WOOD FIRED HYDRONIC HEATING SYSTEMS
- LAST MODIFIED
3/12/04
Link to Visitor's
Hydronic Heating Systems
Go to the visitor’s page to
communicate with and view visitors systems, and post information about your
Wood Fired Hydronic heating system:
This web site is a work in progress (so check back often, it
will be updated regularly). This site
will show the detailed installation, plans, and operating theory of several
wood fired hydronic heating systems.
HISTORY:
- The
tank was insulated on 11/29/03, and a fire was started in the boiler the
same day! Boiler runs great,
impressive, NO SMOKE when firing.
- The
insulating job is not 100% complete, the joints and insulation keepers
will all be taped over soon.
- Operated
for a few weeks with TACO 007 circulator pumps removing heat from the
boiler (adding heat to the heat storage tank) & and supplying heat to
the existing home hydronic heating system (removing heat from the tank).
- With
this pump removing heat from the boiler, the highest heat storage tank
temperature achieved was approximately 155ºF. At and above about 145ºF heat storage tank temperature, the
combustion air fan on the wood boiler would cycle on and off at a boiler
temperature of approximately 195ºF.
The TACO pump was not removing enough heat from the boiler to get
the water in the heat storage tank any warmer. Calculations showed that the maximum water circulation rate
with the TACO pump was 3.9 GPM.
At flow rate of 3.9 GPM, only 83,917 BTU/hr of heat was being
removed from the boiler. This is
not enough, a larger pump was needed, one that could remove around
140,000 BTU/hr of heat from the boiler.
- The
TACO 007 pump did not have enough capacity to adequately supply the
required volume of hot water to the existing hydronic heating system for
the home and domestic hot water heating.
The existing system has 4 zones, each with a TACO 007 pump, and a
domestic hot water coil. When
more than two zones were in operation, the domestic hot water would get
“cold”. Again, a pump with more
capacity was need for this application.
- On
12/23/03, replaced the TACO 007 pumps with Grundfos UP26-96F pumps. The UP26-96F is a “bigger pump” it has
more pressure and flow capacity than the 007 pumps. The Grundfos UP26-96F has a maximum
pumping head of 30 ft and a maximum flow rate of 27 GPM , compared to the
11ft and 20 GPM of the TACO 007.
The pump replacement solved both problems described above, and the
heating system now works very well.
- With
the larger Grundfos pump removing heat from the boiler the heat storage
tank temperature has been up to 180ºF.
The combustion air fan on the wood boiler does not cycle until the
storage tank temperature is around 170ºF. The UP26-96F pump circulates the boiler water at a
calculated rate of 6.5 GPM and removes approximately 139,900 BTU/hr of
heat from the boiler. The boiler
is now fired until the heat storage tank temperature is at about
180ºF. Then the fire is allowed
to go out until the tank temperature falls to around 135ºF. At that time, another fire is started
and the cycle is repeated
(Picture of UP26-96F pump on the
back of the wood boiler – CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR FULL SIZE PICTURES)
Now there is plenty of domestic hot water with even with all the heating zone pumps in operation.
(Pictures of UP26-96F pump that
supplies hot water to the existing heating system – CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR
FULL SIZE PICTURES)
THE EQUIPMENT:
·
THE BOILER –
ATOMS DC40GS – Wood Gasification Hot Water Boiler – 138,000BTU/hr output.
·
HEAT
STORAGE TANK – 480,000 BTU storage tank.
·
SYSTEM SCHEMATIC (Coming Soon)
PHOTOS OF THE SYSTEM:
(CLICK ON THE THUMBNAILS BELOW FOR FULL SIZE PICTURES)
(Front) (Isometric) (Right End) (Rear Piping Detail) (Piping to tie in to
existing heating system)
PURCHASE MATERIALS:
Fittings, Copper Coils, Insulation, Valves, Mixing Valves, Thermometers, Safety Relief Valves, Circulating Pumps for this project are all available at our ebay store.
Please follow this link (and select the HYDRONIC HEATING
PARTS category):
LINK
TO OUR EBAY STORE “QUALITY-STUFF-FOR-YOU”
Please email all questions to quality-stuff-for-you, through
our ebay store. THANK YOU.