What unit do you have and how much more wood (or less) do you use with this system?
OWB circulator pump - 24/7 or on demand?
- Thread starter Canton
- Start date
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Stlshrk
ArboristSite Member
The heater is an Orlan eko 40. It and the insulated 750 gallon storage tank are located in a pole shed. So, the only parts in the house are the lines in/out, heat exchanger in the hvac duct, and the side arm on the water heater.
We are 5 years in on this set up.
Last year was very mild. We only used 4.5 cords running from Halloween to April 1st.
This year looks to be shaping up to more like 5.5 to 6 cords, which is much more typical. The storage really saves us as we can avoid burning when we are not at home, and sometimes with milder days we can skip all together. Definate learning curve with that and the weather forcasts, if you want to call them that.
i have heard different opinions on water storage, some say with the gasification units its not necessary. I have just installed an empyre elite in my shop with 1500sf of basement slab and am not getting 8 hrs of burn time:frown:as i am just building the house and all the bugs are not worked out, this is not a good year for determining how efficient my system is.
Marklambert61
ArboristSite Operative
24/7
I run my pump 24/7 however I use a 3way zone valve at the HX and bring on the blower only wnen calling for heat in the house.
Works great ....
I run my pump 24/7 however I use a 3way zone valve at the HX and bring on the blower only wnen calling for heat in the house.
Works great ....
John D
Addicted to ArboristSite
I ran the entire first season 24/7/365. The second season,I changed to on demand,and what a difference in wood comsumption! It was nice getting the first electric bill after,and im saving about 15 dollars every 2 months by running on demand...only downside is my indoor boiler isnt running as hot between cycles,before it ran within 1 degree of the owb,all the time,now it lags behind 10 degrees or more...
Canton
ArboristSite Member
It interesting to me that you see a big difference in wood comsumption. Can I ask what kind and lenght of line set you have?
Jeff.
John D
Addicted to ArboristSite
I burn 360 days a year,the difference is biggest in the summer..but there is a very noticeable difference all the time.i have 109 ft total length and 65 ft is in th ground,the rest is in the air,and in my attic,I'm using a 4" drain tile over a 4" perferoated pipe,with sand around the pec,and stone around the perforated pipe..my lines are triple wrapped with solarguard r50.if I run my circus full time,my utility room gets like a sauna,and a lot of my heat escapes out the boiler chimney,I've been on th roof and felt the heat..with the pumps running on demand the boiler runs much cooler between cycles,and. It makes a big difference in how much heat I'm dumping into my utility room,in the summer it's very important to keep that room as cool as possible,so that's another benefit of cycling the Pumps...
waldershrek
ArboristSite Operative
Mine runs on demand. Only down side is a short blast of cold air when forced air furnace fires up but it doesn't bother me. I just don't see the need for everything to be circulating when I don't need heat.
water storage
should my empyre gasification boiler dump into a storage tank before the heat exchanger for my domestic hot water and in floor radiant heat system?
should my empyre gasification boiler dump into a storage tank before the heat exchanger for my domestic hot water and in floor radiant heat system?
2rod511
ArboristSite Operative
I run mine on demand. The drawback is when the thermostat first calls for heat you will get a little cold air out of the vents before the hot water from the furnace reaches the coil. My father runs his OWB, exactly the same as mine, 24/7 and it does make a difference in wood consumption.
