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General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Aquatherm 340 - General knowledge and questions...
« on: June 10, 2015, 08:24:45 AM »
Ok so we were going to install a OWB to run both the house and my shop. Well I didn't think about the $5K in pex I would need to cover the 500' run between the two buildings. Plus it's a steep hill between the house and shop. 30' rise or more I would say... No room by house for wood storage so I have to haul lots of wood up steep hill during winter. So after getting a Central 6048 used for a good price it sat due to lack of funds for pex.
After several very lengthy discussions with the wife, we are thinking it would be better for two smaller (cheaper) boilers. One in garage of house (prevents freezing during winter vacations, and wife more likely to help me fill it if inside during winter), and one down by shop. This also allows us to use the LP heat when it's cheap, lug wood in smaller quantities up the hill, and only fill the house boiler when we want to cut heat costs. I found a small older 30 gal IWB for the shop last fall (installed currently). It did pretty well filling 2 times a day to keep it 60* but I don't know the manufacture so don't have a UL listing number for it for the insurance company. Not a big deal for the shop boiler but can't put it in the house without UL. I want the shop floor space back and to keep the mess and smoke outside so I found an older 200gal OWB to heat the shop.
So if you followed all this... I have a CHEAP 200gal OWB for shop and 30gal IWB I can't use in the house without UL listing code (from my understanding).
So I just located a Aquatherm 340 that I think would be a decent unit for the house. I think it's bigger and possibly newer than my 30gal IWB. I can't seem to find much information on the Aquatherms. Reliability, solid construction?, good unit? Just kinda looking for someone to clue me in on these.
Thanks!
Nathan
pics below are the little 30 gal IWB that I have no information on if anyone recognizes it. It's currently set up to be atmospheric (not pressurized), and with glycol to prevent freezing when i don't get down there for a week or two...
After several very lengthy discussions with the wife, we are thinking it would be better for two smaller (cheaper) boilers. One in garage of house (prevents freezing during winter vacations, and wife more likely to help me fill it if inside during winter), and one down by shop. This also allows us to use the LP heat when it's cheap, lug wood in smaller quantities up the hill, and only fill the house boiler when we want to cut heat costs. I found a small older 30 gal IWB for the shop last fall (installed currently). It did pretty well filling 2 times a day to keep it 60* but I don't know the manufacture so don't have a UL listing number for it for the insurance company. Not a big deal for the shop boiler but can't put it in the house without UL. I want the shop floor space back and to keep the mess and smoke outside so I found an older 200gal OWB to heat the shop.
So if you followed all this... I have a CHEAP 200gal OWB for shop and 30gal IWB I can't use in the house without UL listing code (from my understanding).
So I just located a Aquatherm 340 that I think would be a decent unit for the house. I think it's bigger and possibly newer than my 30gal IWB. I can't seem to find much information on the Aquatherms. Reliability, solid construction?, good unit? Just kinda looking for someone to clue me in on these.
Thanks!
Nathan
pics below are the little 30 gal IWB that I have no information on if anyone recognizes it. It's currently set up to be atmospheric (not pressurized), and with glycol to prevent freezing when i don't get down there for a week or two...
2
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Reviving an old Dahl Wood boiler, How to???
« on: May 20, 2015, 09:35:48 AM »
Ok so I am always on the look out for cheap ways to upgrade my shop... I found an small (30gal) old IWB last summer and installed it inside my shop. Since then I decided that I want something bigger than will heat on 1 charge/day or less and would be outside the shop so I can keep the smoke out and the floor space open.
Shop is 24'x36' = 864 sqft with R5(ish) insulation.
Found a 230 gal Dahl boiler locally for $150. Panels have been taken off and it was already unhooked. No pump and only the front and rear tin panels. I was skeptical at first since it handn't been run in 8+ years. However, we filled it with a garden hose to the top with no leaks anywhere outside or inside!
So there is still quite a bit of sediment and corrosion inside the boiler from sitting. I plan on putting a sediment trap on before the pump but am wondering if I need to flush the entire system with a chemical of some sort to help remove some of it???
This is a cheap project so if it holds up for 2-3 winters I'll be happy. Pics to come... maybe
Shop is 24'x36' = 864 sqft with R5(ish) insulation.
Found a 230 gal Dahl boiler locally for $150. Panels have been taken off and it was already unhooked. No pump and only the front and rear tin panels. I was skeptical at first since it handn't been run in 8+ years. However, we filled it with a garden hose to the top with no leaks anywhere outside or inside!
So there is still quite a bit of sediment and corrosion inside the boiler from sitting. I plan on putting a sediment trap on before the pump but am wondering if I need to flush the entire system with a chemical of some sort to help remove some of it???
This is a cheap project so if it holds up for 2-3 winters I'll be happy. Pics to come... maybe
3
Plumbing / Plate exchanger with recirculation pump?
« on: May 15, 2014, 07:55:43 PM »
Has anyone tried putting a thermostatically controlled recirculation pump in with a plate exchanger? I guess the idea was to have instant hot water with the added ability to keep the tank water hot. I honestly think the plate exchanger will keep us hot without much trouble but just curious if anyone has tried to do this... Would seem like the best of both worlds...
4
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / Help calculating Btu usage for Iowa...
« on: January 24, 2014, 01:26:23 PM »
Hey Guys,
Collecting some more info. The wife and I decided to wait this year on the boiler (currently running LP). I wanted to correctly size how many BTu unit I would need for the house...
Total Square footage = 4400sqft
Includes 1500sqft burried basement with no windows and 616sqft garage.
Right now the basement us unfinished and we don't spend much time there but eventually we want a bedroom bathroom down there. The garage us used for oil changes and if it was at 50*-60* I'd be happy.
Insulation is pretty good. There's no heat plumed to the garage, but it takes enough from the house to melt snow off the cars. We have 1000gal LP tank and have used about 1/2 of that so far this winter and it's been pretty cold and snowy here. I can't really put a # on how many gallons of LP we've used over each month but assuming about 400 this winter. From what I can tell we have 2x4 walls with roll insulation covered by late 70's verticle 3/4in wood siding with vinyl over that. Not sure if there is another layer between the vinyl and the old wood siding.
I'm after a regular boiler b/c we don't have $10K for a Central or P&M boiler alone. No gasifier since we would probably throw paper trash in it to reduce the amount of bags we haul into town to throw away. Thinking about Earth 360 (250K) or 400 (275K). It could be possible that this boiler would heat a hot tub in the future. We will place within 75-150ft of the furnace to keep insulated line cost down. Will also be doing a plate or side arm exchanger for hot water heating. Will probably add individual radiant heaters to garage and living room. Living room has vaulted ceiling and we just don't get the air flow from the central HVAC system to keep temp even with rest of house. Garage doesn't have HVAC run to it so I just assumed a separate heating element in there that I can isolate and turn off and on in there when I want heat.
I also need to stress that there won't be anyone to load it from 6:30 am-5pm. We leave for our office jobs and wouldn't be home to load it durning the day so long burn times would be nice.
Thought on boiler size??? 250K-275L (peak) BTUs enough?
Scott was helping before with sizing but now that we have a better handle on what we want and the ability of the house to keep heat in... THought a re-examination would be good.
Collecting some more info. The wife and I decided to wait this year on the boiler (currently running LP). I wanted to correctly size how many BTu unit I would need for the house...
Total Square footage = 4400sqft
Includes 1500sqft burried basement with no windows and 616sqft garage.
Right now the basement us unfinished and we don't spend much time there but eventually we want a bedroom bathroom down there. The garage us used for oil changes and if it was at 50*-60* I'd be happy.
Insulation is pretty good. There's no heat plumed to the garage, but it takes enough from the house to melt snow off the cars. We have 1000gal LP tank and have used about 1/2 of that so far this winter and it's been pretty cold and snowy here. I can't really put a # on how many gallons of LP we've used over each month but assuming about 400 this winter. From what I can tell we have 2x4 walls with roll insulation covered by late 70's verticle 3/4in wood siding with vinyl over that. Not sure if there is another layer between the vinyl and the old wood siding.
I'm after a regular boiler b/c we don't have $10K for a Central or P&M boiler alone. No gasifier since we would probably throw paper trash in it to reduce the amount of bags we haul into town to throw away. Thinking about Earth 360 (250K) or 400 (275K). It could be possible that this boiler would heat a hot tub in the future. We will place within 75-150ft of the furnace to keep insulated line cost down. Will also be doing a plate or side arm exchanger for hot water heating. Will probably add individual radiant heaters to garage and living room. Living room has vaulted ceiling and we just don't get the air flow from the central HVAC system to keep temp even with rest of house. Garage doesn't have HVAC run to it so I just assumed a separate heating element in there that I can isolate and turn off and on in there when I want heat.
I also need to stress that there won't be anyone to load it from 6:30 am-5pm. We leave for our office jobs and wouldn't be home to load it durning the day so long burn times would be nice.
Thought on boiler size??? 250K-275L (peak) BTUs enough?
Scott was helping before with sizing but now that we have a better handle on what we want and the ability of the house to keep heat in... THought a re-examination would be good.
5
General Outdoor Furnace Discussion / will this boiler suit my needs?
« on: August 27, 2013, 10:26:33 AM »
I found a Shaver 165 for $3800 supposedly never had a fire run in it. I have read some of the mods you can do to it to make it more efficient but the main question is can it heat my house and how long will one charge of oak last???
The house we are buying is 2200 sq ft not including a full basement and a garage 2.5 car garage. Newer windows and doors and new vinyl siding. lots of vaulted ceilings everywhere. located in central Iowa.
Also I'd like to know if I fill it with oak during the AM how long will that charge of fuel last? The wife and I have 40hr work weeks with 8 hr work days... even staggared we'd be looking at 9hours minimum before we recharge the boiler. The house has a 15year old gas furnace currently that runs good but i'd rather have the cheaper wood heat!
Cheers!
The house we are buying is 2200 sq ft not including a full basement and a garage 2.5 car garage. Newer windows and doors and new vinyl siding. lots of vaulted ceilings everywhere. located in central Iowa.
Also I'd like to know if I fill it with oak during the AM how long will that charge of fuel last? The wife and I have 40hr work weeks with 8 hr work days... even staggared we'd be looking at 9hours minimum before we recharge the boiler. The house has a 15year old gas furnace currently that runs good but i'd rather have the cheaper wood heat!
Cheers!
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