Remote Monitoring Storage Tank Question

[HeatFarmer]

My storage tank is going to be in the cellar under the house. My boiler is 100ft away in an attached barn. Can anyone recommend a good--and by good I mean cheap & easy-- method of reading the tank temps & any other necessary house data at the boiler face while firing it? I have conduit going between the two spaces for Cat-5 & 5-wire thermostat cable already. What sort of info is useful in this situation? Is it necessary? I mainly want to be able to monitor the system's performance from an area where I pass-by regularly & not have to make regular detours into the cellar, where I rarely go, and hardly ever linger---it's a bit damp & musty.....

 

[PassionForFire&Water]

I would measure storage water temp at bottom and top of tank, boiler suply and return temperature and stack temperature.
If possible also the water flow (GPM), but this is in most installs non-variable.
I can not recommend any apparatus for a 100' distance

 

[HeatFarmer]

Thanks Marc. I can easily monitor stack temp, supply & return temps and for the primary supply loop at the boiler, no problem. How to read the tank temps at the boiler are what's killing me......

 

[ewdudley]

For as much as they cost, these would be worth a try:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blue-Digita...H_DefaultDomain_0&vxp=mtr&hash=item519bdba555


The description says they use NTC sensors, so you should be able to extend the leads by a couple dozen meters without any problems.

The same company offers very similar looking and more accurate DS18B20 digital sensor based units that could go a 50 meters in theory, but that might be tricky.

 

[HeatFarmer]

Eliot, thanks for the link...I think this might do the trick!

 

[taxidermist]

not sure if you can extend these. http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplie...1&langId=-1&division=FarmTek&productId=441376

I also use these and you hook them up to thermostat wire. http://www.azeltec.com/catalog.0.html.0.html#DIGIT-STAT

Rob

 

[jebatty]

Without knowing more about your storage tank, I think a measurement point 1/4 to 1/3 down from the top and another about 6" or so up from the bottom provide the most useful information. The top sensor then gives you a pretty good read on the storage charge available, and on charging when the bottom sensor starts to move up you know the tank is nearly charged all the way through at a temperature close to that of the top sensor.

If a sensor literally at the top of the tank, all you know is the temperature at that point, and the water may be much cooler below. And I have found that the bottom 6-12" often stays quite cool compared to the column of water above, and measuring a little higher than the bottom gives a much better picture of the state of charge of the storage tank.