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[juddspaintballs]

If I get a Heatmor 200CSS without a domestic hot water coil installed, how easy would it be to install one myself?  The coil seems like a much better idea than a sidearm heat exchanger with the only downside being an extra two lines of 3/4" pex (only the hot side needs insulated though).  A local Heatmor dealer today told me the coil will give me basically unlimited hot water and be almost identical in price to a sidearm exhanger. 

[willieG]

If I get a Heatmor 200CSS without a domestic hot water coil installed, how easy would it be to install one myself?  The coil seems like a much better idea than a sidearm heat exchanger with the only downside being an extra two lines of 3/4" pex (only the hot side needs insulated though).  A local Heatmor dealer today told me the coil will give me basically unlimited hot water and be almost identical in price to a sidearm exhanger. 

if you don't insulate the cold water feed, can you assure it will not freeze where it comes out of the ground and into the OWB?
this may be a dumb question as i have never seen this hookup. just thought i would throw it out there for "food for thought"

[juddspaintballs]

It won't freeze if it's below my frost line, which is ~5' in my area.  A trencher can dig 6' so I should be OK.  I can always install a ball valve and a drain fitting and drain that line if I'm not going to be home for a few days. 

[willieG]

my question was aimed at only the foot or two of pipe that come out of the ground (above the frost line) that go to the hook up of the OWB if you are not using and domestic water, the water will not be moving. Is there a chance this foot or two of pipe could freeze if there is only one inch not isulated in those few feet?

[juddspaintballs]

yes, I suppose it could.  If the furnace were warm, I highly doubt it.  If it were not warm, then yes, it could.  But do you really think that even R-20 insulated pipe would not freeze if left unmoving and unwarmed for 3 or 4 days in temperatures around 10 degrees F?  Looks like manually draining it would be the best bet.  Or keeping a warming wire wrapped around the little bit of pipe in the frost zone to turn on whenever the temperature of the pipe drops below a certain temp. 

[willieG]

i was thinking of actually maybe wrapping iti n the same insulation as the return line of your OWB. They are both ging into the stove anyway so if you lowered the temp of the OWB water on the way in it wouldnt matter because the heat you just stole from it is going into the stove in the domestic line anyway...actually no heat loss

[juddspaintballs]

that is a smart idea.  i'd have to use some of that foam foil insulation to wrap the two together rather than the closed cell foam pipe wrap i was going to use on the return line.  i'll just rubber foam the supply line and domestic hot line and then foil foam the cold water and return lines together. 

still doesn't stop the pipes from freezing if the furnace isn't running for a few days during the winter though.

[willieG]

i dont worry about my pipes freezing unless the power were to go out and i wasn't  home to start the generator
if for some reason (i got tipsy maybe) i forgot to fire the OWB and it ran out of wood.....
my regular furnace is an in ground water furnace and i think as long as the water were to circulate through the OWB system when the house temp dropped to 67 (that is where i keep the house furnace set) then the house furnace would keep the rad in the plenum at 67 and that would circulate back to the OWB and keep things from freezing

i think this is the case with anyone who uses a rad in the plenum of their homes hot air heating system?

[juddspaintballs]

i was also thinking of adding the used oil burner and hooking up my oil tank to it as backup heat.  it can't be much less efficient than my 30+ year old oil burner in my basement, and then i could have just an air handler only in the basement. 

[willieG]

i was also thinking of adding the used oil burner and hooking up my oil tank to it as backup heat.  it can't be much less efficient than my 30+ year old oil burner in my basement, and then i could have just an air handler only in the basement. 

for sure that is a good idea

[HarrisCustomHeating]

Both the hot water coil(port) and oil burner(port) options must be ordered with the furnace they can not be added later.  The coil has a bracket it sits on in the water jacket. 

[juddspaintballs]

Yep.  I ordered my furnace with the domestic port, though I think I've changed my mind on domestic hot water.  I'm going to use a very oversized flat plate heat exchanger and a small circulator pump on the domestic side to give me unlimited on demand hot water.  It'll save me the trouble of running extra pex lines underground.

[dirtryder]

Yep.  I ordered my furnace with the domestic port, though I think I've changed my mind on domestic hot water.  I'm going to use a very oversized flat plate heat exchanger and a small circulator pump on the domestic side to give me unlimited on demand hot water.  It'll save me the trouble of running extra pex lines underground.

Is your water going to circulate from the OWB to the house and back 24/7?  If so, do you really need a circulator for the DHW? Just put the HX after your Water heater tank in line with your water out, leave water heater off or unlit if gas, and anytime you turn on your hot water faucet, bingo all the hot water you will ever need. I do my house and connected in-law suite which consists of 2 dishwashers, 2 showers, 2 clothes washers, 2 kitchens.....with a 10 plate flat HX and have never run out of hot water. When you plumb, you can put a bypass in so when you go back to using your regular hot water heater it will bypass the HX. BTW, I totally agree with not using the coil in the OWB.

[juddspaintballs]

Good to know.  I will be 24/7 circulating the OWB line.  I was planning on doing the HX prior to the tank, and leaving the water heater turned off, and constantly circulating the water from the bottom of the tank, through the HX, and then back into the water heater tank, then out of the tank with a mixing valve.  However, if you say a 10 plate HX is plenty enough to give you on-demand water, then that should work out perfectly for me.  I was planning on using a 30 plate HX.  I would love to totally bypass the water heater. 

[dirtryder]

Yes, there is no reason to heat the water "before" the tank. I don't think that you could keep the water in the tank hot. To me it would be a waste. I thought of by-passing the hot water heater but it really is not necessary for all the work involved. When the HWH is off, it just becomes a storage tank, but in a "snap" (turning it on) everything goes back to normal......once the water heats up in the tank

The 10 plate works perfect for me and I had to put a mixing vavle in to cool down the hot water. We have no little children in the house......but I knew it would only be a matter of time until someone got burnt by the hot water. Although, 170 degree water does a great job in the dishwasher