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[jenkinswt]

Hello I have decided that I want to build an OWB and have been doing alot of research. I have looked at some factory models in person and saw a Central Boiler 5036 and was quite impressed but I will be trying to copy the 6048 as much as possible. I am even going to copy the rippled roof design if anyone has looked at theses. The dealer I talked to said a draft blower was an available option but he didn't recommend it because it blows some heat out the stack which kind of makes sense. I understand basically how I want to build the firebox, insulation, water jacket, etc.

Where I am slowly trying to grasp everything is the controls etc. I have a plan drawn up of how I want to hook it all up and what I expect to use but when it comes to pumps, controls, etc. I don't know which is best to use. I am planning to use either cast iron radiators and/or baseboard heaters. I had thought about under floor heating but the way I was going to install only shows 18 btu's per sq. foot and my area shows I might need 50-55 btu's per sq. foot. I would rather have more heating capacity than freeze all the time like I currently do. I don't live where I will be installing all of this yet but its an older 2 story square house, not sure on sq. feet but I will be adding a shop down the road, greenhouse, hopefully retrofit a gas dryer also, as well as hot water. Here is a list and maybe some of you can comment with your opinions:

1. Pump? Do I need more than one, which size, etc. Does it install at the boiler?
2. Automatic draft control? I have seen these on alot of stoves but can't find them anywhere. I need to be able to shut air flow off to the stove to maintain a water temperature.
3. Filling with water/purging air?
4. Zoning the heaters? Should they just be plumbed one right after another in a loop or should I install a manifold with individual shutoffs? I don't need seperate pumps for each zone do I? I was thinking the water flowing in from the boiler could go to a manifold with individual 1/2" shutoffs for each zone. This way I could shut off rooms I don't use when its really cold out.
5. Regulating temperature in each zone? Do I just install a shutoff valve at each baseboard heater/radiator and adjust the water flow to where were comfortable or is there some type of thermostat you can put on the wall that can control the flow on its own? I don't want to make the system too complicated and expensive, I am on a budget.

Sorry for such newbie questions but I have been looking everywhere and the generic statement I keep finding is consult a professional. I am pretty handy and hardly ever hire someone to do my own stuff. I do construction and alot of mechanical stuff. I also took some welding classes for about 6 months. I will have to buy a welder, not sure if I want to buy a plasma cutter or not but it would help and I would use it again but I might just get the metal cut to sizes that I need for the bigger stuff.

Anyways I am looking forward to some guidance because I am not familiar with hydronic heating.

[jackel440]

Welcome to the board

How many pumps you will need will depend on how much tubing you will have ,and how you design your system.I am not the expert on sizing pumps,but there are some guys here who will surely chime in and help you figure it out.depending on your elevation you can put your pumps in the house or on the boiler.
Automtic draft just depends on the stove manufacturer I guess.Your designing and building it.So just come up with your own design.You need some sort of actuator or solenoide to open a door to allow air in.
Some people just fill thier stoves with a hose,and some have a valve which accepts a hose or is plumbed in permantly to feed water into your circulating lines to fiil the stove.
As far as all the zone valves and controls for each room.You can make it as simple or ascomplicated as you want from what i have researched.
Good luck ,and we look forward to lots of pics.

[Scott7m]

Hmmmm.............   I hardlly no where to start..     

Here is some things I can think of.  Central boiler builds a good stove.  However, a lot of there designs are extremely hard to copy and there are other ways of achieving the same or BETTER efficiency than going with that ripple roof.  SOMETHING TO CONSIDER:  The more welds you have on your firebox, the more likely you are to have problems.  If you have a ripple firebox and then have it square, you are going to have like 20 times more chance for a leak than going with a round firebox.  You may say or ask how do I achieve the efficiency, well first of all look past the hype of central boiler.  As I said they are good stoves, but dont get hung up on their ideas. 

Simpler ways to achieve more efficiency is by having a drop chimney in the stove, instead of it being in the top or the back, the chimney will enter from the top at the back of the stove and extend down to within 6" of the bottom of the firebox.  This keeps the heat from being going straight up and out the stack and aids in trapping gases in the top of the stove giving it more time to extract heat and a better chance to burn the gases.  Some models even have the water jacket extending on down into the firebox surrounding the pipe, natues comfort would be an example of this.  Another thing you could do is make a double pass.  When building your stove you could have the exhaust travel inside your water jacket through a jacket/pipe from the back of the firebox, to the front, and then back to the back.  Triple pass or Double, whichever, it simply allows for more time to burn and cools the exhaust which means MORE EFFICIENCY. 

Now, as far as natural draft vs forced.  It has been proven in test that having a fan is more efficient.  By having the fan you are forcing o2 into the fire which makes the stove recover faster.  Also, when there is enough air being forced into the stove it increases efficiency by allowing a more complete burn of your wood.  Think of a torch and how lazy it acts until you shoot the o2 to it then it comes to life. Same thing happens when burnign wood, a roaring hot fire is wasting less than one sitting there using a natural draft and puffing away. 

[Scott7m]

and...........   some stoves I would tell you to look at as far as the design would be heatmaster and portage and main for the double pass chimney's, and natures comfort for the drop chimney design.  Both designs work well and utilize a round fire box.  You can also watch a video on yourtube of a guy showing the double pass and how it works under portage and main on the search. 

as far as a greenhouse.  wow...........    Greenhouses are extremely hard to heat.  I wouldn't put a green house on anything that was designed to create more than 500k btu.  Like a natures comfort 325G or a heatmaster 10,000.  You would just have to do some figuring on how big of one you would really need when you consider your house. 

as far as the house, I would definitely do radiant in floor heating if i had the oppurtunity to do so.   It is BY FAR the best heat you can get from an OWB! 

As far as the draft control and such, it's pretty basic.  You can look at the back of a stove like natures comfort and see how they have it made.  They are very simple and everything is neat, very much the same case on a heatmaster stove.  You can mount everything right on the back of the stove "under roof" where it will stay dry and warm.  You can add pumps according to the size of your unit.  If your stove is big enough and you need 4 applications, you can have 4 pumps. 

Feel free to ask questions.  It's a long road going it alone!  But, you've found a good place to ask questions.

[jenkinswt]

Thanks for all the replies guys, I really appreciate it. I even had a member pm me with alot of help. The greenhouse I was thinking something pretty small, I just want to be able to get a head start eventually on growing stuff, thats not in the works right now but in the future. I have plenty of research ahead of me before I begin but this seems to be a good place to throw ideas at to get opinions on how well it will work. I was thinking there was some off the shelf automatic draft control but if not that is okay. I like the idea of using a draft inducer. Anyways I hope to be buying a welder next month sometime and it will be awhile before I start on building because I won't be moving to the house until April or May and need to work on it before the boiler. This will probably be a summer time project. I am excited to think of all the positive things to come from building this after burning wood inside forever.