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[hellerb001]

Can anyone suggest  a book or website that gives examples of how different boiler plumbing systems are designed?  I will be building a new home and I want to include a wood boiler, but I don't know how I want it designed.  I was thinking of having a gas furnace where the boiler is back up heat.  And in particular I want to keep the furnace blower on all the time to circulate and clean the air, but I can't find anything on the internet about turning the boiler water flow off  to the furnace.  Does anyone do this?

[MattyNH]

Sounds like your looking into a indoor wood boiler.. And I take it that your heat is gonna be hot air??

[Scott7m]

I'm confused about what your asking

[RSI]

If the wood furnace is only backup, I would just use a forced air wood stove. Unless you intend to run most of the winter, you don't want an outdoor boiler.

[hellerb001]

I'm sorry I wasn't very clear with my first post.  I'm looking at Outdoor Water Boilers, and I am planning on using it as much as possible.  (At least in winter, I don't know if it is worth while to run the boiler for the water heater in the summer.)  I say that the gas furnace (most likely propane) is the primary, because I don't think I can build or sell a house listing a wood boiler as the primary heat source.  I thought the problem was that loading wood daily isn't reliable enough.  The bank and county want to see a heat source that doesn't depend on daily manual labor.

Someone sent me a private message about a valve that shuts off boiler flow to the furnace that is controlled by a thermostat.  This is the kind of thing I am looking for, but I don't know if there is a single thermostat that can control everything or if I need multiple thermostats.  (One set to turn on the propane furnace and control the fan and another that controls the heating valve.)  I also don't know if there are variable speed pumps that slow down flow when there is less demand or if there is a bypass that kicks in when the heating valve is closed.

What I would like to know is if there is a source that has multiple plumbing designs and even better if it discusses pros and cons of the designs.

I know that some people heat garages, work shops and even sometimes driveways to melt snow, and I will probably consider doing that as well, I just don't know what is available for controls and how it gets set up .

Thanks for the help.

[RSI]

You can set it up with one thermostat but I prefer two because it is easier to use. Also if you change the temperature with a single thermostat the gas will come on when not needed. (IE raise the temp past the backup setting)

Most people just let the pump run 24/7. You need the flow there for heating the DHW. There are variable speed pumps but they are expensive. Taco makes a few that would work best.

Depending on what boiler you get, you may need it running faster all the time to keep the tank circulated. I would just use large pipe and keep it short enough so you can use a Grundfos alpha on high if you want to keep power usage really low. You blower running 24/7 will use a lot more power anyway.

A 3 way zone valve will work for what you want to control heat to the furnace heat exchanger.

For the garage heat, it really depends on how it is setup. If you have pipes in the floor, it is probably best. Easiest is just a hanging heater. If it is only heater part time this is usually the best option.

[Scott7m]

In general your questions are so vast it's hard to give a straight answer..  But I'll try to help, your gas furnace could be your primary, of course you can tie your wood boiler to that using a heat exchanger.  The thermostat could be set up to either burn gas, or to simply turn the fan on so that your fan would only kick on when heat is needed.  Some thermostats have 2-3 heat settings

Yes you can heat multiple buildings depending on the size of the boiler.  The system has to be "designed". There is no one way to do anything in regards to snow melt, multiple buildings and such.  One of the most common problems I see in the field is designs that quite simply don't work, most of them are dealer installed as well.  The thing is most dealers do not do this as a job, and there is no required training to install these in most cases.  So what you end up with is guys who have a real job and peddle stoves on the side and they have no real interest in the job at hand.

If you could come up with questions regarding the details of what your wanting to do I'm sure I could figure out what you would need and what would work best. 

At this stage of the game I'm sure your mind is going in 70 directions, which is common. 

Good luck

[hellerb001]

Thanks for the response Scott.  I know that my questions are all over the place.  I just bought a piece of land and I'm trying to figure out what we are going to build and I am starting out with very little knowledge or experience with OWBs.  I do know that the property has lots of trees, I like cutting and splitting wood and I think it is a good way to keep heating costs down.

That is why I am looking for some sort of reference material or a guide that helps walk through choosing the size, looking at plumbing options, what makes sense to heat and what doesn't, stuff like that.

I could come up with specific questions and I'm sure a bunch of people on here could answer them, but I also know that sometimes my ignorance means that I don't ask the right questions.  I am hoping that someone has written about this in case there are aspects that I've never even thought about.

I can and have learned a lot reading posts here, but it is sometimes much easier to learn and understand when an author has organized information into well written chapters.

Maybe a book like this doesn't exist and that is why I can't find anything.

Thanks,
Brian

[atvalaska]

what u do is find a buddy who knows a plumber...buy his time an offer up a beer or two....I've did it a few times....the old ways still work sometimes ,imo.