fineally one fire 5 days of hot water 500 gallons of storage

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bernard

Member
Sep 17, 2008
39
central maine
from 2 days to 5 days was ok with me+ a tank temp of 192 just by bypassing the boiler putting hot water directly into a 30 gallon super stor plenty of hot water !!!
 
Ok, are you saying you can go 5 days on 30 gal of water at 192??

I've never met a human being that I'd want to be anywhere near that showers every 5 days . . . including myself :eek:hh:
 
I’ve never met a human being that I’d want to be anywhere near that showers every 5 days . . .

Have you forgotten the Saturday night bath? Last I counted, that was 7 days.

Bernard, really happy to read about your success!
 
Do you use any other heat source other than the loop to storage? Once you use the 30 gallons in the tank, how long does it take to recover?
 
it usually only takes 5 or so minutes to recouver i lit a fire on monday used hot water all week and still have a tank temp of 138 i will light one again on saturday morning.
 
Bathing every day is a pretty recent notion in history.

Firing your wood boiler once or twice a week to bathe every day sounds like a great achievement. Hope to be in the same situation a year from now.
 
bernard said:
it usually only takes 5 or so minutes to recouver i lit a fire on monday used hot water all week and still have a tank temp of 138 i will light one again on saturday morning.

That's great...congrats. I have been leaning towards your model over solar for the non-heating months. Thanks for sharing your experience.
 
I have my DHW coil right in my 670 gallon home-built storage. My wife and I are the only two living here, and both average around a shower a day. I had a fire Sunday evening, as I recall, though it may have been Monday. At any rate, I went to light another fire this morning and changed my mind when I saw the storage temps - no need yet. With no house heating, it appears that a good heating of the tank will last us just about a week for DHW.
 
Rory said:
I have my DHW coil right in my 670 gallon home-built storage. My wife and I are the only two living here, and both average around a shower a day. I had a fire Sunday evening, as I recall, though it may have been Monday. At any rate, I went to light another fire this morning and changed my mind when I saw the storage temps - no need yet. With no house heating, it appears that a good heating of the tank will last us just about a week for DHW.

No water heater or on-demand, just domestic water line through the coil to the shower head?
 
SolarAndWood said:
No water heater or on-demand, just domestic water line through the coil to the shower head?

No, in addition to the 2 120' foot coils that serve as the primary heat exchanger, I have a 180' coil for DHW. Works great. Of course, we have a tempering valve where it exits the tank.
 
pendulum said:
bernard said:
from 2 days to 5 days was ok with me+ a tank temp of 192 just by bypassing the boiler putting hot water directly into a 30 gallon super stor plenty of hot water !!!
500 gal X8[lbs/gal]= 4000 lbs X 70*F differential= 280000 btu?= 2 gal. oil?
assuming temp drop from 192 to 122
1btu = 1lb h2o X 1* f change

Interesting. I've been using my tarm to heat my h/w. I fire up every 3-days. I have 500 gallons of storage too. So I'm saving about $5.00 in oil to raise 500 gallons of water70* at the above differential.
Then there is considerable heat loss of the storage tank over those three days.
 
how much wood? also what type of boiler are you using? thats what im getting with a 1000 gallons, theres three showers and a new born in the house though.
 
here are my experiences so far this summer. I have a greenfire boiler and 1000 gallons pressurized storage. I have to make three fires to bring my tank from 90 F to 170 F that takes about twelve hours, this is with less than year old hemlock it takes about 3 rounds to fill my boiler up so 9 rounds heats the tank I have gotten 7 or 8 days out of this with daily showers, laundry and dishes. I double insulated all my pipes and my tank is in a box that is foiled and filled with blown fiberglass then batts in the framing of the box so probably pretty well insulated. hope this helps anyone reading this thread
 
1 full load of wood amix of beech maple ash will bring the tank temp from 120 to192 in about 10 to 12 hours the stove is a eko- 40 +set the circulater at 170 say good bye to the oil man !!!!!
 
cycloptic pendulum said:
bernard said:
from 2 days to 5 days was ok with me+ a tank temp of 192 just by bypassing the boiler putting hot water directly into a 30 gallon super stor plenty of hot water !!!
500 gal X8[lbs/gal]= 4000 lbs X 70*F differential= 280000 btu?= 2 gal. oil?
assuming temp drop from 192 to 122
1btu = 1lb h2o X 1* f change

Don't forget use 8.34 lbs to a gallon and also include your combustion efficiency of an oil setup which is anywhere from about 80 to 87%. So real gain is quite a bit higher than 2 gal oil.
 
Now, in the Summer, I do a burn about every 4 to 7 days depending on usage. A burn will raise my tanks 30-40 degrees F depending on the wood. I usually do a burn when it gets between 130-140F. I have a standing heat loss of about 4F per day. I like it!

Dean
 
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