Boiler i built

[Markp40]

Finished my boiler it has 600 gallons of water storage and a multiple pass flue the firebox has secondary combustion. Im heating my 5000 sqft home and two hot water heaters plus garage all forced air and running plate exchangers on hot water heaters. I do batch burns works very well and very efficient. Thanks

 

[SpaceBus]

Wow, looks great! How many cords are you using per season for that 5,000 sqft heated space plus hot water? My wife was asking about building hoop houses and heating them with a boiler and she didn't understand the cost involved. I'm sure even your DIY boiler was a significant investment.

 

[Markp40]

Wow, looks great! How many cords are you using per season for that 5,000 sqft heated space plus hot water? My wife was asking about building hoop houses and heating them with a boiler and she didn't understand the cost involved. I'm sure even your DIY boiler was a significant investment.

I dont have alot of money in this boiler i had alot of the materials already probably around 1500$ i spent on pumps and some materials. I built another one for my buddy last year that holds 350 gallons and has secondary gasification very efficient i had 3500$ in that boiler. Ive burnt roughly 2 cords since December. Thansk

 

[sloeffle]

Ive burnt roughly 2 cords since December. Thansk

That's impressive. How did you come up with the design ?

Nice build BTW.

 

[Markp40]

That's impressive. How did you come up with the design ?

Nice build BTW.

Ive built 5 boilers just kinda change things as i go to make more efficient, ideas just come from research i have done and trying different things.

 

[hedge wood]

Markp40 Welcome to the forum. Very nice boiler you have there. I like the old Diamond T or Reo truck too. Like the green tractor too. Its pretty green around this farm also.

 

[salecker]

Cool old truck
Awesome boiler...
The place just oozes man cave goodies

 

[SpaceBus]

A cord a month for 5,000 sqft on a home made boiler is very impressive. I'd say efficiency must be above 70%, which is a big achievement.

 

[clancey]

Very impressive with beautiful pictures..clancey

 

[Markp40]

Markp40 Welcome to the forum. Very nice boiler you have there. I like the old Diamond T or Reo truck too. Like the green tractor too. Its pretty green around this farm also.

Thank you! Yes i love the green i do have a F20 also , the truck is a 65 diamond T.

 

[Tonty]

Looks somewhat similar to the Switzer boilers. I have a 600 gallon Switzer, and I love it. I’m curious about a couple of things. I think is see two different fans on there, is it a combo of induced and forced draft? I think I saw a blower on the side on one picture, and there is one by the stack on a different picture. Also looks like it must be a non-pressurized system? The Switzer is a pressurized boiler. Do you have any type of computerized controls on it, or os it pretty much manual control?
It would take me a long time to build something like that. My hat is off to you.

 

[Markp40]

Looks somewhat similar to the Switzer boilers. I have a 600 gallon Switzer, and I love it. I’m curious about a couple of things. I think is see two different fans on there, is it a combo of induced and forced draft? I think I saw a blower on the side on one picture, and there is one by the stack on a different picture. Also looks like it must be a non-pressurized system? The Switzer is a pressurized boiler. Do you have any type of computerized controls on it, or os it pretty much manual control?
It would take me a long time to build something like that. My hat is off to you.

Hi there ! So the boiler does have two blowers the one up on the stack creates vacuum on firebox i use it when i start the fire it pulls all smoke out once im done loading and fire is going good i shut it off and the 220cfm vortex blower takes over as forced draft and i have it on low. I have a timer that i use to power the aquastat and i just use the aquastat to kick blower off once temp has been reached then timer runs out and kills power to the aquastat and shuts blower down until im ready to do another burn. Hope that help explain. Thanks

 

[TCaldwell]

Nice job, big endeavor, I’m assuming it’s smokeless after startup? Have you monitored any temps in the secondary chamber or flue?

 

[rwhite]

Wow, that's impressive.

 

[Markp40]

Nice job, big endeavor, I’m assuming it’s smokeless after startup? Have you monitored any temps in the secondary chamber or flue?

Yes smokeless after about 5-10 min once temp get up in firebox. I have checked temps coming out of burn chamber into the multipass and with my probe it only reads to 1000 degrees and it tops that out.

 

[SpaceBus]

Yes smokeless after about 5-10 min once temp get up in firebox. I have checked temps coming out of burn chamber into the multipass and with my probe it only reads to 1000 degrees and it tops that out.

Do you measure flue temps? I would assume your multipass chamber has to be at least 1,200F, if not much higher, and if your flue temps are below 300f your efficiency would have to be pretty good.

 

[Markp40]

Do you measure flue temps? I would assume your multipass chamber has to be at least 1,200F, if not much higher, and if your flue temps are below 300f your efficiency would have to be pretty good.

Yes i have probe in my stack its runs around 400-450. My multipass is two 4x10” by 6’ long . I have alot of circulation in my tank everything is crossflowed . It usually take about a hour and 45min to raise 600gal 65 degrees , i do batch burns i run down to 120 and off at 185.