Getting Started on my Gassifier

[MyOutdoors]

Well, I've looked at just about everything under the sun as far as boilers go for alternative heating. I ruled out the OWB's due to smoke and local regs and now have decided on an indoor wood gassifier. I'm going with the EKO 40. I have spent quite a bit of time staring at my current oil fired boiler and it's configuration. Unfortunately I do not have the room for the additional EKO and storage, nor do I have an extra flue to run the EKO. I thought I could power vent the oil boiler and use the chimney flue, but in order to power vent, I need minimum of 4' clearance from any door or window, which I don't have.

I'm in the process of building a 24' x 30' uninsulated barn with a gravel floor. My plan now is to incorporate a "boiler room" by pouring a concrete slab and insulating that specific space and put in a SS Flue. I would like to build/frame a 4x4x8 storage tank out of wood and line it. I will have to run 100' of PEX from the barn to the house.

With the help of this site, I'm hoping to do 85% of the work myself. I decided that I'll run the boilers in series and use a plate HX vs. copper coils for the storage. My concerns are:

My boiler is now in a out building, what do I do to prevent freezing during a power outage, etc.?

What size circulating pump will I need to pump the 100' to the house?

I'm going to need some help designing the storage tank as far as where to install dip tubes, pumps and Plate HX and anything else that's needed.

I'm still confused about how to "tie in" to my existing boiler which currently has 3-radiant zones and a 4th zone going to a super storer for hot water. Each zone has it's own Taco pump and runs with a Taco zone control box. (I'll provide pics and a rough schematic)

With the help of you guys, I'd like to start with a lot of pics and info as I go along, so we can help other people like myself, self install. I'm one of those people who love to DIY, but need some hands on and illustrations to help me along. After spending hours on this site, I've noticed quite a few of us in the same situation.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I have about a 100-foot 1" pipe run connecting my boiler to my system in the basement, and I'm using a Grundfos 96-24 (I think), which I'm told is sized perfectly for that setup. In any event, it works just fine.

I wouldn't worry too much about freeze-up. A well-insulated boiler room and pipe run will retain enough heat to keep things from freezing up for days, I would think--especially if your piping is below the frost line. One good insurance policy would be either a battery backup or small generator to run the pump during a power outage. The flowing water will resist freezing, and you might even be able to run one of your boilers off it, thus providing hot water to the system, if not the house.

Tying into your existing system shouldn't be that hard. You need to decide whether you're going to pipe it in parallel or series. Parallel is more efficient, but series may make more sense, depending on how your current boiler is set up. Are the pumps on or near the existing boiler? If so, you may be ahead to simply pump hot water into that boiler and let it distribute heat into your house just like it does now. That's the simple way to do it. You can parallel it pretty easily if your pumps are located somewhere else. Basically, you'll have to create a way to bypass the existing boiler and send hot water from the EKO directly to the zone pumps. As I said, it depends on your current setup.

You didn't mention domestic hot water (DHW). That's an important part of the equation. The easiest way to get DHW out of a wood-fired boiler is to build or buy a sidearm heat exchanger and connect it to an existing water heater. It's basically another zone that provides free hot water.

As to your tank design, check out the threads dealing with flat plate heat exchangers and nonpressurized tanks. A few people are doing it that way, apparently with good results.

 

[MyOutdoors]

Thanks Eric. All my current pumps are right off the oil boiler. My DHW is run off the oil boiler going to a super storer. I believe if I just connected my EKO to the oil boiler is series I can run it exactly like it is now and if for some reason I lose power and things start to cool down my oil boiler will kick in?

 

[MyOutdoors]

s anyone seen these tanks for possible storage? They also have a insulation wrapping as well.

(broken link removed to http://www.plastic-mart.com/class.php?item=3095)

 

[WoodNotOil]

MyOutdoors - In a power outage most oil boilers can't run because there is an initial surge of power needed to fire and there is a pump for the oil. Also, all of the zone circs need power to run, including the one for DHW. The series install exists for systems like yours.

For series put the output of the Eko to the return of oil boiler and the output of oil boiler to the Eko return. This is the simplest method, but would be unnecessary if you add indirect DHW later and then you would be stuck with it. It is less efficient to keep the oil boiler hot at all times.

To do parallel you would come in from the Eko between the output of the oil boiler and your zone manifold. You would need to get a side arm or some other way of heating DHW off of a zone and not the oil boiler.

 

[sparke]

That plastic tank will not work. It is made out of polyethylene. You need polypropelene or better. Unfortunately with the type of material you need- they become expensive. I did alot of searching the best I could find was a 1000 gallon tank made of polypropylene. It costs $1400. For that price I would rather have steel or aluminum.

 

[MyOutdoors]

Thank you WNO, I will post picks of my current setup so I can put a pointer where you are talking about.

I figured the tank would not work as it was way too easy to find during a search..oh well.