Royall 6150 setup questions

[GKG-MO]

Hi All,
I have learned allot lurking around your forum. Thanks to the moderators for keeping it going.

I just installed a Royall 6150 I got of Craigslist for $400 and so far I'm pleased. I'm heating my 1800 sqft. 2 story house to 71* and Haven't used any oil this year yet.
My 3 questions are;

1. Do I need an expansion tank in my system?

The Royall is piped into the oil boiler witch controls the circulator for my 1 zone. The oil boiler system didn't have an expansion tank hooked up to it when I bought the house but I think from what I know about hot water heating systems that it should have one. I used the oil boiler the first 2 years I lived here and it seemed to work fine but the guy who owned the house before me had a tendency to do things halfway (or so I'm finding out now). The whole system only holds 100 or so gallons so I'm thinking a 5 gallon expansion tank should do it.

2. Would a 275 gallon oil tank make a good storage tank?

I have a friend who is trying to sell a 275 gallon oil tank that looks to be in good shape. I'm wondering if I use this as a pressurized storage tank will it work? I'm not looking for miracle's just maybe to hold me over when I can't get straight home from work on really cold days. If it could keep the house warm an extra hour or so it would be worth the hassle and the $50 he said he wants for it. I can get the boiler to burn about 9 hours now but it would be nice to extend the time I need to re fire a little. right now it takes 1 hour for the house temp. to drop 1*.

3. Does anyone have experience with auto dampers on indoor wood boilers?

My Uncle has a Hardy OWB with a forced draft blower on it. When the boiler gets up to temp. the blower turns off and a door closes cutting off almost all air to the fire extending the burn time. My boiler has a forced draft blower almost the same as his but NO damper door that closes when the boiler reaches temp. this sometimes causes the boiler to "coast" up to 200+ degrees because the fire is still getting allot of air to it. I made a small flap that I can manually close part of the air off once the fire gets going witch helped but now the blower gets less air when it runs because I'm not there to open the flap. This causes it to take longer to get up to temp. It also hasn't totally stop-ed the problem just lessened it. The damper lifter only costs $35 from Hardy's website and I could fabricate a door. My only concern is will this cause my boiler to smoke uncontrollably? My Uncle's OWB only has a 3 foot tall "chimney" so it can vent fairly easily. Mine has more like a 30 foot chimney and the pipe coming out the back of the boiler runs about 5 feet sideways at an angle before it gets to the chimney. Will this work or only cause more problems?

Thanks in advance, MO

 

[jdurant]

Hi!! I am a Royall dealer wood boiler/furnace dealer. Royall now makes an updated draft blower/damper assembly(includeds motor). This will cut down on wood use and prevent over temping. It really helps with efficency.They go list price $175.00 plus shipping.

 

[Gooserider]

Old post I know, but since it's come back up....

Hi All,
I have learned allot lurking around your forum. Thanks to the moderators for keeping it going.

I just installed a Royall 6150 I got of Craigslist for $400 and so far I'm pleased. I'm heating my 1800 sqft. 2 story house to 71* and Haven't used any oil this year yet.
My 3 questions are;

1. Do I need an expansion tank in my system?

The Royall is piped into the oil boiler witch controls the circulator for my 1 zone. The oil boiler system didn't have an expansion tank hooked up to it when I bought the house but I think from what I know about hot water heating systems that it should have one. I used the oil boiler the first 2 years I lived here and it seemed to work fine but the guy who owned the house before me had a tendency to do things halfway (or so I'm finding out now). The whole system only holds 100 or so gallons so I'm thinking a 5 gallon expansion tank should do it.

If the system is actually sealed and pressurized, YES you should have an expansion tank - I don't know how you were managing to operate without one and not constantly blowing your pressure relief valve. Makes me think your system is not actually sealed. Might be worth having an experienced hydronics tech look everything over to see what it needs to make things right.

If you do need an expansion tank, there is more to sizing one than just "guess and golly" - do a search on the subject of "expansion tank sizing" I know there are links that point to manfacturer websites with guides on how to figure the appropriate size.

2. Would a 275 gallon oil tank make a good storage tank?

I have a friend who is trying to sell a 275 gallon oil tank that looks to be in good shape. I'm wondering if I use this as a pressurized storage tank will it work? I'm not looking for miracle's just maybe to hold me over when I can't get straight home from work on really cold days. If it could keep the house warm an extra hour or so it would be worth the hassle and the $50 he said he wants for it. I can get the boiler to burn about 9 hours now but it would be nice to extend the time I need to re fire a little. right now it takes 1 hour for the house temp. to drop 1*.

If a tank was not designed as a PRESSURE VESSEL it should NEVER be used as a pressurized tank They have a fancy word for tanks used as pressure tanks that aren't intended for it - "BOMB"

That said, you could potentially use it as a NON-pressurised storage tank, with the appropriate heat exchangers, pumps etc, but it is a bit on the small side for a thermal storage tank, and there are several reports of people trying to use recycled oil tanks for storage and finding they don't hold up well - the metal in them is very thin, and prone to corrosion so they rust out rapidly. Bottom line is that you would probably be better off to look at some other method of adding storage.

3. Does anyone have experience with auto dampers on indoor wood boilers?

My Uncle has a Hardy OWB with a forced draft blower on it. When the boiler gets up to temp. the blower turns off and a door closes cutting off almost all air to the fire extending the burn time. My boiler has a forced draft blower almost the same as his but NO damper door that closes when the boiler reaches temp. this sometimes causes the boiler to "coast" up to 200+ degrees because the fire is still getting allot of air to it. I made a small flap that I can manually close part of the air off once the fire gets going witch helped but now the blower gets less air when it runs because I'm not there to open the flap. This causes it to take longer to get up to temp. It also hasn't totally stop-ed the problem just lessened it. The damper lifter only costs $35 from Hardy's website and I could fabricate a door. My only concern is will this cause my boiler to smoke uncontrollably? My Uncle's OWB only has a 3 foot tall "chimney" so it can vent fairly easily. Mine has more like a 30 foot chimney and the pipe coming out the back of the boiler runs about 5 feet sideways at an angle before it gets to the chimney. Will this work or only cause more problems?

Thanks in advance, MO

I know there are many boilers that use flaps to control the burn, but I don't have any data on trying to retrofit something like that. Aside from the usual concerns about modifying any kind of wood burner, I don't see any reason you couldn't experiment with trying to automate the flap you've already mentioned adding.

Gooserider