owb

[Dillon]

I’ am looking at getting a central boiler to heat my house and hot water. What I have now is a Essex wood and oil burner that works okay but is a mess to clean. This furnace has a coil for the domestic hot water I understand that the owb does not. My plan was to hook the owb to the old furnace so I still have the oil for a back up and for hot water in the summer. If I do it this way it would circulate through the old furnace and than back to the owb than when it is calling for heat the old furnace circulator will send it through the baseboard. So the water circulating for the heat would heat the coil for the domestic hot water. Will this work? Thanks

 

[Husky137]

Yes.

 

[porta mill]

yes that willl work that is how I plumbed it into my old house there is anoher way to do it , this is a better way to hook it up . put a water to water heat exchanger in line . it takes the water from the owb to the heat exchanger which heats the water in the existing boiler meaning the owb and the oli bolier never mix water. you could put anti freeze in the owb so if you went away and did not have a way to keep the owb running the oil fired boiler could still heat the house and you still keep the oil boiler a pressurized system. check in to the Empry out door wood burners that is what I have, I love it 304 stainless it burns anything you can fit through the door and it has a removeable ash pan unlike central

 

[Mogollon]

If your Essex boiler is a pressurized system, you will need a heat exchanger between a central owb and your old system. I like the flat plate ones myself, they seem to be the most effective, just make sure that it is sized to match both your heating and DHW loads. My Central 4836 circulates almost 200 gal. of water, it would get expensive to mix in enough glycol to give it proper freeze protection. Your oil burner should kick in and heat your outdoor loop also. just make sure your pump stays on.

good luck