Storage question for Seton type boiler owners

[roaring fire]

My boiler is in my workshop 80 ft from my house. I want my
storage in my basement to take advantage of latent heat loss from storage.
Because of the big refactory Seton boiler needs circulation 24/7 to avoid
overheating. My question, when utilizing storage how do I avoid recirculating
heated water through the ground back to the boiler? or How do I keep storage water
in the house with separate circulation to the boiler?
I have the tanks in my basement & would like to get up & running soon.
Thanks for your comments

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Firstly, I don't have storage so others will be able to be of more assistence.

But from a THEORETICAL point of view . . .

Your tank HX - in the bottom of your tank - will exchange its heat to the tank and return to the boiler to pick up more. The only way I could forsee the tank heating the outside boiler would be if the BOTTOM of the tank was hotter than the boiler. If you let the boiler cool down, the heat load will take heat from the top of the tank. Heat at the bottom of the tank will migrate North. So even though the boiler cools, the bottom of the tank does too, so there should be little if any Delta t.

Or'd I get that all screwed up??? ;-P

 

[Gasifier]

What type of storage tanks are you using? Pressurized or not?

 

[Pat53]

I have a Seton w/ storage. Your supply line from the Seton to the storage should be sending the hot water to the top of the storage tank and drawing the cooler water from the bottom back to the Seton. When my tank is charges with 195F water, and the air flap closes, the incoming water from the tank is about 180F. Since you have to keep the circulator going, it will keep slowing adding hot water to the tank.

I have a 3 speed circulator on mine and I just turn the circulator on low speed after the tank is charged and the unit shuts down. Since you have to keep pulling the excess heat off the boiler, there really aren't many options?

Pat

 

[roaring fire]

Thanks for the responce guys.
Iam finding it difficult to get my head around the fine detail of the plumbing
required for storage, which will be pressurized Gsaifier.
I think Pat53 has given me my answer to this part of the puzzle.
After the tanks are charged fully circulation must continue between boiler & storage .
Pat do you think you are losing much efficiency with your set up.
thanks Dan

 

[Pat53]

Thanks for the responce guys.
Iam finding it difficult to get my head around the fine detail of the plumbing
required for storage, which will be pressurized Gsaifier.
I think Pat53 has given me my answer to this part of the puzzle.
After the tanks are charged fully circulation must continue between boiler & storage .
Pat do you think you are losing much efficiency with your set up.
thanks Dan

Good question. I really don't know.
Right now, its been so mild I'm only burning about every 36 hours or so, so once the tank is up to temp and the fire is completely out, I actually shut off the circulator so that it isn't sending cooler water into the tank. Saves on electricity too. Needless to say, you need to be sure the residual heat is mostly dissipated before doing that or you could overheat the HX.

I use a 3-speed circualtor on my system, so when I am done with a burn, I turn the circulator on low speed so it continues to send back the hottest water I can into the tank. So far this is working well for me. Hope this helps?

Pat

 

[2.beans]

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[hobbyheater]

My boiler is in my workshop 80 ft from my house. I want my
storage in my basement to take advantage of latent heat loss from storage.
Because of the big refactory Seton boiler needs circulation 24/7 to avoid
overheating. My question, when utilizing storage how do I avoid recirculating
heated water through the ground back to the boiler? or How do I keep storage water
in the house with separate circulation to the boiler?
I have the tanks in my basement & would like to get up & running soon.
Thanks for your comments

I have an older boiler with a large refractory component connected to an 1000 gal storage, with a open ended expansion tank.

1 I try to size the last charge of wood so that the fire is out when the top of the storage tank reaches 195 and the bottom is still at 165-170.

2 My circulator is controlled by a timer. The timer allows the pump to run for another 3-4 hours after the fire is out, pulling enough heat from the refractory to raise the bottom of the tank to around 175-185

The size of your storage will decide the length of your burn. The timer should span the time of your burn plus sufficient time to dissipate the heat in the refractory.
2.beans' post sounds like a proven method!

Happy plumbing!!

 

[hobbyheater]

Your Seton Boiler, which model and what is its water capacity? I have been reading as much as I can find on them, but can't find the water capacity. This would be just for my interest sake!

 

[2.beans]

the middle size boiler is around 7 to 8 gallons of water

 

[sixroses]

I have a GW 100 with a open 700 gallon tank. I pull from the bottom of the tank, return to the top. I use 2 pumps, one is ran through a Tekmar 157 controller which adjusts pump speed to delta T. As my tank temp nears 190 and return from tank gets close to 190 the second pump is activated by a aquastat, inverter and battery bank. This setup also is for power outage protection and has worked real good. I Then run tank water through a 30 plate HX. The line from storage to house is about 60 feet, I have this line filled with glycol so it does not have to circulate unless the storage is above a minimum temp and the house is calling for heat.
Steve

 

[hobbyheater]

I have a GW 100

GW 100 .What would be its long name?

 

[2.beans]

green wood