How much storage?

[adenowski]

For the experts.

I currently own the Central Boiler CL5036. My house was built in the mid 60's, and could use some updates. I've been averaging 8 full cord of wood per heating season.

I read a lot of posts here, and I'm jealous about the gasifier. I'm seriously planning to install one, not only because of the tax credit, but the less wood usage.

Since I built a small semi enclosed out building for my current boiler, i would put it out in there.

How do you figure out how much storage you need? I currently work a 12 hour shift, so I'm gone 14 hours. I would like to have enough storage for that amount of time.

How does the heated water from the boiler transfer to storage and then to the furnace HX?

Are there books on this stuff? Thanks for any help.

 

[Reggie Dunlap]

This forum is the book on that stuff...

I'd start by burning dry hardwood if you don't already. That will knock a few cords off your yearly consumption. Then I'd look into 1000 gallons or so of storage. Lots of options there. If you go with pressurized storage you don't need to transfer the heat to the storage.

Search storage and you'll get tons of info.

 

[WoodNotOil]

I would agree with approx. 1000 gallons heat storage to get you through the long shift. The best way to get a handle on sizing is to do a heat loss calculation using something like this http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Calculators/HeatLoss/HeatLoss.htm . Then you can determine how many btus you need to heat with in the worst weather you are going to see. Then you calculate how much heat can be stored in a given size tank. Once you decide on a tank size then you size the boiler to be able to heat the tank. The larger the boiler, the less time to heat up the storage.

Most OWBs are unpress. and gassers are pressurized, so you will be eliminating the plate hxs in your system. Basically heat from the boiler goes to heating zones if there is a call for heat and if there is not it goes into storage. When the boiler runs out of heat then it comes out of storage. This can be done with multiple pumps that come on and off based on temp readings and/or through the use of zone valves that direct flow. The controls and wiring can get interesting fast, but there are a lot of options there too. You will have to figure out your piping before you can figure out controls. I would suggest you start with the sticky on Simplest Pressurized Storage and try to source a salvage propane tank from your local propane dealers or salvage yard. Also check out some of the companies that sell storage. They have everything from stuff manufactured specifically for heat storage, to already moded propane tanks. Lots more option now than there were just a few years ago!