Re: Indirect Hot water tank
<font color="blue"> </font><font color="blue" class="small">( ( DHW? ) </font>)</font>
Domestic Hot Water
<font color="blue"> </font><font color="blue" class="small">( ( Why run a hot water tank of this system ) </font>)</font>
<font color="blue"> </font><font color="blue" class="small">( ( First question. Why would you get some special tank for your DHW??) </font>)</font>
I have an oil, FHW system in the house. I currently get my hot water from a DHW coil in this system. I could just use the Wood furnace to circulate the 185 degree water through my oil system and be done with it. However the coil is old and should be replaced and the oil furnace is 32 years old and not very efficient. When I replace it in the future, I will install a boiler without a domestic coil and use the
Boilermate
that I plan to install now. If I already had an electric water heater, I would just use a heat exchanger and a tempering valve to keep the DHW up to temp. The boilermates are supposed to be very efficient at keeping water hot.
I currently have an indoor wood boiler linked to my oil system, but that too is 32 years old and not very efficient. So I am taking it out of the house and replacing it with a
Central Boiler
Wood Furnace. This will put the mess and fire hazard 100 feet away from my house. The furnace holds 350 gallons of water and will be linked to my oil system via insulated, underground lines. The wood furnace can be set to maintain the water at whatever temp. you set it at . The circulator at the wood furnace will circulate continuously to keep the oil furnace at temp. The house has 3 zones and will call for heat as needed. A 4th, priority zone will be set up for the boiler mate. The Boilermate has an aquastat with a digital readout. You can set your DHW temp with the push of a button. Once the system is together, I plan to shut off the oil furnace, and just use wood. I cut my own wood for free so I will only use oil if I go away and turn the furnace back on. I will also have a way to unplug the system from the electric grid and plug the system into my generator as a backup.
Folks that I know with a similar setup, load the stove twice a day in the coldest temps,around -20, once a day when the temp is around freezing and once every 3 days in the summer to keep the DHW hot.