hondaracer2oo4
ArboristSite Operative
I know that there have been a few discussions in the past about the Hardy Heater possible improvements. A few of us around here have Hardy Heaters and could all benefit from some improvements on the VERY basic design of these heaters.
Some background on mine, I bought mine last year from a guy out in New York who had bought a general store that was being heated by it since it was new in 1991. He had done some botched repair work to the back of the water jacket which didn't work and wanted it gone so I picked it up for $500 bucks. I fixed his bad welding job and installed it at my new to me 1795 Colonial in New Hampshire. First winter in the house I went through about 12 cords of hardwood unsplit cut to about 26 inches. As far as installation goes the heater is 90 feet from the house. I ran 2 one inch pex lines each way and had them spray foamed in the ground, I lose approx 2 degrees over the 100 foot run. I have a Bell and Gosset NRF36 pump running on speed three through a 24" by 24" water to air heat exchanger in the basement as well as a sidearm heat exchanger on my HW heater. I have a 19 degree heat drop from incoming temp to outgoing temp after passing through the exchangers.
Now Im pretty happy with the amount of total wood I went through heating the 2600 square foot old home with little insulation but I think that there is room for some improvements.
One improvement I wanted to look into was more thermal storage mass. Namely adding a large tank of water insulated in the basement that is in the middle of the system to increase water capacity. I know people around here have done it, any suggestions on size and how it improved your burning?
Next improvement that caught my eye was the forced power drafter unit that mounts on the stack of the boiler. Interesting concept but as of last year no one had seen or used one. I am wondering if someone has bought one or made one by now?
Third improvement was possibly an adition of firebrick, anyone done this with the Hardy with improvement in burning?
Lastly has anyone modified the exit path for the smoke to make it harder to get out of the boiler, thus transfering more heat?
Some background on mine, I bought mine last year from a guy out in New York who had bought a general store that was being heated by it since it was new in 1991. He had done some botched repair work to the back of the water jacket which didn't work and wanted it gone so I picked it up for $500 bucks. I fixed his bad welding job and installed it at my new to me 1795 Colonial in New Hampshire. First winter in the house I went through about 12 cords of hardwood unsplit cut to about 26 inches. As far as installation goes the heater is 90 feet from the house. I ran 2 one inch pex lines each way and had them spray foamed in the ground, I lose approx 2 degrees over the 100 foot run. I have a Bell and Gosset NRF36 pump running on speed three through a 24" by 24" water to air heat exchanger in the basement as well as a sidearm heat exchanger on my HW heater. I have a 19 degree heat drop from incoming temp to outgoing temp after passing through the exchangers.
Now Im pretty happy with the amount of total wood I went through heating the 2600 square foot old home with little insulation but I think that there is room for some improvements.
One improvement I wanted to look into was more thermal storage mass. Namely adding a large tank of water insulated in the basement that is in the middle of the system to increase water capacity. I know people around here have done it, any suggestions on size and how it improved your burning?
Next improvement that caught my eye was the forced power drafter unit that mounts on the stack of the boiler. Interesting concept but as of last year no one had seen or used one. I am wondering if someone has bought one or made one by now?
Third improvement was possibly an adition of firebrick, anyone done this with the Hardy with improvement in burning?
Lastly has anyone modified the exit path for the smoke to make it harder to get out of the boiler, thus transfering more heat?
