A few pictures of our boiler systems.

That's all pine. Tree service drops it off for me. I have plenty of my own trees to cut bt it's easier to have it dumped in my backyard

Went through about 8 cord last year.

Yes it's a vent to the unfinished part of my basement. It's the only source of make up air when the doors to the boiler room are closed. The boiler room has 5/8 Sheetrock all around and exterior fire rated doors. Had planned to add an exterior vent but don't think I need it.

solar draindown and 500 gal pressurized storage solar draindown tank royal boiler
The pex in backround is for future wall radiant upgrade.

Nice set up there mmudd. Thanks for showing it. How much solar panels do you have? And do you have a pic of them?

Thanks. I'lll get a picture of them too, i keep forgetting to get that done.

Thanks. Folks on this site have been a big influence on my project.
pics of solar collectors & Support. 1 panel is homemade, 8' x8 pex/aluminum absorber plates. The other three are 4'x10' factory panels with copper pipe and copper absorber plate purchased used from craigslist with stainless draindown tank for $1000 bucks. Off course I had to do some repairs as previous owner had it set up as closed loop and the array obviously had overheated. It was pretty easy to repair.

Adding the pressuized storage and integrating the solar took lots of work, time and $, but I am satisfied with how it works. Most people think I'm nuts (I even thought so sometimes) and that this is super complicated, but as we all know here, it's not if you understand it.
I'm not sure how much contribution I'll get from solar in winter. Having the solar and pressuized sotrage integrated will really extend domestic hot water in summer. It was not unusual in summer for the 200 gal solar tank to limit out after a day and a half. Now I have someplace to dump the excess heat. Yesterday was sunny with hi temp of 38, solar tank was at 140 when I got home. The boiler keeps tank at 130, so I got some gain.
t

Very nice mmudd. After buying my system, and then spending the money on a used tractor/loader/backhoe, if I spend any more money I think my name will be mud! Wife wants to go on a vacation sometime. Planning has begun for next July. Going out west for a three week vacation. Hope to see some huge trees while were out there!

I have spent a ton of $ and more time and still not done - plan to add radiant wall heat to move away from fan coil. trying to stretch out wood usage.

If I would have had a actual cost estimate before starting, I probably would not have done anything.

You will see some big forests out west. As I understand it , the pine beetles are really taking a toll. I visited the Adirondacks a couple of years ago and was impressed with the forest up there. Also visited a friend in Burlington VT. That area is very pretty, but timber did not look as good. We are fortunate to have mostly of oak /hickory forests on our farm. Good for wood heating!
If you pass thru mid- MO on I-70 on your way out west, look me up.

I said I would do it, so better late then never...



The Tarm and some fuel. You can see the over heat loop on the left which I tested for the fun of it today (it worked). The rack of wood is something new I'm trying. Working out a design that's most versatile for me. I like it but I can see a few changes I'm going to make on version 2.



My manifold and my oil boiler, it ain't pretty but it does work.



Mission control. The box with the RIB is the controls for my auto fail back to oil. Works really well, I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out.



My 820 gallon heat bank. I need to trim the vapor barrier in the front, it's been working so I've gotten a bit lazy.


K

very nice set up

Nice, K! Did you do the install, or hire it out? Looks great!

TS

All the wood boiler side I did my self, I tied into piping that was hired out.

I really learned as I went, there's things I would change if I was doing it again but it works!

What you can't see is the 25' run of pipe between the Tarm & the manifold. I loose quite a bit of heat there, insulation is in order I just need to find the time and the money.

K

Mike,

Up here near Albany, NY where its a little cooler. Anyhow, I just put in a small fireplace insert (Drolet Escape from Northern Tool - Actually a very high quality little unit!) to augment on the coldest days and heating during the shoulder seasons. About 39-45 Deg yesterday in Albany and the little unit heated the 2300 SQ farmhouse very well for the entire day and last evening without the oil burner coming on. Hate burning that oil. Back into the thirties this evening so will be firing the gasifier up later today.

Ken

Can you send some information on that combo gauge? I'd like to get one.

This is the manufacturer but you can't buy them direct. You'll need to find a local source (I think).

http://www.miljoco.com/

Great setups everybody. Compared to what everybody has posted, mine is the simplest of all, which is good because I think I would have gone insane trying to install the boiler systems that most of you have shown here. Was bad enough tying my furnace into the existing ductwork and wiring everything up, replacing the central A/C condensor, installing a new natural gas hot water heater, and replacing all the gray butylene water pipe in the house with cpvc. Will not even get into the utility installation of natural gas from the main to the house. That would take all night for me to type.

Looks great fabsroman! It seems so strange for me to see a gas burner like that. Used to seeing oil burners set up like that. But gas is starting to take over here now.

TS

Yeah, Wayne Industries makes both an oil burner and a natural gas/LP gas burner that can be used in the furnace without any modifications to the furnace. From what I read, the gas burners were developed to retrofit on furnaces that used an oil nozzle burner. So, the older oil furnaces could be converted to natural gas or LP gas just by swapping out the nozzle burner.

It looks a lot like my parent's ThermoPride. They've been using it for years and it's served them well.

K

Nice looking setup.

Here some pics from sweden.
Baxi solo innova 30. 2 1000L tanks.150L expansion tank.
50L electrical heater after the tanks. always hot water to take a shower
Laddomat 21
Termomatic CBJ heating regulation 1 for the radiators and one for the floor heat.The one for the floor heat have a 4way valve that first take the return from the radiators. At the vetilation to the room I have put at motriced damper that close when the boiler is off.. And the logger that uppload the system status to this page www.e-logger.se/pub?hansson&p=1 Merry Christmas everybody

Very nice Hansson!

Happy Holidays.

Noah

Hansson, looks great! I see you have some solderless connections and the other copper connections appear to be brazed. Is this common over there? Also what is the grey thing in the second to last pic looking like it's going outside through a window. Sorry about the questions just curious about how things are done in Sweden, would like to go there someday. Blessed Christmas all!

TS

Brazeing is geting more and more rarely used here. They are going over to press connections.
The grey thing is motorized damper. It opens when the boiler starts and close when the boiler stops.
The boiler room is getting really cold in the winter when I didn't have the motorized damper.
It can get down to -30 c here in the winters.
In Sweden its normal to have a ventilation hole that have the same diameter as the chimney.

Nice set-up Kopeck. Glad you shared it with us. Thanks.