Hi there, I've been trying to figure out if this is a solution to my problem. First I have a central boiler 5036 which has been keeping up with heating my 1600 sqft house fine. I've built a 2500 sqft 14 ft high polebarn with radiant heat floors and my burn times don't last as long. I'm not surprised by this but thought I wouldn't burn thru a full box in 6 hrs or so. So can I add the Stiebel Eltron SBB 600 plus to the system to basically create more water storge. The tank has 162 gallon capacity which would almost double what the stove currently has. Also could I run the floor loops thru the 2 heat exchangers ( closed loop) ,upper loop is rated for 182000 btu/hr and the lower 242000 btu/hr. Would that pull enough heat if I just run the boiler water into the tank? I run my cb at 170 to 180 water temp. Thank you.
Stiebel eltron
- Thread starter NHoffmann
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sloeffle
Minister of Fire
Do you have 2" of foam under the concrete floor in your barn ?
Is the barn insulated ?
What are your inlet and outlet water temps for your barn ?
Is the barn insulated ?
What are your inlet and outlet water temps for your barn ?
Yes 2 inch under the slab with plastic under that, all seems taped and 7.5 inches around the perimeter. The building was wrapped and taped all seams. R19 with all seems taped on the walls, and 14 inches of blown in, in the ceiling.
maple1
Minister of Fire
Adding more water won't make more heat. If the heating loads are going to pull that much heat, they will still pull that much heat.
How is your underground pipe? Could be issues all the way from that thru damp wood thru to just simply an inefficient boiler with a big heat load.
How long have you been heating the slab? What are supply and return temps?
How is your underground pipe? Could be issues all the way from that thru damp wood thru to just simply an inefficient boiler with a big heat load.
How long have you been heating the slab? What are supply and return temps?
I'm running 1 inch thermopex about 50ft to the barn. I lose about 1 degree supply/return when no heat is drawn. I've been running the heat about 3 weeks. It holds temp, im just hoping to gain a little longer burn times if I have more water storage. Its that or upgrade to a bigger boiler.
If you add the storage you'll just have to feed the furnace twice to make a longer time between loading later.
You're changing the timing of the loading, not how many per day. I don't know if that would help. Ultimately you may need a larger boiler.
You're changing the timing of the loading, not how many per day. I don't know if that would help. Ultimately you may need a larger boiler.
maple1
Minister of Fire
More water won't help.
A new gasifier boiler would. Conventional simple water jacketed boilers are grossly inefficient.
Is your wood dry?
Yes my wood is dry. Ive been looking at new boilers as well. I'm on the fence if I should be getting the crown royal 7400 or equivalent central boiler. Ive only had a cb and have had great luck with it, Ive had it since 2005 and its ran flawless. The crown royals look nice but after searching for used ones it doesn't look like the paint holds up well on them. Any advice is appreciated. Also I'm not stuck on just thous boilers if theres something more dependable out there. I don't want to waste money on a sub-par unit.
sloeffle
Minister of Fire
That's impressive for a barn. I saw a picture on Facebook a few weeks ago of a guy burying his radiant floor tubing in #57 gravel with no insulation underneath. Nothing beats heating the earth.
Like the others, I think your current boiler is probably just too small to keep up with the heat demand for your barn and house. A 2500 sq ft barn with 14ft ceilings, that is huge volume of "air" that you are trying to heat. That's like trying to heat a 4,375 sq ft house that has 8 foot ceilings. I'm not sure what temp you have the barn set at, but have you thought about turning the temp down in the barn to see if that helps your burn times ?
Yes, I went a little overboard on the barn build because I was hoping to use the existing boiler and not burn as much wood. I've got it set at 60 right now but was hoping to have it 70ish so its more comfortable out there. The barn maintained 41 degrees with no heat and Temps in the 30s during the day and 20s at night. I also have a 10 ft fan set on low to keep the heat moving. Guess I'll be looking at a new boiler.
sloeffle
Minister of Fire
How much pleasure do you get out of handling wood?
As mentioned a gasifying boiler will give you more BTU's from the wood you are handling.
Since you have been feeding a CB since 2005,how many cords has that been?
To you your CB has met or exceeded what you wanted,but one reason for dependability is it is just a box full of water with a fire inside.
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