Unpressurized storage tank

[BenW]

What is the best way to make use of a smaller storage tank. I'm getting a free 300 gallon stainless tank with an open top so it will be unpressurized. I have an older Tarm wood boiler Model 502 with a gross output of 110,000 btu/hr max with wood. Should I use a flat plate heat exchanger or a few coils of 3/4 - 1" copper. After the tank is heated and the wood fire dies out should I pipe it to isolate the boiler from the heating zones so I don't waste heat trying to heat the 50 gallons that are in the Tarm. My heat zones are all regular baseboard, and my DHW is an indirect fired tank. I have looked at a lot of old posts but havn't found enough info, maybe I'm just looking up the wrong stuff.

Thanks
-Ben

 

[pybyr]

What is the best way to make use of a smaller storage tank. I'm getting a free 300 gallon stainless tank with an open top so it will be unpressurized. I have an older Tarm wood boiler Model 502 with a gross output of 110,000 btu/hr max with wood. Should I use a flat plate heat exchanger or a few coils of 3/4 - 1" copper. After the tank is heated and the wood fire dies out should I pipe it to isolate the boiler from the heating zones so I don't waste heat trying to heat the 50 gallons that are in the Tarm. My heat zones are all regular baseboard, and my DHW is an indirect fired tank. I have looked at a lot of old posts but havn't found enough info, maybe I'm just looking up the wrong stuff.

Thanks
-Ben

for what it's worth, one advantage of the plate exchanger is that, unlike the copper coils, it does not displace space in the tank-- with the plate, your 300 gallons will stay 300 gallons- and not be cut into by the water displaced by coils (but don't forget to have an overflow fitting near the top of your tank and to allow for the fact that you'll get roughly 5% expansion between a low of 50 degrees and a high near 200).

the only real downside that I can see with the plate HXs is that you need an extra circulator on the tank side

while "big is good" with storage, any storage is better than no storage, and 300 gallons of free stainless is quite a "score"

others here can shed more light on the best way to plumb it up, and hopefully, I expect that they will

 

[WoodNotOil]

Ben

Take a look at my website (below) and nofossils for starters: http://www.nofossil.org/

I have a links page you will find helpful. You can also post a schematic of what you are thinking and I'm sure you'll get some feedback. The flat plate can cost less than all that copper for coils, but it works both ways. Just make sure you get enough plates to transfer heat in the upper temp range.