Kedel with STSS storage for buffer

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T

TimCroft

Member
Mar 3, 2009
17
Hudson valley NY
I am thinking about switching to pellet heat.. I have a 10 year old Tarm XL2000 wood boiler. I have gone from cutting, splitting and hauling to paying and stacking and now pellets are looking very attractive.
I have a 660 gal STSS buffer tank with DHW coil which allowed me to run a full load of wood thru the Tarm and charg the tank for a day of heat in the coldest weather in my 2000 square foot home in upstate NY.
I am thinking that I could just install a Kedel 100K unit and run the output into the STSS tank, eliminating any modulating and running the boiler at maximum output until the tank is up to temp.


I also want to do my own install as I did with the Tarm. Following Tarm's guidelines I have everything in place including return water temp protection so the pellet boiler should plug right in . Does Kedel sell direct to consumers?

Any thoughts?
 
I don't see why not; you're looking for plug and play.
I believe there're several on the forum who've installed Kedel boilers.
I can recommend Windhager. I installed mine. Contact: [email protected]
 
"How was the complexity of the install? The Tarm manual was very detailed. The Windhager look like NASA controls compared to the Tarm. Did you find it easy to wire up? That would be my concern. Hard to find any prices online for Windhagers"

Your install should not be complicated.
 
The big difference between switching from cordwood to pellets is significant. Instead of doing efficient batch-burning with cordwood and storing BTUs in your STSS tank, with pellets your BTUs will be stored AS PELLETS in a large multi-ton bin. The pellet boiler will then modulate and "manage" the efficient burning--rather than YOU as a "batch-burner." THIS is the big paradigm shift--and the convenience you are seeking. Windhager is an excellent brand to consider. In fact I would ONLY consider Austrian-made systems. A pellet bin takes up a signif. amount of space. You might need to sacrifice the STSS tank. You'd still need a heat-storage tank though--minimuim of 120 gal. for efficient burn of the pellet boiler. NY state offers signif. incentives for solid fuel burning.
 
we just had someone switch out their Tarm Excel for a Fröling P4 pellet boiler in NY. They had an STSS tank with the Excel and have left it in place. Works great. Any boiler benefits from long run times and long off times (infrequent on/off cycling) and this is especially true of a biomass boiler. I would encourage you to keep the STSS tank in place - especially if that is where you are making your domestic hot water. Most pellet boilers on the market right now are designed to use a bulk pellet bin. And the NYSERDA rebate requires a bulk bin too. That being said, you can always set up a small bin and load with bagged pellets if that is your preference. Do your research about boiler availability and support in your area before you choose a brand. You should have no problem selling the Excel on Craigslist. Good luck with the project.
 
We have been supplying buffer tanks for Pellet installations.
Short cycling is inefficient, whether it is with fossil fuel systems or biomass systems.
We also are seeing a number of installers using what I would consider substantial storage tank capacity for heat pump systems.
Same deal, usually steady operation is preferable to short on/off cycles.
 
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