I picked up a 350 gallon "tuff-tank" of of craigslist for 50 bucks.I plan on using it for additional thermal storage connected to my outdoor furnace"Hardy H-5.I plan on insulating it with 4"e.p.s. board.My question is are there any tangible beneifts of having increased thermal storage.Thanks for your time.Im a newby here but have been heating my home and hot water for 4 years now with the hardy furnace.Its a wood consuming beast,about 20 pieces of 24-30 inch wood daily.
thermal storage tank
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Good news and bad news....
Thermal storage can help efficiency and comfort. There's a bit of calculation involved, though.
They can help efficiency by allowing the boiler to run flat-out, at peak efficiency, for a few hours per day and then go out. That's much more efficient than idling most of the time. I run my boiler about 7 hours per day on average.
They help comfort because you can keep the house temperature constant regardless of what the boiler is doing.
In order to be useful, the storage has to be big enough to store somewhere close to a day's worth of heat. 350 gallons is virtually certain to be too small. Also, storage is of little value if you don't let the boiler go out. Some people don't like starting fires and are not willing to operate their boilers in that way.
I don't know what a tuff tank is, but most plastic tanks are not rated for continuous use at the temperatures that storage requires.
Thermal storage can help efficiency and comfort. There's a bit of calculation involved, though.
They can help efficiency by allowing the boiler to run flat-out, at peak efficiency, for a few hours per day and then go out. That's much more efficient than idling most of the time. I run my boiler about 7 hours per day on average.
They help comfort because you can keep the house temperature constant regardless of what the boiler is doing.
In order to be useful, the storage has to be big enough to store somewhere close to a day's worth of heat. 350 gallons is virtually certain to be too small. Also, storage is of little value if you don't let the boiler go out. Some people don't like starting fires and are not willing to operate their boilers in that way.
I don't know what a tuff tank is, but most plastic tanks are not rated for continuous use at the temperatures that storage requires.
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