Simplex 225 install questions

[cgamla]

Been lurking for a while gents and would just like to say--What a great site!!. I have just stumbled across and purchased a Simplex Boiler oil/wood combo unit. Model number OCF -225 I believe. It has a plate stating that it is rated for 280,000 BTU. Still has the oil assembly on it also. Planning on installing this in my garage and piping it into some thermal storage tanks in my basement. I have a few questions that maybe you can help with. First of all my home is a two story 2000 sq ft completely uninsulated home that has two zone base board hot water heat already installed but the natural gas fired boiler is trash. Like I could afford the bill anyways! I also have a full basement with a concrete floor. The home is in Michigan near lake Huron so we get a heck of a breeze all winter off the lake. Home was built in 1935. No insulation then??? Of course I will be insulating in the spring but right now I have no heat at all so that is the financial priority.
What size tubing should be used to adequately move enough heat from the boiler to the thermal storage tanks?
How many gals is considered adequate for thermal storage. I would like to fire this boiler once a day for 4-6 hours max. Just one burn after work in the evenings.
Has anyone ever used old fuel oil tanks for thermal storage? I can barely get one of those into my large basement.
Am I nuts for using a 280,000 BTU boiler and should I just stop now and get something smaller??

 

[ManiacPD]

2" black iron should do it for piping.

I'd put in 2,000 gallons of storage.

Old fuel tanks cannot be used as pressurized storage unless you're talking a propane tank.

I hope you have access to a lot of cheap, high Btu firewood, and a strong back...

Consider doing some blown-in insulation. There's huge tax rebates for energy saving projects that this year.

Good luck,

Maniac

 

[pybyr]

Aside from insulation, which I realize you may need to defer due to the impossibility of doing everything at once, look into "air sealing" if you are not already familiar with it. Detecting and closing up the worst and most obvious places that warm air exits out the upper parts of the house, and cold air comes in at the lower parts of the house, can make a huge difference. If you've got drafty windows (which I know all too well...) look at the clear "Peel N Seal" caulk that you can put on in the fall and easily remove next spring.

 

[cgamla]

Thanks Pyro. I certainly have been doing that as I go along. This old house wasn't even built with any type of sheet material. It's all tongue and groove wood on both sides of the studs of the exterior walls so there are lots of places to find leaks.

Maniac. first 2000 gallons of storage sounds about right. How would I get that type of storage into my basement though. One brick at a time and build some masonry structure to contain the water.

Do you have any experience with this type of boiler. It seems like the plumbing and pipes for the thing being so big is just going to add more expense than I need.
Do you know if the simplex has issues with being inefficient or any other problems. I can't seem to find any info on the web for this behomoth.

Maybe I would be better off with a smaller unit?? I live in town so smoke will be an issue if it is really belching. I need to maintain hot fires to keep the smoke to a minimum.

 

[Gooserider]

Thanks Pyro. I certainly have been doing that as I go along. This old house wasn't even built with any type of sheet material. It's all tongue and groove wood on both sides of the studs of the exterior walls so there are lots of places to find leaks.

Maniac. first 2000 gallons of storage sounds about right. How would I get that type of storage into my basement though. One brick at a time and build some masonry structure to contain the water.

Do you have any experience with this type of boiler. It seems like the plumbing and pipes for the thing being so big is just going to add more expense than I need.
Do you know if the simplex has issues with being inefficient or any other problems. I can't seem to find any info on the web for this behomoth.

Maybe I would be better off with a smaller unit?? I live in town so smoke will be an issue if it is really belching. I need to maintain hot fires to keep the smoke to a minimum.

No direct experience, but in general, within reasonable limits, the larger the piping, the more BTU's you can move, and the less pump energy it will take to do it. If you search on here, you'll find lots of cases of people finding their performance being limited due to having used undersized lines between the boiler and the house. Depending on the distances involved, I might go with PEX rather than black iron but definitely the piping between the house and garage should be at least 1.5" and 2" would probably be better.

In terms of the boiler, we are big fans of gasifier units here, but that can get expensive quickly - while you will probably need more wood with your current boiler than you would with a gasser, it shouldn't be a huge problem if you burn carefully... It is also the case that you could build your system with the current boiler for now, and then replace it in a few years with a gasser and not need much in the way of plumbing changes other than the connecting pipes.

For storage, propane tanks are great for pressurized storage, but they are big and hard to move, not to mention having possible regulatory issues in some states (like mine ) Your other option is non-pressurized storage, which is a little more complicated plumbing wise, and not quite as efficient, but can be a lot easier to do if getting into a tight basement or other access is an issue. Fuel Oil tanks aren't really reccomended, they are thin metal and tend to rust out quickly... Instead you can do home built tanks from a number of materials, including wood and masonry; or go with commercial tank kits from several different sources. Many of the tank kits are designed in a modular style specifically with the idea of getting them into tight access locations. Many are round, built more or less like an above ground swimming pool, which I don't like because of the large footprint, but one of our regular posters (Tom_from_Maine) has a company that makes a square tank...

Another thing to look at, is what is the designed water temperature of the current baseboard system? Most baseboard systems are designed to run around 180* water, and many baseboard styles don't work well at low temperatures. However with storage, you want to run as low a water temperature as possible, since your useable storage capacity is largely a function of the difference between the maximum temperature you can get it up to (around 180* for non-pressurized) and the system operating temperature. Ideally, you want the operating temp to be in the 120* range, or even less... This is why you see so many of us talking about doing radiant tubing setups, as they work at low temperatures. It is possible that if you want to reach your goal of one fire / day, you will need to add more radiation to the existing baseboard.

Gooserider