you post at least a hand drawn sketch of what you're looking at? Sounds like a moderately complex swap out being contemplated...
 
No reply here since I know nothing about your stove and stove water jackets. Maybe someone else will jump in.

First instinct is say just put a boiler in & forget about the stove, but don't know enough about your existing heat distribution system and what else you have to work with - like space for starters.
 
ok, thanks folks- maybe i should explain a bit better- and take my time!!
1.so the house had an old, very inefficient wood stove in it- and i have since purchased a new king size blazeking to replace it.
and still need to do the install.
2. the hot water tank was a fuel oil hot water tank, and was costing us about $300 a month to heat water, part of the problem was because the forced air system in the house,derived its heat from the hot water tank, and not an independant furnace.so it would circulate hot water from the tank through a radiator with a fan that would then move the hot air through the ducting. simple and very effective- the problem being that cooler water was continually being returned to the tank and then the fuel oil hot water tank fires up and reheats the water - all night and all day- hence the high fuel bills..
3. so we disconnected the forced air system from the existing plumbing- ripped out the oil fired hot water tank , and replaced it with a heat pump hot water tank- and it works brilliantly- super efficient- and very cost effective.
4. now we heat the house soley with wood- hence the new and more efficient wood stove.

so my question is ; how can i connect up my forced air sytem( all ducting etc is already in place) to work with the wood stove. as the wood stove is on one side of the 2 000 sq. ft. house and the ducting is set up for the other side!

options:
1. reconnect the forced air radiator sytem to the new hot water tank.- then the electricity bill will start climbing!!!
2.run the water through a water jacket on the stove so that cold water is not being introduced back into the tank after going through the radiator, but rather heated water.
3. or intall a water jacket on the stove that creates hot water, and this is simply cycled through the radiator in a closed system, with a circulating pump, this would allow the forced air system to work off the stove.
it would obviously need a ball valve of sorts to keep water levels at the optimum, and all the appropriate pressure relief valves etc- i thought of using those stainless steel "squiggley" pipes up against the stove side to heat the water, and just experiment with how much pipe i need to keep the water at the optimum temp.
the blazekings have a very effective thermostat control- that should keep temperatures more or less consistant.

hope this explains things a bit better
thanks all
wayne.
 
Wood stoves are space heaters, not boilers. Depending on the layout of the house, you may be able to strategically locate a couple of fans to move some air. Fans are most effective on the floor, moving cold air back towards the stove. Sounds backwards, but it works. I would get the stove burning and try that first. You may be surprised. Sealing drafts and insulation also play a big part.
 
1. If you mean hook the radiator to the new heat pump water heater, forget that one. All you'll be doing is moving heat from the air to the water to the air again, and not very efficiently. Those things don't put out real hot water anyway to start with. Think you need fairly hot water for an exchanger in a duct.
2 & 3 - Sounds like they're the same? I don't know anything about stove water jackets - but I'm suspicious about how it would work. I'd suspect you would not get enough heat out of it to make it worthwhile, and it would dampen the space heating aspect of the stove and also maybe its burn effiency due to the cooling water effect on the stove.

Maybe find a used wood furnace to hook up to the ducting?
 
If your looking to distribute heat to your ductwork with wood, either a woodfurnace or boiler with heat exchanger will work. As said above what your thinking about won't work, and if something would go wrong insurance won't cover anything. Having ductwork, I would consider a woodfurnace, only if you cannot distribute the heat from the stove through the home. If your looking for something like the blaze king but in furnace form, the blaze king apex wood furnace would be the closest match.
 
Hi Wayne,

I installed five hydronic radiators in my home with the idea that I could use a heat exchanger to extract heat from my domestic hot water supply which was heated by twin refrigerated heat pumps. The problem was that when I used the radiators the supply of heat was rapidly spent as you found out. I then tried installing a large stainless steel coil in a slow combustion stove for the purpose of adding more heat. That didn't work as again not enough heat was generated and the coil quickly became covered with creosote which reduces it's effectiveness. Finally, I built a 'proper' wood boiler based on the design of Professor Richard C. Hill and this is doing the job for me very nicely including heating my domestic hot water during the winter. It can be seen on this forum at:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...n-by-richard-c-hill.68593/page-1#post-1179224
 
I agree with what others are saying. If the wood stove can't distribute the heat like laynes is saying, then a wood furnace is really what you need. A boiler setup would probably cost double what a furnace install costs. The HP water heater for you DHW needs is probably not worth changing to wood since you already have it installed. Any kind of custom water jacket you are talking would probably not work and could be dangerous like mentioned above. What's kind of backup heat do you have?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

A
Pellet Boiler Not Moving Water Fast Enough
Replies
12
Views
1K
The Boiler Room - Wood Boilers and Furnaces
AlfaFrance
A
P
Push water towards boiler or pull from it ?
Replies
9
Views
2K
The Boiler Room - Wood Boilers and Furnaces
chew72
C
N
Indoor Wood Boiler Installer Wanted in 2024!
Replies
1
Views
671
The Boiler Room - Wood Boilers and Furnaces
brenndatomu
brenndatomu
N
Wood Gasification Boiler Installer NH?
Replies
6
Views
1K
The Boiler Room - Wood Boilers and Furnaces
Big Orville
B
tbear853
Vermont Castings saved our bacon this week.
Replies
1
Views
369
The Pellet Mill - Pellet and Multifuel Stoves
stoveliker
stoveliker
Top Bottom
Back