outdoor boiler
hey guys well heres my deal just built a new house, unfortunantly the only fuel available in my area is propane (2.29$ gal)Ive been thinking about getting an owb for some time as the propane is killing me.I would like to get one this summer and install it when its nice out,and hopefully ill have more $$$ to do it with then.Problem is I know nothing about them really only what ive read. Just looking for some insight from people that know and use them already.
thanks,Matt
Greetings,
After seeing your posting from my corner of the frozen eastern wilderness @1140 feet above mean sea level I decided to reply.
I too have been debating the issue with much research, travel to a local evergreen dealer, dealing with an old home that is poorly insulated, owning a 26 year old coal, wood boiler still in good condition with a small water 26 gallon pressurised supply, etc. These are conclusions I have come up with due to a number of factors.
A small boiler like an HS Tarm dual fuel or a small Harmon wood coal unit would be the unit of choice; please allow me explain further.
Having a very small boiler with a forced draft of any size is key to the problem of high efficiency simply as a small boiler can be operated flat out with a full fire box of wood or coal as all the fuel will be burned at the stoves maximum efficiency-discounting wet or green wood.
A small boiler with a small fire box at first look may seem foolish but:
If one were to purchase a pair of 1,550-gallon insulated storage tanks from HS Tarm it would allow you to 3,000-gallons of water through the single loop passing through both storage tanks heating the three thousand gallons creating a huge thermal mass of energy to be used later for a domestic heat exchager and hydronic heating.
A one car garage would be large enough for the wood-oil, wood-gas, multifuel 140-50,000 btu boilers they offer.
The more water storage(thermal mass) you have the more efficient your system becomes simply from heating all the water at once so you could have
a fire once a day or once a week depending on your useage winter-summer.
Adding a second heat exchager to absorb the heat coming out of th estack will give you even more useable heat energy to heat the thermal mass of water if you have storage.
The items mentioned above do not discount the use of a very small hot fire in a bigger outdoor boiler with forced draft and its available thermal mass as well.
I was told by the evergreen dealer I should at least buy a boiler double the size of my needs simply from the stand point of thermal mass and the advantages of a small fire in a bigger boiler with a larger surface area to absorb more heat.
The added advantages are simply from larger themal mass and more water;
This can be further improved by adding water storage for heat and domestic water use as well.
the problem is not a hard one to solve but buying a larger boiler can be very advantageos as stated above simply from gains of thermal mass storage.
leon
:agree2:
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I told you giving the cat the car keys with a full tank of gas was trouble!!!!!!!, No I have pick up all the beer cans and garbage they threw on the road-talk about kitty litter!
