Yes I have my boilers in separate flues. Wood boiler flue is a 8x11. I have burnt wood my whole life, so I get the whole creosote issues that could occur. I also have a wood stove and old fashion cook stove in my house, so heat isn't an issue.A few initial questions.
Do you have two flues and is the spare one large enough to handle wood boiler? Maine does have an exemption that in some cases you can hook a wood boiler to a oil flue but its not a great idea and is not allowed in most states for really good reasons.
Are you planning to install hot water storage?. Long ago people installed wood boilers without storage but it limits when you can use the wood boiler, it also introduces the potential for lots of chimney fires.
About 20 years ago I got a wood boiler for free and did what you want to do. Until I added hot water storage I only used it during very cold weather. The problem is without storage, you are essentially adding an outdoor wood wood boiler in your basement with all the associated problems a OWB has. When the boiler is running and you need lots of heat, its fairly efficient combustion, the problem is once the house is up to temperature and there is no where to put the heat the air damper closes. When that happens the boiler is starved for air and doesnt burn efficiently. What you end up with is creosote in the chimney and lots of smoke up the stack. You may not notice it but your neighbors may. The alternative is to feed it very small loads of wood to try to match the heating demand. It sounds like a plan until you discover that most indoor wood boilers burn the wood completely so you have no coals between burns meaning you need to relight it quite often. My neighbor added a Tarm without storage and ended up having multiple chimney fires despite leaving a ladder permanently next to the chimney and cleaning the chimney every 4 or 5 weeks. He ended up destroying his chimney tile and melted a chimney liner.
Once I put in storage, I cut my wood use by a third. I just run the boiler for a couple of hours at night to heat up the storage tank and then run off the tank until the next night. The key is to size the storage tank big enough to match the building heating load.
Before you spend a lot of time on it, make sure the boiler is in good shape. You can get parts and manuals from tarm usa http://tarmusa.com/
They are good folks and should be able to help you figure out if its worth installing as Tarms do wear out.
Yes I have my boilers in separate flues. Wood boiler flue is a 8x11. I have burnt wood my whole life, so I get the whole creosote issues that could occur. I also have a wood stove and old fashion cook stove in my house, so heat isn't an issue.
Storage?..... How much is my question I guess? The Tarm itself has storage or is that not considered storage? I'm also wondering connecting the wood boiler. Best way to do so, with and without storage? Also the best way to have the wiring setup, aquastats, circ. pumps exc?
Thanks for your input peakbagger. I appreciate all ideas and thoughts.
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