Oil free with heat storage?

[sparke]

Is it possible to become "oil free" if I add a heat storage system to my existing set up? I currently have a Buderus wood/coal boiler in tandem with an oil fired boiler (not cold start).
My biggest concern is running my boiler (older unit) in the summer time.

Thanks.

 

[Gooserider]

In theory yes, and having the heat storage unit may also help the efficiency and cleanliness of your wood burner as well - It would let you run the wood burner at peak efficiency while charging the storage unit, and then go out while you run of the stored heat, as opposed to going in and out of idle mode on the wood burner.

Whether that would let you go totally oil free, I don't know, you might still want to keep the oil burner around for times when you aren't home to feed the wood burner, etc.

There are a couple of our other members that are working on projects that are on the same line, hopefully one of them will chime in with more info.

Gooserider

 

[sparke]

Agreed, I plan on keeping the oil boiler connected in tandem. Hopefully we will hear from folks that have this system. Thanks for the input.

 

[keyman512us]

Agreed, I plan on keeping the oil boiler connected in tandem. Hopefully we will hear from folks that have this system. Thanks for the input.

Sparke... Glad to hear from you.

Got any pictures of that Buderhus wood/coal unit???

I run coal/wood boiler also. "In theory" you could be "oil independant". When I set my boiler up that also "was a goal"...you could do it...people have. My "best year" was less than 150 gallons (not bad when you consider an average heating year I use 1100 gallons without wood backup).
As to the 'spirit' of your question...is your question strictly 'can it be done' or is part of it you wonder "should I run it every so often"???
...One thing to keep in mind, generally a 'warm' boiler lasts longer according to some. Whether it's from the fire inside the unit or just "circulated through" not a bad idea to keep it warm occasionally.

Depending on how big of a tank you use to store the heat...will determine "how often you have to fire". A local here in my neck of the woods can regularly go 3 days without firing his boiler.

In my locale, I no longer have this option "for the summertime" as wood firing is excluded from 5/15 to 9/15 by local ordinance... there are some 'stealth burners' though...lol

Is your buderhus a 'gasification unit' by any chance???

There are a few 'boiler burners' here and I'm sure they will also chime in.

Heat storage is a great option you should definately look into... do some searching here on the site.

When you say your "older boiler"...which one?? Terminology is the key (boy could I get web going OWB-Oil water boiler...lol)... For "discusion purposes" and to make things easy...when you are talking about either of your boilers (ain't it great to be able to say..'yeah I got two of em'..) refer to your wood/coal as the 'SFB' (SOLID fuel boiler)...makes thing easier all the way around...

Once again...glad to hear from a fellow 'boiler burner'.....

 

[Eric Johnson]

Theoretically, you should be able to avoid burning any oil if you have sufficient hot water storage.

I'm just about ready to get a new wood gasification boiler system set up with 1,000 gallons of hot water storage, which I hope will allow me to produce domestic hot water year-around, plus heat in the spring and fall, all without burning any natural gas. Heating exclusively with wood in the colder months is no problem--I've been doing that with a conventional wood-fired boilers and no heat storage for about 12 years in northern New York State. It's the transitional weather without heat storage that presents the problems. You can do it, but it's a lot of screwing around, so most people eventually get fed up and just turn on the oil or gas during moderate weather (50s F).

Heat storage is supposed to give you enough flexibility so that you can crank your boiler up less frequently and burn more efficiently in the process, and then live off the stored heat. I'll know whether or not that's the case with my system in a month or two.

 

[sparke]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies.

Keyman, here are some pics of my boiler: http://s126.photobucket.com/albums/p83/sparkie68/ There are some pics of my puppy and nice fall foliage pics as well.
The model # is 2.4. The tag does not give me a year. It is not a gasifier and burning coal is rough because the unit has wet grates not shaker grates.
The root of my problem lies with the fact my oil boiler is outdated. I dont really want to upgrade it because I hate them sonzabithes!
I would rather update my wood boiler system if I can heat domestic year round. That creates 2 problems, 1. Is my existing boiler efficient enough
to run in summer months? 2. Does heat storage work as well as Tarm and other web sites claim they do in summer months. I have my doubts...

Eric, You are the reason I got started on this whole heat storage kick I have been following your article and I am looking foward to your feedback.