Print

[ITO]

 Well I gotta say the picture does clear up a couple things for me, Sprinters comment about the solar circulator makes sense. But a couple questions still.
 Can you tie this into your existing boiler and use it as a tank and pump to your house to do DHW and heat in at least moderate temps or am I missing something?
 A smart pump controller system must be needed, what do you recommend?
 I know you are just starting this up and kudos to you for that but don't you know where these are manufactured or any of the construction specs or even a website for the manufacturer?
 

[johnybcold]

Here in Ma there is a $750 rebate on elec water heaters with heat pumps,  a fellow owb installed one last year seems to like it

[Sprinter]

Without some kind of brand, details, and standard output data, its kinda hard to go out on a limb for that kinda money. China......support?

[Scott7m]

I just dont see as much fascination in this, they do work indeed but id just assume to take that money and buy actual solar panels

[Steinacher Sales]

ITO,

Where are you located and what is your capacity of your water jacket in your furnace and are you using a sidearm for your domestic hot water.

Greg Steinacher

[ijon]

Do you think your better off with a larger tank on the boiler or a smaller one?

[ITO]

ITO,

Where are you located and what is your capacity of your water jacket in your furnace and are you using a sidearm for your domestic hot water.

Greg Steinacher

Greg, We're in northern Wisconsin, 135 gallon HeatSource1 555 boiler, no sidearm, flate plate exchanger with a superstor water tank on the indoor heating loop, radiant floor heat on the loop (with mixing valve) and an outdoor hot tub with a ss shell and tube exchanger.

[ITO]

I just dont see as much fascination in this, they do work indeed but id just assume to take that money and buy actual solar panels

Scott, I can see both sides but in our case we dont have that much electric and the investment to hook up to sell back to the utility here doesnt have rebates also I dont want to take care of a battery array, hot water for the shoulder season and summer would get us off the propane tank and allow us to run the outdoor tub without electric heat. My electric bills in winter are under $85/mo running the tub, without the tub in the summer we can get the bills down to $40/mo so ROI is not there. I can see in the future to do solar but this looks more interesting right now.

[Steinacher Sales]

ijon,

Do you mean water capacity for hooking up a Solar Water Heater?

It depends on what you are heating total. What is your water capacity now. Do you heat your hot water.

Greg Steinacher

[Steinacher Sales]

ITO,

How much water does the superstor tank hold? What temp. are you maintaining in the furnace? I'm thinking your going to need the 60 tube collector.

Greg Steinacher

[ijon]

I thought you were talking about the boiler tank.

[ITO]

ITO,

How much water does the superstor tank hold? What temp. are you maintaining in the furnace? I'm thinking your going to need the 60 tube collector.

Greg Steinacher

Greg, Its a 45 gallon model http://www.htproducts.com/superstorultra-stainless-steel-tank.html
 I am assuming because of our cold weather we would need the larger unit. I am also wondering how heavy that unit is, my wood shed has a south facing roof right alongside my boiler.

[idahohay]

I was thinking of doing something similar to what Roger mentioned in his original post but instead of a fphe, utilize the access port that many  OWB manufacturers provide in the water jacket as an option for a  DHW coil.

If enough of a coil could be inserted into the OWB, a simple system with a circulator, differential temperature controller, and solar collector could almost be mounted on top of the wood boiler or in close proximity. Maybe a zone valve that would close when water in the boiler is hotter than he solar collector to stop unwanted circulation. Already been done? Any thoughts?

[Steinacher Sales]

ITO,

You have 180 gal. water capacity and are actually heating the 135 gal. and it heats the 45 gal. through the exchanger in the superstor tank.
I took this comment below off of the link to your superstor tank you gave me. It looks like they have vacuum tube solar water heaters. Wonder what the price on them are?

Evacuated Tube Collectors shine because of
their incredible freeze protection and
unique 360 degree collector design.

The tubes 60, weigh about 5 lb. each = 300 lbs.
I would guess the frame a 100 lb.
It holds 100 gal. of water at 8 lbs. per gal.= 800 lbs.

Yours looking at about 1200 lbs. More or less!

Of course the weight would be spread out over the roof span and not in one spot.

The panel is 5' high and 12' long. Its sets on a 45 degree angle!

[Steinacher Sales]

Idaho,

The Shaver Pro Series Furnaces come with 50 ft. of 5/8" copper in the water jacket for the DHW. This is a separate loop with its own pump and thermostat. The pump runs when the DHW needs heated! Is this what you are talking about?

I'm using my solar water heater to heat my furnace water. The furnace water heats everything else!

Back on page 3 I have some figures I documented on my setup. I am burning some wood, putting a small amount in every 2 to 3 days.

The panel is to big to mount on the Outdoor Furnace! You would have to put it on the ground!

Greg Steinacher
618-401-0726