I will most likely be getting some storage. It is two 120 gal compression tanks. They are 400 bucks for the both though. I was wondering how storage works. The main question is do I need to hook up an extra pump to pump the water that's in the storage or do most use one pump ( the one outside by the boiler) Is it better to use two pumps? Also I know 800 for 240 gal of storage is expensive but I want it in the basement. Any ideas or comments would be appreciated. Thanks. Also, I didn't buy the tanks yet cause I'm still looking for a cheaper way to make storage.
how to plum storage
- Thread starter ihookem
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ihookem said:
I have a number of a guy in Wisconsin you can call. I paid $75 for my 120 gallon tank. $500 for my modified 1000 gallon tank.
gg
Thanks goosegunner I'll take the number in a minute. Also, I saw your pressure tank that was a propane tank and asked on another thread
When a guy has storage, does he need a separate pump for the storage water? Or can ya just have the one pump by the OWB? I'm asking cause this storage thing gets more expensive every time I look into it.
Can't help you, but I'm in the same boat kinda... can't decide to go with a homemade insulated box with a 275 gallon tote poly square tank in a metal frame or run 1 1/4" into house and go thru a large Y strainer and into an oversized plate heat exchanger, and go pressurized on the other side. I like the tank idea to run stove into and out and was calculating how to make my own coils to pull the heat out of the tank and dump back in. Talk about expensive!! I figured it would take like two 200 feet of 3/4" tubing to do what I wanted so nixed that idea..... I'm with you, looks like you could go in and go out making a big heat sink, sediments would drain to the bottom, might could rig a drain to flush occasionally, but then you'd for sure have to have a pump to suck out of the tank and dump back in...or were you thinking to pull from tank, push thru furnace and into your system?? Eihookem said:
I tried one pump and it did not work for me. I ended up with 1000 gallons of hot storage that went to waste after my first test burn. My conclusion was the danfoss valve didn't get enough temp. to keep it open and ended up just circulation the water through the boiler. I have a poor man's set up, side arm, 2 heat exchangers and about 230' of 1" Al Pex in a series loop. The return temps were just to low to keep the danfoss open. I ended up installing a 2nd pump. Which caused another problem, when both pumps were running it would actually 'dead head' the boiler pump not allowing the heated water to enter into the loop. I solved that problem with a relay. Now when my boiler pump is on, the storage pump is off, and vice versa when the boiler pump off the storage pump turns on. It cost me just over 50 bucks to buy the box, relay, socket for the relay and went fancy with 2 indicator lights and couple of over ride switches to manually turn the pumps on. Works beautifully now. I feel to add that during my first test run I only heated the water up to 150 degrees and the danfoss don't fully open until 120 or 140 i forget. Its not cold outside yet so the lower temps heat my home just fine in the 40 degree weather. One pump may have worked if i charged the storage hotter, but for my case the radiant heat coming from over 200 ' of al pex got my home a little warmer than needed for this time of year. Hope that helps.
Rodney said:
Good points to avoid. I never thought about "not" insulating my primary loop in the basement, makes sense now to just leave it exposed and see how much heat loss I have and heat the whole basement area with the loop. Has to add some heat to the area, if too much I can insulate some. I'm leaning towards a very large plate heat exchanger, pump on outside Portage & Main 250 Gasifier I've ordered to run all the time, build this big loop in the basement, take off with typical unions and isolation valves on everything, then do the fill, gauge, air elimination, explansion tank drain/burp valve and have this loop run thru two sidearms but prior to running them thru the sidearms, tap off twice to run up and over to 18" x 18" heat exchangers off close tees, take off and dump back close, with a pump off each of these loads. One will run a furnace/heat exchanger in the basement, one up in attic 36' of head up and back. Hope you or someone knows if this will or will not work before I install...... leaning towards ?? Grundfol 3 speed pumps for flexability maybe.......... my first attempt. Thanks, Edwin, Eastern Tn
jebatty
Minister of Fire
All of you would do well to search this forum on storage. There are many, many posts describing storage plumbing, +/- of pressurized vs non-pressurized, use of plastic totes (watch out!), heat exchangers, and many other ideas. Look at the sticky notes to start. Your questions are real and are important. The answers are there. When you find something rather unique to your situation, then this forum will come alive with discussion to help you. With a little searching you are headed on the right track.
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