New Tarm Solo Innova 30

[bmblank]

Just wanted to show off my new Tarm.
About 1600 gallons of unpressurized storage buried outside the basement wall (to the left of the boiler), Hydrosmart HS115 lp boiler for backup. All plumbed in using the Tarm Biomass' stss1 plumbing schematic, with various small variations.
Walk in basement, so its nice to bring wood in. To the left of the boiler is one of those huge lawn wagons with pneumatic wheels... Those are awesome for bringing in large loads of wood.
Boiler install, homemade tankand all plumbing done by yours truly. Like my dad says, its handy to be handy.

 

[maple1]

More pics! Particularly of that storage setup.

Congrats!

 

[dogwood]

Nice neat looking installation bmblank. Great job. Are you pleased with how your Solo Innova's working thus far? And what is that white thing on the Solo Innova's front panel?. Don't have that on mine. I'm impressed you've done it all on your own. I'd like to see more pics too.

Mike

 

[leeeallen]

Please send more pics. Is that red pex in the background regular pex or does it have an O2 barrier.

 

[flyingcow]

Man look at the shine! Good job, and i would like to know what the white thing is also.

 

[mikefrommaine]

Looks good, more info on the buried storage please.

 

[bmblank]

On the front panel I've installed a pid controller (left of white thing) which is my storage aquastat, then the white thing is my backup controller. Its not really necessary, but i didn't really know that at the time i installed it, and it looks nice on there so i left it. Its nice to see flue rates and all.
Storage is an old buried fuel tank my dad found (specifically for this purpose) in a junkyard. He was axially the one that welded a new end on it, but i put coils in it. Two heating coils in parallel (3/4" copper, 100 ft each) and one coil (100 ft 3/4 cu) for domestic water. We actually insulated and buried our own pex lines between, but turns out the run is way to long(roughly 30 ft to the tank)/pex is way to small (3/4 pex) to get good transfer. I can get it up to 140-150, then the boiler starts its idling thing. This spring we'll be digging it up and running 1" cu lines to the tank. Hopefully that gets it up to 175-180 before idle kicks in.
I'll add some pics, but I'm at work on my phone right now so i suppose i should get going.

 

[bmblank]

All heating pex is o2 barrier, water lines are not.

 

[BadgerBoilerMN]

You may want to review the pump installation manual.

 

[bmblank]

Yeah, lines were already down by the time i realized it... I'll limp through the winter with it on account of the frozen ground, but after that I'll be golden.

 

[kopeck]

Great job! You've got a lot going on there, it sure feels good when it all works!

K

 

[bmblank]

Hey all. More pics as promised.
The tank is an old fuel tank with about 6 to 8 inches of sprayed on insulation. The insulation is quite hard and holds up surprisingly well. We are in the process of insulating and bundling the Pyrex to go between the tank and house. 5 lines of 3/4 pex. Two are for heating the tank (there and back) and two are domestic water (there and back again) and one to show the water level of the tank using a clear open ended hose in the basement. A mark on the wall tells me when I'm going to over fill it. Its my understanding that due to evaporation in the open system I'll have to check up on it time to time. Both my brother and dad have older tarms with storage and that's their experience.

This one is the insulated bunch making their way into the house. They're buried now.
Last is the front panel modified. No power to it in that pic though.

I think there's a 3 picture limit, so I'll cut it here, but maybe be back with more.

 

[bmblank]

Some plumbing. Tank lines come in at just above floor level on the left. This is before its all hooked up. A little cleaner now.


My wood wagon fits perfectly between the wall and the boiler. Right near the door and at arms reach when i open the firebox.


All in pursuit of a little bit of fire...

 

[jebatty]

Really nice to know another "handy." I used 3/4" steel pipe on my first install of my Tarm Solo 40, about 50' round trip run -- same experience as you, not enough flow to prevent idling due to high head. A temporary solution was a 2nd circulator in series controlled by its own aquastat to turn "on" when water temp reach 185F, off at 180F. Of course, could pick any setpoint desired. That greatly reduced the idling. When I moved the Tarm to my new shop, piping is 1-1/4 cu and a short run, 15-58 circ. The Tarm never idles anymore.

 

[Fred61]

How do you plan to prevent corrosion of the tank? I think you said it's an old oil tank so I presume it is steel.

 

[bmblank]

Its 3/8 still tank, its bound to rust some. I've considered trying to find some corrosion inhibitor to drop in there. On the other hand, though, it'll still take quite a while to get anywhere close to rusting through. Especially with the heat cycling of the water and no circulation, there's actually quite a low o2 concentration in there. I also don't really want to give up any heat capacity are transferability, which an inhibitor would probably do. Of course,i could just drop a bunch of zinc bars in there and hope for the best.
My dad and my brother both have storage with 3/4 cu going to it, so i thought i might get by, but the have short runs (dads is right next to boiler, brothers is buried just outside basement wall) and also they have older dual fuel boilers. E just didn't take into account how much faster the innova would pump out the heat.

 

[Fred61]

The trouble is that they usually don't just corrode evenly over the whole surface they usually start pitting and for whatever reason keep corroding in the same spot. I think it is due to electrolysys. If you decide to go without inhibitors, I would recommend sacrificial anodes.

 

[kopeck]

I was wondering about corrosion as well but 3/8" of steel will give you some life. I guess it's one of those things you just have to keep an eye on.

I've never seen a setup quite like yours, it's interesting to say the least. Do you have any easy access to the tank or is it completely buried?

What are you using as a heat exchanger?

K

 

[bmblank]

Its completely buried, well, it will be when the yard gets finished of, but the hatch will be close to the surface, just under the grass or so so it'll be easy to get into.
The heat exchanger id just a couple hundred feet of copper we wrapped around a barrel to make coils. I have some pics of making those and the tank, but they're not on my phone, so it'll takea while to get those.

 

[maple1]

I think I'd seriously consider some inhibitor and try to make things last as long as possible.

What kind of temp drop are you seeing across your coils?

 

[bmblank]

Before i forget,i want to give a shout out to Rene and Travis and all the other guys at Tarm Biomass. Between my dad, my brother and I we must have spent 10 hours on the phone trying to get my system going the way i wanted it. They were always helpful and good at what they do. I would do business with them allot more if i didn't expect my boiler to last so long.
Also, the Mike Pieters at Nibco really did me a solid helping me get my radiant heat panel operable again. They didn't really need to help me, but they went above and beyond to get me going.

 

[kopeck]

I think I'd seriously consider some inhibitor and try to make things last as long as possible.

What kind of temp drop are you seeing across your coils?

I'm with maple, all it takes is a pin hole to make for a very bad day. I am interested to find out how it all works for you. Seems like a lot of people ask about burring their tanks but then deiced against it due to heat loss.

K

 

[Fred61]

Seems like a lot of people ask about burring their tanks but then deiced against it due to heat loss​

Water is your enemy.

 

[bmblank]

Hers a few pics of the tank. First is the tank after fabricating a hatch and welding in bungs out other various pass-throughs.

Next is 100 feet of 3/4 inch copper. Two of those in parallel makes up the loops to both heat and draw heat from the tank. Another coil heats up the domestic water.

And lastly, the coils inside the tank. WE Made up some stantions, which are basically just some uprights we wired the coils to so they would keep their shape during transit and not sag down to a spaghetti looking pile of tubing. They are also tied to the tank to keep them from tipping and everything. E didn't wasn't them moving around and breaking solder joints and whatnot.

 

[jebatty]

Nice setup, and it's always good to hear about a high level of dealer support.

Since put in operation, have you sampled your tank water? Is it clear or rusty? A big culprit for corrosion in a steel tank is low pH water. Test your water pH, you may be fine or you may have acidic water. IMO pH should be in the range of 8-10. Next big culprit is oxygen. Both can be easily and inexpensively dealt with to a reasonable level.