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[tdgoetts]

Hi There,

I'm in the beginning stages of planning an install for an outdoor wood boiler and am wondering if some people with experience could provide some input on how to plumb my potential set-up.

I attached a PDF that shows general locations of things. I have a building that has 3 apartments in it. I currently have a hot water tank that is heated from the existing oil boiler and 1 electric hot water heater (heater no. 1 in diagram). I also have 2 zones of baseboard hot water and a separate section of the building that is heated with kerosene via a monitor heater.

My ultimate plan would be to heat everything with baseboard heat, keep the oil boiler operational for a back-up, and have 3 separate electric hot water heaters for the different apartments. To do so I would have to add a zone to my existing boiler set-up and add 2 more electric hot water heaters.

I know the diagrams show heating the DHW first, but since I will have 3, would anyone heat the boiler first, then send the return through the DHW heaters before going back to the boiler? Part of the factor that goes into this is that I won't be paying for the electric bill for the hot water heaters, but I still would like to help ease the bill if I can. I'm considering building my own small passive solar hot water heater for the summer months so I don't have to bother with the boiler.

Another question I have is about the location of my circulation pumps. Most diagrams show the pumps on the supply side of the boiler. However, my pumps are all located on the return side. Has anyone installed the plate heat exchanger on their boiler like central boiler shows, but had their circulation pump(s) on the return side?

Lastly, can anyone give good evidence for using or not using a circulator pump with their sidearm heat exchanger on a domestic hot water heater? It seems I can find arguments for both sides and I'm not sure who is right...

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!

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