Storage to DHW circuitry with tempering mode.

[ewdudley]

Buffer tank has tankless coil in the top of it, nominally a '7 GPM' unit that supplies continuous hot water if top of buffer tank is maintained above 140 degF or so.

During heating season valve V1 is closed and V2 is open. Heated water flows though tankless coil, into diverting valve. Presumably water is hot so it is diverted out the "C" port, up and over to the mixing valve, and is mixed out to the demand. Differential temperature controller and the bronze recirc pump are used during heating season to keep the whole tankless coil circuit hot.

During non-heating season, valve V1 is open and V2 is closed. If water arriving at diverting valve is hot enough it is diverted directly to the DHW load. Otherwise not-so-hot water is diverted to the bottom of the electric DHW tank. Electric tank brings the water up to a usable temperature. Whenever the buffer tank is hot enough the DHW tank will be filled from the top with hot water by the recirc pump.

 

[Gasifier]

Nice set up Eliot. Do you do your own installation work? What type of wood do you like to burn best in your boiler?

 

[ewdudley]

Do you do your own installation work?

Used to was I would attempt anything but sweating copper, but my plumber left me in the lurch with this DHW subsystem. So I got a torch and some abrasives and some flux and some solder and I managed not to bugger up any valves or components. It was a nice starter project because the whole assembly could be done on the bench and I could shake out all the solder balls my sub-standard workmanship might otherwise have left inside.

What type of wood do you like to burn best in your boiler?

Anything dry. Or dry and well split. Or dry and well split and not too long.

Normally I try to clean out hedges and deadwood before I take the luxury of actually selecting trees for firewood. But given a choice I go for the black locust; you drag less water out of the woods, is seasons fast, and with a gasifier it burns the best any time of year.