System help

[aka.bugle]

As you may have noticed... This is my 1st post ...
well here goes...
My wife and I are building again, and are planning for our old age and the rising costs of fuel.
We have decided on a radiant floor heat system .. called Ultra-Fin ( (broken link removed) )
The advantage of this system is that you can run it much hotter (140 -180 deg.) than conventional in floor radiant heat.
The Boiler we have chosen is a TARM MBO 30 (75,000 btu) wood w/ coal grates added. We are purchasing this boiler used and Tarm USA is going to sell us the coal grates to convert it to burn anthracite as well as wood. (we canot afford a wood gasification boiler at this time, so we have opted to setup w/ a used boiler till we save some more money)
We have an estimated 24,000 btu 4 zone (the house)load figured for 20 degree winter days and maintaining 68 inside.
We have found a cheap local source for either 500 or 1000 gallon used propane tanks at 7 cents a lb (roughly 42 bucks for a 500 gallon tank) and 100 bucks to deliver. (yahoo!)
1st question... Will I have to have any welding done to these tanks to utilize them as heat (water)storage? there are 2 1.5" fittings on the top and 1 larger fitting on the bottom.
2nd question... Are there any problems assosiated with having these sitting in the (drive-in) basement?
3rd... Anyone have a manual for a Tarm MB30 they want to share?
Thankyou
~david 'n tina

 

[steam man]

I think Pennsylvania and coal go together like ham and cheese. Coal would seem to be much easier to handle for "older(?)" people. You can still hedge your bets and burn wood. I do have a problem with the so called high temp radiant floor system you mentioned. If it is designed to operate at high temps that may make any storage system much less efficient since in a typical radiant floor you should be able to go to much lower temps. With the lower temps and storage you could really seriously consider a solar heating addition to limit the handling of solid fuels. 68 deg is not really a pleasant temp for most older people. You should plan on more comfort than that. Less work and more comfort is my thought.

There are a number of guys here that use propane tanks for storage and endless ways to pipe them up. I am sure they will help you out. I would question if the installation of your tarm is considered in a basement or garage. You may want to check with your insurance carrier or local code guy before there is a problem.

 

[aka.bugle]

Thanks for the input!
I can also install more of the ultra-fins and operate the system at a lower temp (100 -145 deg) I was thinking that it was more efficient to operate at the higher temps ???
which I guess would make a mixing valve neccessary?
I'm definatly interested in a solar setup to supplement the solid fuel.

 

[steam man]

The modern trend is toward lower temperature systems. Solar works with it much better. I would integrate solar as much as possible into your plan with a wood/coal boiler for the peak use times. A lot of thought has to go into the planning to balance the heat in and heat out equation with all the possible variations. Basically most sytems are designed to provide for the heat loads first and then take the excess btu's over to a storage where it can be taken back out when needed. The radiant loops will need a mixing type valve control to reduce the temperatures for heating. The more detailed plan you can do will save you the cost of having to do things over. Peruse the threads on this forum for piping plans, ideas, etc with the idea of making things simple. Basically you'll want to make things "widow proof". For a start, go to www.radiantdesigninstitute.com for some education on what works and what doesn't for design stuff. You can also plan to phase in different parts of your system when you can if you know what you want to achieve ahead of time.