Tank insulation

[EricV]

I have a Tarm 40 and a homemade 1000 gallon tank. the tank is in my basement. I made it with a steel angle iron frame, 3/4" ply inside that then 2" foil face foam inside that top, bottom and sides.

My thought is, is this enough? It is rated at R14.

I could easily add another layer of 2" around the outside and top but would it be that more efficient?

I've got my system working like a dream so now I'm looking to tweak for efficiency, is this a good task?

This is my second full year with the system and I've burned almost half the wood I did last year so the learning curve is leveling off.

Eric

 

[flyingcow]

All I know is what I got. I think mine is in the R-30 range. "4.5 side walls, "4 top and "3 floor. I have not screwed my top down per manufacturers directions. But there is no warm feeling on the sides or top. Top is made in 3 pieces, and between the sections there is hardly any noticeable heat loss. As soon as I get to the right hardware store, and I will use a foam gasket to make a tighter barrier, for when I screw it down. So I guess my thought is that if you can feel any heat loss, I'd put another layer on. Obviously if the tank is in your basement, you don't waste the standby loss, but it won't be good in the summer. Also i plan on insulating my supply and return from the boiler. The piping that runs in my basement(is exposed), which runs the length of basement is heating my floor, but I'd rather use that heat more effiently, and save all the btu's to run thru my heating system.

 

[Rory]

Almost exactly what flyingcow said, except I have 4" all around (2 layers of iso) and a home-built tank. I have no intentions of screwing down any of the lid sections.

 

[CMAC]

i would love to see some pics. i will adding a tank to my system this summer.
thanks

 

[steam man]

If the tank feels warm on the outside relative to the space I would say more insula6tion wouldn't hurt since it is cheap. On the other hand all the losses are to the basement anyway. As long as it is heating season it isn't really a total loss. How long between fires on average?

Mke

 

[DaveBP]

Simple test, Eric.

When the weather warms up a bit and you can go without using any hot water for a day or so, fire your boiler, load up the tank and note the thermometer reading. After a day or so, recheck the temp to see how much heat is escaping. If the losses annoy you go hunting for ways to prevent those losses. Insulating, checking for thermosiphoning, hot air escaping from gaps in the insulation you have, etc.

 

[stee6043]

I have 11 rolls of R30 unfaced fiberglass insulation in the box I built around my two 500 gallon propane tanks. I basically wrapped both tanks twice so I'm about 9" deep all around, more on top (say 13" deep). This week I measured standby losses of about 7 degrees every 12-16 hours at the top of the top tank. My other tank temp readings did not move nearly as much. Obviously the higher your tank temp relative to a cooler basement the more loss you will get. Specifically, on Monday my top temp reading went from 168 to 161 over the 12-16 hour period mentioned.

 

[EricV]

Good info, thanks

My wife is going away for the weekend so I may try the test to see how much loss I'm getting. I'll heat with the wood stove and oil for hot water for 24 hours.

Sounds like I should be adding some more insulation anyway, can't hurt. I have 2 sheets now so a few more won't be too bad.