heat xchange question

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Hope everyone has a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving!
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
Status
Not open for further replies.

Dave79

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Aug 10, 2008
8
ny/vt/mass border
I need some advice, I have a chappee wood boiler I am setting up. 150000 btu, my oil burner is also 150000 btu. what size heat exchanger do I need to couple these together? flat plate. How many plates etc btu's ? any help appreciated
 
I am not familiar with these. Is it an OWB? You only need a plate hx if you are using glycol or some other freeze protection additive. If it is an indoor boiler, you can pipe them together with no exchanger. Most here suggest using the primary/secondary piping. Checkout the stickies. Give us some more specifics and we can probably help you.
 
wood not oil,
It is an indoor boiler in the garage approx 50 feet from the house. The boiler in the garage will be at ground level while the other one is in the cellar. I am going to bury the lines at least 6 feet deep. I live on a valley bottom that is all gravel, so there is no water table to be concerned with. I didn't know if it was a problem pressurewise
because of the elevation difference. I work in an asme steel shop and am planning to fabricate a storage tank 500 gallon capacity. the garage/machine/weldshop is well insulated and never freezes in the winter. I used to heat it with a woodstove into a metalbestos chimney 30 feet high. Thanks Dave
 
Sounds like you do need a heat exchanger in that setup. Decide first where you want to buy it from and then call them up and talk to one of their techs for sizing of plates, pipe, and pumps. The sizes all depend upon one another. I got my plate hx from (broken link removed) and they were very helpful in sizing and had some good suggestions.

As for storage, it should ideally be closer to the larger heat load if possible. A self fabricated steel tank sounds good. How much does steel for a 500 gallon tank cost? Perhaps a combination of wood and steel reinforcement would be less expensive. I assume the Chappee is not a gasifier. Gasifiers of that btu output usually like slightly larger storage, like 800-1000 gallons. Any boiler can benefit from storage however. 500 gallons is much better than none!

Hopefully somone else will chime in and help with other suggestions.
 
I work in an asme steel shop and am planning to fabricate a storage tank 500 gallon capacity.
Is the tank gonna be round or square ? Pressurized or not ? Please post pics when your doing the fab.
Will
 
hey guys ,
I priced out the steel for the tank today, looks like the 5x10x3/16 sheets will cost about 250 to 280 at todays price. need 2. the expense is in the ends. they either have to be dished (expensive) or very thick. the book says inch and a half. I have to look around the shop for drops. roll the sheets the long way, weld cylinders together end to end, add stays and ends. do all the drill and tap work in the ends before fab. should be approx 32" dia by10 feet long 550 gallons. be alot nicer to make two segments 32" radius welded end to end for a 64 inch tank by 5 feet long, but I have to use what I can find around the shop for the ends. I think I've got some round burnouts bigger than 32" by 1 and 1/2..but there isnt anything 64 inches across. Dave
 
Status
Not open for further replies.