This is my first post! I am building a cheap system to get my foot in the door this year, and plan to upgrade in the next couple of years, funds are tight but I'd like to get this started.
My situation:
I have run two wood stoves for the last 4 years to heat my house and have run had the following issues:
a) The fireplace flues they are hooked to are too large resulting in cresote build up and chimney fires.
b) Poor air circulation to upper floor due to house layout even with floor grates installed.
c) I am away from the house 10-12 hours so I load a hot stove before I leave in the morning and shut it down to get the burn time, which ends up smoldering and generating even more creosote.
Here's what I have to work with initially:
Wood Boiler: Oneida Royal ACWB-100, 100,000 BTU wood coal combination. I picked this up for $350 it great shape it looks like it's been fired maybe 10 times. The intent is to upgrade this in the net 3 years. If any of you know where to get a manual for this let me know.
Oil Boiler: Typical 120,000 BTU oil with becket burner.
40 gallon stainless super store indirect water storage.
House: If there was a show called broke-dick house my house would be it. It's about 2500 square feet and the main section was built in the 1820's. It has a field stone foundation with limited access so I will have to built unpressurized storage to accomodate. I have replaced windows and added 4 feet of fiberglass to the attic and continue to improve things. One thing to note is I have industrial baseboard in my house (2" steel pipe with 4" steel fins).
Here's what I want to do:
1) Install the Oneida Royal wood boiler with the oil boiler as backup.
2) Use simplest install possible that is functional, and take advantage of low cost controls and materials.
2) Build a non-pressureized storage tank (unless I can fit a propane tank through a 36" wide door frame as pressureized seems simpler install wise).
3) I would like to be able to charge the storage with the wood boiler, reload the boiler and coast 10-12 hours and refire when I get home.
Specific questions:
1) Unpressurized storage size- I have room to build a retangular tank anywhere from 600-900 gallon storage with insulation of 20-30R I did a fair amount of research on thermo storage tank construction and think I can do it cheaper than buying one from Tarm, but need advise on size given house size and boiler capacity. My father in law has an older dunkirk gasification boiler @120,000btu hooked to a pressurized tank that is 6 feet in diameter and 30 feet long so I am not sure if boiler size to storage matters much but maybe with unpressurized it does.
2) Unpressureized storage heat exchanger- Use a homemade copper exchanger, or purchase a flat plate (12" 40 plate? 1" tappings?)? What does the plumbing look like on each setup? How would the controls work?
3) How do I get the system to pull from storage once the boiler has cooled?
3) I have a circulator based system now although much of the copper needs replaced due to pin holes so I an going to repipe in pex and iron pipe due to cost, although I do have 5 Taco 007 circulators and a 5 zone circulator control. What's the best way to pipe this and what should I watch out for?
Thanks for looking and I hope to learn much!
My situation:
I have run two wood stoves for the last 4 years to heat my house and have run had the following issues:
a) The fireplace flues they are hooked to are too large resulting in cresote build up and chimney fires.
b) Poor air circulation to upper floor due to house layout even with floor grates installed.
c) I am away from the house 10-12 hours so I load a hot stove before I leave in the morning and shut it down to get the burn time, which ends up smoldering and generating even more creosote.
Here's what I have to work with initially:
Wood Boiler: Oneida Royal ACWB-100, 100,000 BTU wood coal combination. I picked this up for $350 it great shape it looks like it's been fired maybe 10 times. The intent is to upgrade this in the net 3 years. If any of you know where to get a manual for this let me know.
Oil Boiler: Typical 120,000 BTU oil with becket burner.
40 gallon stainless super store indirect water storage.
House: If there was a show called broke-dick house my house would be it. It's about 2500 square feet and the main section was built in the 1820's. It has a field stone foundation with limited access so I will have to built unpressurized storage to accomodate. I have replaced windows and added 4 feet of fiberglass to the attic and continue to improve things. One thing to note is I have industrial baseboard in my house (2" steel pipe with 4" steel fins).
Here's what I want to do:
1) Install the Oneida Royal wood boiler with the oil boiler as backup.
2) Use simplest install possible that is functional, and take advantage of low cost controls and materials.
2) Build a non-pressureized storage tank (unless I can fit a propane tank through a 36" wide door frame as pressureized seems simpler install wise).
3) I would like to be able to charge the storage with the wood boiler, reload the boiler and coast 10-12 hours and refire when I get home.
Specific questions:
1) Unpressurized storage size- I have room to build a retangular tank anywhere from 600-900 gallon storage with insulation of 20-30R I did a fair amount of research on thermo storage tank construction and think I can do it cheaper than buying one from Tarm, but need advise on size given house size and boiler capacity. My father in law has an older dunkirk gasification boiler @120,000btu hooked to a pressurized tank that is 6 feet in diameter and 30 feet long so I am not sure if boiler size to storage matters much but maybe with unpressurized it does.
2) Unpressureized storage heat exchanger- Use a homemade copper exchanger, or purchase a flat plate (12" 40 plate? 1" tappings?)? What does the plumbing look like on each setup? How would the controls work?
3) How do I get the system to pull from storage once the boiler has cooled?
3) I have a circulator based system now although much of the copper needs replaced due to pin holes so I an going to repipe in pex and iron pipe due to cost, although I do have 5 Taco 007 circulators and a 5 zone circulator control. What's the best way to pipe this and what should I watch out for?
Thanks for looking and I hope to learn much!
