What questions to ask

[kenny chaos]

Hi Guys-
I hang in the hearth room but I think this is a better place for this.
I'm looking at this- (broken link removed)
I know that heating water with a woodstove has been done a lot of ways for a long time and this one has my interest.
I'd like to know more about it but not sure what to ask.
Stuff like heat input vs. output, BTU's, or whatever.
Volume of water flow, gallons per minute?
You know, that technical stuff, the important stuff, the details, you guys always deal with.
Thanks a whole lot-
Ken

 

[Nofossil]

Interesting. Not a lot of heat exchanger surface area for the money, but if you have hot flue gas and a real need for a small amount of hot water it could make sense - charging a DHW tank from a non-hydronic wood furnace, for instance.

 

[Dave T]

2 things I wonder about, why does the info tell 2 different prices 495 and 595, and it sounds like there is probaly double the price for the extras by the time all is purchased you may be talking 1000 dollars..I say give em a call and price the kit that they offer, and get specifics how much pipe? what size is the pump what name brand? and mixing valve size and name brand? what type of controls? how are the controls powered? do all sizes take the same kits?is there any warrenty, what does it cover? Update us if you would..Good to see a Rochester'er here..Dave

 

[kenny chaos]

I e-mailed them and all I got back was that it's the higher price ($595) at that it recovers 30-35% of the heat in the flue.
I've asked for more info and will let you know what I get if anyone is interested.
Let's do some math:
There's 24 million BTU's in a cord of good hardwood.
I use 1/3 cord/week or 8 million BTU's.
That would be 1,142,857 BTU's/day
or about 63,492 BTU's/ hr. for 18 hours.
The stove is 70% efficient so I'm losing 19,048 BTU's/hr. up the flue.
Recovering 30% of that would be 5,714 BTU's/hr..
Is my calculating right on this and if so, how much could I do with almost 6,000 BTU's/hr.?
Thanks-
Ken
PS- Hello Dansville. I love Dansville!

 

[CowboyAndy]

I would stay away from stuff like that... taking heat from the flue can be tricky, too cool temps can result in creosote build up.