Tarm Solo 30 with 500 Gallon Storage Pictures Done!

Allllllright! Waaaahoooo! Congrats on the completion of the install! Nice looking setup. There are several of us with new systems and I am psyched! Amped! Can't stop thinking about it! Okay, sorry. :-/ I will settle down now. Enjoy man.


I find my internal flu temps will not go over 400 even with very dry wood. Is this normal?

Yes this is normal. That partially shows you how efficient the boiler is. The temps in your lower burn chamber are 1500-1800 + degrees. My flu temps are usually 275-375 degrees on the outside of pipe. So obviously higher inside. But still good.

I have my aqua stat for the circulator set to 160 and as a result the boiler and the storage never seem to go any higher than this. Should I consider something a little higher to get hotter temps into the tank?
How big of loads of wood are you burning? What size splits are you using? Is the wood dry? Your boiler and tank should go up to 175-180 easy depending on what the high setting on the boiler is. May have to burn longer and hotter. I will defer to more experienced people on this though. But my circulator is on at 165. My system is pressurized and no coils though. So a little different.

My fan does not shut off until long after the fire is out. Should I increase my low limit?

I do not have a shut off for fan on my unit. So I can not comment on that.

Good luck, and again. Nice set-up dude. Sweeeeet!

MasonWoods said:

Thanks Gasifier. I am pretty happy with it. I find it hard to stop thinking about what else I can do to tweak it now that it's done. Maybe it will never be done!

I have been burning about half loads of wood. Sizes of the wood could be a factor. They range from a minimum of 4" to 10" but more on the upper range (8-10"). I did burn a load of Apple that was super dry just to see what it would do. I still stayed right in the 400-425 range. Most of the wood is 15% -18% as measured with my cheapo harbor freight moisture meter.

I am starting to think the boiler temp guage on the front panel is not accurate. I know the pressure guage is wrong. It shows about 5psi where 5 other boiler guages in the system all show 15PSI.

Click to expand...

The low flu temperatures are a good thing. Those should not go much higher than 375-400 degrees. The thing you want to change, I would think anyway, is getting the temps higher in the boiler and tank. Having only 160 degrees in those is not enough if you want to get the best temperatures and most heat out of your system. I am guessing you have baseboard or radiators. Is that correct? If so, try to change your circulator setting to come on at 170. This will let your boiler come up to temperature and then be putting hotter water into the tank. Do you have return boiler protection valve? Keep us posted. Glad to hear you are happy with it. You will be even happier as the cold weather hits, you tweak the system even more, and your fossil fuel bill stays way down or non existent!

MasonWoods said:

Yes on the baseboard. Some of it is newer and does well with low temperatures. Some of the older baseboard is less able to do it's thing on the low temps. Sure wish I had put in radiant floor when I had the chance!!

I am going to change the setting on the aquastat for the circulator to 170 tonight when I get home and see how that does. I do have a mixing valve to protect the boiler from low return temps if that's what you mean by a boiler protection valve. (It's a thermovar)

I put 200 gallons into the oil tank this fall and if all goes well there will still be 200 in it next year at this time.

Thanks for the input!

Click to expand...

Nice. You may have some other tweeking to do in the future after you see how that goes. That is what I mean by boiler protection valve. What is the high temperature setting on the boiler? Is it an aquastat as well? Is it set to turn off at 170? If so what does tarm manual say the high temp for the boiler should be set at? I would think you would want a high temp of 180. But I do not know what Tarm calls for. Mine is set to turn off at 190, but it still turns off at when it hits 180. Must be a safety built in. Anyone with a Wood Gun know that?

Nice looking system, I have a very similar system and am starting my fourth season with zero oil used. your going to love kicking back in a nice warm house this winter. As for the storage temps, my experience is that with unpressurized storage and a coil type HX you will have a hard time getting higher temps in the storage tank. I followed Tarms diagrams and have roughly 340' of pipe in my 900 gallon tank, the most that I am able to get is 175*. I use cast iron rads so the temps work fine for me

MasonWoods said:

On my unit the recommended operating temp is 180-190. I am all the way up so 190. The control knob is set from the factory so you can't lower it below 180 without removing a set screw to adjust.The control knob is on the front panel and there is an immersion well on the top of the tank for the probe for it.

I turned up the aquastat that controls the circulator from 160 to 170 last night and that pushed up the boiler temps to 180 and by the end of the night my tank temp at the top was near 180. My flu temps also went up to about 450. I also increased my low limit from from 195 to 210 (flue temp measured in the smoke box) to try to get my fan to shut off a little sooner at the end of a burn. I think I will run with these settings for a few days and see how it goes.

NHFarmer: How high does you flu temps run? Are you in the 400-500 range?

Click to expand...

Cool. That sounds good. I think you will do well, especially as it gets colder with the temps up to 180 on the boiler and tank. The baseboard will probably crank out better heat that way and you will get a longer heat time out of your storage tank. I am playing with different amounts of wood in my burns just to see what happens with different burning scenarios. I often wonder if I am wasting wood(energy) because I am not waiting until the tank temperature goes down to say 160 or 165. In other words. Am I letting energy go to waste because I could have went a little longer time without burning any wood. But then again, it takes more wood to heat it back up the larger difference in temperature. I forget who told me that, but someone with much more experience than I.

You have good reason to be proud of your new boiler installation. I think the comments you have received give good advice. Just a few words from me regarding experience with my Solo 40, now starting its 5th year of heating season use. It's all good news.

1) No breakdowns, repairs, wear-outs, or defects have surfaced, with emphasis on the refractory remaining in good condition.

2) I burn very dry pine mostly with some aspen (2-3 years seasoned in wood sheds), resulting in higher flue temperatures than some might experience. I made and installed my own chain turbulators, which resulted in about a 100F drop in flue temp. My typical flue temps (probe into center of flue) are now 380-460F. Flue is 22' in length, being 9' black stove pipe to ceiling and 13' of Class A stainless insulated, straight run from a 90* elbow off the Tarm.

3) My storage is pressurized 1000 gallon, circulator set to come on at about 160F, Termovar balancing valve set to no less than about 150F return water.

4) Tarm high limit is at maximum, typical 188-192F actual.

5) Tarm shut-off is at 100C (212F), which usually leaves just a few unburned coals.

6) Measured btu output exceeds the rated 140,000 btuh output briefly during high burn, and I estimate average output over a burn from beginning to end at 70-75% of rated output. Of course, this can be boosted by adding wood during the burn.

7) I brush the hx tubes regularly, at least once/month or more often. A rise in flue temp is a good indicator that the tubes may need brushing. Takes about 20 minutes for the 8 tubes. Everything stays clean. I brush the chimney following shut-down of the boiler in late spring, chimney looks very good, no creosote or other build-up.

8) My burns are now geared to a chart based on my storage temperature. I know exactly how much wood to burn by weight to raise my storage to a desired end temperature. My boiler never idles.

May you be warm and cozy this winter. Best wishes.

I installed turbulaters that were supplied from Tarm but I agree with jim in all respects and I would recommend his chain type as they are a lot cheaper and from what I can see work just as well. I just went down to load the boiler and my stack temp is 400*. As it starts to creep up I know it is getting time to brush the tubes. It takes a while but you will get the feel of it. By the way it is snowing like crazy at the moment and it looks like we have a half an inch or so on the ground. 70* and nice in the house. life is good. Any snow on your side of the state MasonWoods?

The tank seems to max out at 182 top and 160 on the bottom. Flu temps are consistently at 400.

Click to expand...

I would say that with an hx in an open storage tank, 182 is close to your maximum. I can get my pressurized tank to 190F top to bottom without much effort. You could get your tank a little higher if you have a way to circulate water in the tank to mix it, at least closer to 182F top to bottom. Flue temps at 400 are what I experience with turbulators, but of course dry pine/aspen is my fuel. Good to see that you took the screen out of the chimney cap. My cap had no screen. Many use no chimney cap at all. As to the secondary air setting, I followed the manual and set mine in the middle and forget it. Do what works for you. Be aware that the draft fan has a flapper air adjustment, and it just might be that yours is not full open. Take a look "under the hood" if you haven't done that. Mine came wide open, and I had to close it down some. Glad the Solo 30 is working well for you.

The flapper also might not need to be full open. Watch flue temps and adjust to get a good "sweet" operating temperature. Mine is 380-440F with pine/aspen.