Tarm Solo Innova Installed and Running

[AroostookDave]

I have been burning wood, no oil, for a week now. My thanks to the many great tips on this forum that I have studied for the past year, and to FlyingCow for letting me view his setup. I have attached a few pictures to show the results of a couple months of hard work constructing a furnace room in the woodshed, putting together the heat storage tank, and insulating pipes. The American Solartechnics tank is well insulated and has very little heat loss. Daigle Oil Co. did the heavy duty heating and plumbing work.

 

[stee6043]

Fantastic. Keep us updated on how she runs. Nice looking setup.

 

[henfruit]

What is thatchart on the front of the boiler?

 

[AroostookDave]

The Tarm's temp guage is important to follow, but being made in Europe, the detail is in Centigrade. There is Fahrenheit, but not much detail. The chart is from the manual, made a copy and taped it to the firebox door. While I am learning the system this helps figure out what is going on. I also made a brief summary of firing the system taped to the side, plus you will see some small notes above each control. My family wants to pitch in but not to read the book.

 

[Gasifier]

AroostookDave,

Sweet, man. Sweeeeeet! Nice looking system. Let us know how it is going as it gets colder. Were you burning wood before? If so, how much did you burn. And how much do you think you will be using now? How much are you heating? Sq. Ft.? DHW? Best wishes man.

 

[AroostookDave]

Gasifier...

I had a Kerr Scotsman stainless steel wood boiler for 32 years. Very nice, paid for itself many times over, but couldn't use it May through October. Also it required feeding every half hour or so. It used around 8 cords per year of mix of soft and hard wood. I gave the unit to a young man this summer. I heat about 2200 square feet on the main floor, plus have a basement the same size. I probably will use as much wood, but plan to use it all year, including DHW. I expect to fire it every day in the winter - gets chilly here in northern Maine, but when we had a nice spell last week it went 4 days on one firing.

 

[EffectaBoilerUser (USA)]

I am working on a basic control system for my effecta boiler system that will turn my Burnam boiler on/off depending on the tank temperature in the 1000 gallons of storage.

I understand DPDT relays and temperature setpoint controllers and such but have a question regarding the signals that come from the zone valve end switches and boiler t-stat itself.

Its my understanding that the end switch on the zone valve is normally wired so as to complete the 24V circuit if any zone valve calls for heat, thus sending this signal to the relay on the boiler which will start the circulation pump.

Its also my understanding that the thermostat signal going to the boiler is also a 24V signal.

Not being an experienced HVAC guy I would appreciate any information which will help me to better understand the signals that the hydronic boiler receives from the thermostat and end switches on the zone valves so that I can integrate them with my temperature setpoint controller and relays.

Thanks,

Brian

 

[flyingcow]

Gasifier...

I had a Kerr Scotsman stainless steel wood boiler for 32 years. Very nice, paid for itself many times over, but couldn't use it May through October. Also it required feeding every half hour or so. It used around 8 cords per year of mix of soft and hard wood. I gave the unit to a young man this summer. I heat about 2200 square feet on the main floor, plus have a basement the same size. I probably will use as much wood, but plan to use it all year, including DHW. I expect to fire it every day in the winter - gets chilly here in northern Maine, but when we had a nice spell last week it went 4 days on one firing.

That area you live in, was typically the coldest of all towns when i traveled thru the "County". Right on the river.

 

[AroostookDave]

I am working on a basic control system for my effecta boiler system that will turn my Burnam boiler on/off depending on the tank temperature in the 1000 gallons of storage.

I understand DPDT relays and temperature setpoint controllers and such but have a question regarding the signals that come from the zone valve end switches and boiler t-stat itself.

Its my understanding that the end switch on the zone valve is normally wired so as to complete the 24V circuit if any zone valve calls for heat, thus sending this signal to the relay on the boiler which will start the circulation pump.

Its also my understanding that the thermostat signal going to the boiler is also a 24V signal.

Not being an experienced HVAC guy I would appreciate any information which will help me to better understand the signals that the hydronic boiler receives from the thermostat and end switches on the zone valves so that I can integrate them with my temperature setpoint controller and relays.

Thanks,

Brian

Really Hot...

You are over my head on this topic, note that I had the heating/plumbing done by professionals. It sounds to me as if you are talking about the thermostatic tempering valve which I ordered (as recommended) from Tarm Biomass of Lyme, NH. It automatically decideswhen the temp is high enough to go to heat storage and/or zone circulators. My electrical competency is limited to basic wiring of lights and on/off switches.

 

[AroostookDave]

Gasifier...


That area you live in, was typically the coldest of all towns when i traveled thru the "County". Right on the river.

Flyingcow -
Good to hear from you. It does get nippy here in January, can get to 20 and 30 below some nights. I used to snowmobile below zero, but not any more. Good source of heat is a great thing!

 

[henfruit]

Effecta, Mark at ahona is great on figuring out those type of systems.