shutting down but still heating my domestic hot water with the boiler

[ant]

with the day temps. getting into the 70’s and nights little cool i was
thinking about killing the power to the central boiler during the day
and then turning it back on at night to heat up my domestic hot water
for showers and wash.will this work? with the unit on all day the heat
from the pex pipes in the basement is making the house a hot house..lol

 

[rx7145]

I don't see why not. I keep my stove going till about June.

 

[ghitch75]

if you had it wired to start your pump for heating demand or potable water heating you wouldn't heat up your basement...my boiler never shuts down runs all summer....

 

[beerman6]

I dont understand that,ya cant use that much hot water when it's warm out.

In the peak of summer,I'd rather take a ice cold shower.

 

[ghitch75]

Every time I hear of running an OWB just for domestic hot water in the summer I realize just how bad regulation is needed. You guys are doing it to yourselves.

saves me 40 buc's a month

 

[2FatGuys]

Every time I hear of running an OWB just for domestic hot water in the summer I realize just how bad regulation is needed. You guys are doing it to yourselves.

The more "green" users pair their OWB's with solar panels. That way you don't have to tend the fire all year long.

 

[fletcher0780]

The more "green" users pair their OWB's with solar panels. That way you don't have to tend the fire all year long.

Do you have solar panels integrated in your owb install? If so would you mind sharing the design and install pictures? I planned to shut my boiler down in the summer and heat the water with my oil boiler, but a solar setup would be a much better solution.

 

[blizzard]

yes i too would love to see some pictures if you have panels.

 

[Farmerjon]

Man don't you just love it. OWB owners fighting amongst themselves on regulations, okay if you use it in winter for heat but not in summer for hot water?!:jawdrop:







I shut off the valve to my floor (for the floor heat to the slab of concrete) and the valve to my old furnace (for the forced air heat to the old part of the house). Then the OWB runs straight to and back out from the hot water heater. Pipe insulation on the water pipes eliminates heat loss, takes me maybe a wheel barrow load of pine slab wood a week to keep my hot water heated. Yes, we use our back yard daily, have two grills and on at least two weekends a month from Memorial day to Labor day we cook on weekends in dutch ovens. The stove is not a concern.

 

[windthrown]

If it were me, I would just leave the OWB on all the time and let it heat the hot water. Add wood at night to get it up to temp. , and let the fire smolder all day.

Also, out here in the wild west, we cannot have fires or smoke in summer. Fire restrictions. We also have a solar hot water system that I tied the OWB into, and it works fine from now through about October. Simple really. I designed and plumbed a convection loop in the electric hot water heater with a heat exchanger at the base that is connected to the OWB loop. The solar hot water heater has its own pre-heating tank, and that feeds the input to the electric water heater. Standard installation around here. You can turn the electric heater on if you want, or use it as a second storage tank, which is what we do. This time of year we get double heating; solar pre-heat to about 100 deg, and boiler final heating to about 140 deg. It is really quite easy to plumb. If we did not have the electric secondary water heater, I would have plumbed the OWB heat exchanger convection loop directly into the solar water tank. No difference, really. Our solar tank is an antifreeze type solution that runs to and from the panels, and there is a coil in the tank that heats the water. This system was already plumbed though, so I close the electric tank to plumb the OWB Hx convection loop onto.

 

[2FatGuys]

Do you have solar panels integrated in your owb install? If so would you mind sharing the design and install pictures? I planned to shut my boiler down in the summer and heat the water with my oil boiler, but a solar setup would be a much better solution.

I don't have that setup, but my partner does. Next time I get to his house, I'll try to get a few pics. He has a dual system set up so that they can run independantly of each other in a parrallel fashion. Each system has a heat exchanger for the domestic water. The solar system has a glycol solution that is pumped to the panels on the roof and flows back down through the exchanger. There is a recirculation pump that cycles the heated domestic water from the gas water heater (used as a storage tank only... gas isn't even connected to it!) through the solar exchanger and then through the OWB exchanger. During the summer, the OWB exchanger is valved off from the OWB to reduce heat loss. While he can valve off the solar also (presumably during the winter) I don't think he ever does. Even in the coldest months, the enclosed panels with matte black finish get pretty hot if the sun is out.

 

[itn]

Every time I hear of running an OWB just for domestic hot water in the summer I realize just how bad regulation is needed. You guys are doing it to yourselves.

I'll save my $50 bucks a month also. And what we are doing to ourselves that you feel the need to make such a statement.

 

[Farmerjon]

TreeCo, it is all in how you build your fire. I don't fill the box with hardwoods and build a fire like I do in December. Generally every other day I throw three slabs of pine on the bed of coals and it will take off on its own and burn down. Keep the water above 150 using quick hot fires.

 

[windthrown]

Not that it matters around here, but this time of year I build a small fire in the box in the morning with a few small diameter oak or alder logs and grand fir. Grand fir burns hot and fast, and the oak or alder burn and coal up. VERY little smoke from a fire like this. Not much demand for heat now, the damper usually just stays closed most of the day. Small amount of smoke... highly efficient. At night I throw in a few good sized logs when the house heat demand is higher. No complaints; no one even seems to notice.

Now, for those guys buring tires, RR ties and oil there in the photos that the NY state environmental groups are always posting, well, to me they seem staged. Our boiler never smokes like those do. Of course you need good sensationalist photos to get politicians all riled up about OWBs.

 

[grandpatractor]

You are drawing the attention of the public and the regulators.

The law of diminishing returns would dictate that at some dollar amount of savings Vs. pollution output that it is not worth running a smoldering OWB 24/7 just for domestic hot water.

Responsible OWB use should not just be about the money saved.

I don't understand. When my boiler is not firing ,the amount of smoke coming out of it is barely noticeable. You have to look close to see if it is actually smoking. How is this creating so much pollution?

 

[windthrown]

I don't understand. When my boiler is not firing ,the amount of smoke coming out of it is barely noticeable. You have to look close to see if it is actually smoking. How is this creating so much pollution?

Becasue the EPA, NY state authority, and people all screaming about them in New England say so!

Gott'a agree though. These things hardly smoke at all most of the time. I was amazed after we installed our OWB. I expected it to smoke everything up. I harldy notice any smoke at all. Maybe 'smokes' for all of 5 minutes after the damper opens, and that is about it. The rest of the time it burns clean, or it is off, burping a few whifs of smoke here and there. So I have to ask, "Where is all the smoke that they rage about????" :monkey:

 

[danl]

Becasue the EPA, NY state authority, and people all screaming about them in New England say so!

Gott'a agree though. These things hardly smoke at all most of the time. I was amazed after we installed our OWB. I expected it to smoke everything up. I harldy notice any smoke at all. Maybe 'smokes' for all of 5 minutes after the damper opens, and that is about it. The rest of the time it burns clean, or it is off, burping a few whifs of smoke here and there. So I have to ask, "Where is all the smoke that they rage about????" :monkey:

Mine is the same. I have a Hardy which is supposed to smoke a lot. It hardly ever does.
I like saving $40 or $50 a month also.
I fill mine up with the dryest deadest skunkyest wood I can find and it will last for several days.
My brother in law taught me that. I saw him loading some wood I wouldn't have even picked up. He said it was his summer wood. He goes thru the woods looking for deadfalls and pithy wood. So do I now.

It will sit there and turn into a large glowing bed of coals, the damper rarely opens and when it does there is hardly any smoke.

 

[itn]

You are drawing the attention of the public and the regulators.

The law of diminishing returns would dictate that at some dollar amount of savings Vs. pollution output that it is not worth running a smoldering OWB 24/7 just for domestic hot water.

Responsible OWB use should not just be about the money saved.

your statement makes no sense. my boiler smokes in the winter just like in the summer. It is smoke no matter the season. so, am i to assume that you are against all things that smoke? you're trying to create discussion because of why its running.

 

[beerman6]

In the winter most people stay indoors.

If my neighbors were blowin smoke all summer long when I am outside 75% of the day,I'd be a bit pissed off.

 

[danl]

Lucky for me I live in the boonies, father in law is over 1/4 mile away, he worries if he don't see smoke and the closest neighbor is a 89 year old lady that is evidently somewhat of a pyromaniac , I don't know how she finds so many leaves and sticks to burn.