I've seen lots of discussions here on how people have done their DHW from their gasifiers+ storage, and seemingly picked up a lot of sense that a fair number of people might do things differently if they were doing it all over, knowing what they now know about what works, how well, etc.
As with other things, there's a truly stunning amount of knowledge and experience around here- stunning in both senses, both because it is amazing, and also because it can become mind-bursting to chase down the various sub-threads that go off on valuable but not easily re-find-able discussions
so...well.. I'd like to ask people to recapture their "best dos and don'ts" of DHW
my Econoburn boiler arrived a couple of weeks ago, and my big modular unpressurized 1200+ gallon stainless tank is being fabricated right now, and hopefully may arrive within a few weeks.
I'd like to be able to do like some of you do and, in summer months, run relatively occasional fires to heat my big storage, and then have that provide DHW without need for other heat/energy source.
for context, my existing DHW is a 35 gallon oil fired stand-alone water heater, that's about 13 years old. It's about 20 feet from where the new 1200 gallon tank will be. It works great, but it's probably well into the later days of its likely useful life before someday the tank rusts out (yes, I should check and change the anode- one of these days, but not sure when I'll get around to it). As long as it works, I would like to integrate it into my new wood system, but in doing so, I want to try to avoid any design that would tie my hands on a later, more efficient way of using the wood/storage to heat the DHW.
my electric rates are pretty high, so I am very hesitant to go back to electric, unless it were a superinsulated tank that was mostly storage/ occasional backup.
Some people among all you experienced wood-burning types seem to have preheat DHW coils submerged in their unpressurized storage, some people seem to have "indirect tanks," some seem to have a combination of the above and or some form of tankless heater, and at least one person was talking about a plate exchanger for DHW.
Sidearms seem interesting, but I am not sure that one would make sense for my situation, as there will be some intervals of months on end when no other zone would have reason to pull heated water through the sidearm, and it seems like a sidearm would have less efficient transfer of heat from the boiler/storage to the DHW tank, and more heat losses to the surrounding space during warm months, than the other methods.
Suggestions & comments on what to aim for or avoid are invited and much appreciated!
Thanks
As with other things, there's a truly stunning amount of knowledge and experience around here- stunning in both senses, both because it is amazing, and also because it can become mind-bursting to chase down the various sub-threads that go off on valuable but not easily re-find-able discussions
so...well.. I'd like to ask people to recapture their "best dos and don'ts" of DHW
my Econoburn boiler arrived a couple of weeks ago, and my big modular unpressurized 1200+ gallon stainless tank is being fabricated right now, and hopefully may arrive within a few weeks.
I'd like to be able to do like some of you do and, in summer months, run relatively occasional fires to heat my big storage, and then have that provide DHW without need for other heat/energy source.
for context, my existing DHW is a 35 gallon oil fired stand-alone water heater, that's about 13 years old. It's about 20 feet from where the new 1200 gallon tank will be. It works great, but it's probably well into the later days of its likely useful life before someday the tank rusts out (yes, I should check and change the anode- one of these days, but not sure when I'll get around to it). As long as it works, I would like to integrate it into my new wood system, but in doing so, I want to try to avoid any design that would tie my hands on a later, more efficient way of using the wood/storage to heat the DHW.
my electric rates are pretty high, so I am very hesitant to go back to electric, unless it were a superinsulated tank that was mostly storage/ occasional backup.
Some people among all you experienced wood-burning types seem to have preheat DHW coils submerged in their unpressurized storage, some people seem to have "indirect tanks," some seem to have a combination of the above and or some form of tankless heater, and at least one person was talking about a plate exchanger for DHW.
Sidearms seem interesting, but I am not sure that one would make sense for my situation, as there will be some intervals of months on end when no other zone would have reason to pull heated water through the sidearm, and it seems like a sidearm would have less efficient transfer of heat from the boiler/storage to the DHW tank, and more heat losses to the surrounding space during warm months, than the other methods.
Suggestions & comments on what to aim for or avoid are invited and much appreciated!
Thanks
