Three years ago I found a hardly used Kerr Titan for sale for $500.I bought it and installed it in my attached garage.I have it plumbed into my oil boiler to heat my house and I think it works pretty well, but it does not have a ash drawer and burns alot of wood.So heres the question .I have found a hardly used Tarms MB 75 180k btu boiler for $1000 and I have to move it out of someones basement. Both boiler are from 1979 but both are in good shape.The tarms seem rather large my house is only 1700 sqft or so.Do you folks think it would be worth the effort and exta money it will cost me to buy and install the tarms unit? Next year I'm going to add a 250 gallon pressurized storage tank and will the tank help or would I be better off installing some extra storage????.from what I' seeing on his sight I should have 500 gallons at least.
Kerr Titan or Tarm MB75
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I wonder why I'm not getting any info on my questions???????????????Is it because I'm a newbei????????????Or is it because everyone that has read my post does not have any useful info??????????I thought this was the place for questions about wood fired boilers.I guess someone missinformed me.
It is possible no one, including me, knows anything about these boilers. They both date back 30 years.
I cannot comment on the Tarm, but did have a Titan in my basement when I moved in. maybe it was not setup correctly, but I found the unit to be a creosote still. I scrapped the unit and just got an insert. I am now looking at gasifiers- I refuse to deal with inefficient burners now and will wait until it's in my budget.
I have been heating my house for 26 years with a memco wood boiler. My brother has been using a Kerr Titan for about the same amount of time. His kerr way outperforms my boiler so I just picked up a second hand kerr for $500.00 and will be putting it in. The kerr is a vertical tube boiler much like the Pinnacle pellet boiler which I use in my apartment house.
The only difference I see between the Kerr and the Pinnacle (besides the fuel being burned) is that the pinnacle has larger diameter tubes and less of them. The pinnacle which is 80% efficient also has drop in baffles that go into the tubes. These baffles are a flat piece of metal that has been stamped on a press so that there are tabs that stick out on alternating sides of the flat metal strip. These tabs tend to deflect the heat traveling up through the tubes onto the sides of the tubes. The kerr does not have these inserts but like I said it has smaller diameter tubes.
I clean my pinnacle buy taking off a plenum at the top of the tubes once every couple weeks taking out the baffles and running a brush down the tubes. My brother has a brush that he runs up through the Kerr's tubes once in a while and only takes his plenum off about one a year. He can do this because he has no baffles in his boiler. regardless of how you do it keeping the boiler tubes clear of soot is key to boiler efficiency.
If you want to run your kerr wide open or close to wide open and store hot water I would think about putting baffles in the tubes. This would slow down the heat going through the baffles and direct more heat into the tubes. It will also require you to take off the plenum to clean the boiler which I would do once a week or at least once every two weeks.
I know nothing about a Tarm. Is it a vertical tube boiler also?
Rich
The only difference I see between the Kerr and the Pinnacle (besides the fuel being burned) is that the pinnacle has larger diameter tubes and less of them. The pinnacle which is 80% efficient also has drop in baffles that go into the tubes. These baffles are a flat piece of metal that has been stamped on a press so that there are tabs that stick out on alternating sides of the flat metal strip. These tabs tend to deflect the heat traveling up through the tubes onto the sides of the tubes. The kerr does not have these inserts but like I said it has smaller diameter tubes.
I clean my pinnacle buy taking off a plenum at the top of the tubes once every couple weeks taking out the baffles and running a brush down the tubes. My brother has a brush that he runs up through the Kerr's tubes once in a while and only takes his plenum off about one a year. He can do this because he has no baffles in his boiler. regardless of how you do it keeping the boiler tubes clear of soot is key to boiler efficiency.
If you want to run your kerr wide open or close to wide open and store hot water I would think about putting baffles in the tubes. This would slow down the heat going through the baffles and direct more heat into the tubes. It will also require you to take off the plenum to clean the boiler which I would do once a week or at least once every two weeks.
I know nothing about a Tarm. Is it a vertical tube boiler also?
Rich
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