wood heat transferred through house

[Steve Young]

Which is why you combine a solar hot water heater with a wood boiler, so in
summer the solar provides the DHW, and in winter the wood provides the
baseboard water or infloor radiant hot water as well as the DHW.

Steve, I ignored DHW because of the need to burn a fire during the
summer, coupled with the problems of erratic solar collection, as one might
only get a limited amounts of sun through a day and not have the heat when
needed. A solution with both solar and wood heating, to overcome, or
significantly reduce associated problems, also adding convenience, is to build
heat storage into the equation. It really helps to collect all the heat one
can, as it's available, then parcel it out through several days. I
use a 275 gallon fuel oil tank, (turned into 'thermos jug'), (by having the
tank isolated from the floor and surrounded by 8 inches of fiberglass
insulation)). On my to do list is to expand it to twice this size.

I also want to integrate control, using sensors on the heat sources, to flow
the water only when collector temperature exceeds the tank temperature, etc.
Also to monitor various other temperatures, making it possible to
intelligently automate the system. Solar and wood heat are very compatible and
can be made quite convenient with heat storage.

Steve Young

 

[Mike Annetts]

Hello

I seem to be getting conflicting opinions about using copper. I was going
to use a coil of soft copper tubing from the hardware 5/8 outside dia. It
is already coiled and fits the fittings on the market. dean-what is your
reasoning on not using copper as you don't really say why not in your posts.
Thanks
Mike

 

[Hollywood]

>Hi all, I have been searching for answers to my heating problem. We have

>wood but scattered over several thousand acres and a wood stove in one house

>that heats the hot water. An open fire in both houses that is inefficient

>in heating and I would like to know how I can convert the wood usage to heat

>the water and thus heat the house/houses.

>

You might need to be a little more specific.

What I got from your message is; 1) You have lots of wood, 2) You have an auxiliary water
heater, 3) There seems to be two houses involved.

What I need clarification on is: 1) Is collecting the wood a problem? 2) Does the wood stove
heat all the water or are there other energies involved (solar, hydro, wind, grid or
petrochemical supplied)? 3) Is the house with the heater habitable or is it just a shack with a
hot water heater? 4) Are the houses connected together? 5) Are the houses close to each other (
within 50 feet)? 6) Can you move the heater to the liveable house so you only have to heat one
house? 7) Are there water heating pipes between the two houses already? 8) If not, do you have,
or have access to ( friends, relatives, leasing or rental companies), the equipment required to
trench the pipes or plenums below the freezing level (3 feet (1 meter) or more in most cold
places)

If you could answer these questions about your environment, I'm sure the group could band
together to help you.

You might also want to include whether or not you rent or own the properties in question, a
guesstimate value of insulation in one or both the houses and how handy you are at ripping out
wall facings to put water heating pipes behind them ( did I mention floors as well? ;-) ).

Heating by water is easy. COMFORABLE heating by water is a little different. Comfortable
heating by water with no grid or petrochemical resources is different again (far from
impossible,... just different).

You might want to consider getting the sun involved in this (less fuel, less work, just letting
what happens naturally, happen naturally)

 

[Mike Annetts]

Back to the wood heat issue. Has anyone tried to make the heat exchanger
with copper tubing attached to the outside of the stove. My stove's back is
about 2 feet by 2 feet. I thought that I could solder or braze a zig zag
pattern of tubing and fasten it against the flat back. would it get hot
enough. I don't think that I really need to get superhigh temps for the
system to work.

Thanks
Mike

 

[Steve Spence]

http://ww2.green-trust.org:8383/2003/fireandwater.htm

http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/homemadehahsawoodheaters

http://www.hahsa.com/

--
Steve Spence
www.green-trust.org
news:%[email protected]...

> Hi all, I have been searching for answers to my heating problem. We have

 

[Ashley Clarke]

Hello again!

Would using Automobile Radiators each end of your system be safe to utilise?
If so, they`d be ultra efficient in transferring the heat and easy to
maintain.

`Just a thought

--

 

[Mike Annetts]

Hello
I wonder if the rad against the stove would pick up enough heat? If so I
think it would be workable. anybody ever try this?
Mike

 

[Steve Spence]

it's a problem of size / price. stirlings tend to be expensive and small.

 

[Ashley Clarke]

....and again...

Yes, I first learned about Sterling Engines from a quick flick through the
Internet
last week and there seems to have been quite some headway made on them
up to date. One I spotted was a military portable generator providing 200W.

--

 

[Steve Spence]

a whole 200 watts?

--
Steve Spence
www.green-trust.org

...and again...

Yes, I first learned about Sterling Engines from a quick flick through the
Internet
last week and there seems to have been quite some headway made on them
up to date. One I spotted was a military portable generator providing 200W.

--

 

[Cosmopolite]

The WhisperGen produces 850 watts

...and again...

Yes, I first learned about Sterling Engines from a quick flick through the
Internet
last week and there seems to have been quite some headway made on them
up to date. One I spotted was a military portable generator providing 200W.

 

[Steve Spence]

That's more interesting.

But how many $/watt to purchase?


Wind is about $4 / watt, pv is about $8, so this should less than $4/watt,
plus you have to buy fuel. This thing consumes nearly .25 gallons / hour,
where a 6 kw diesel generator might consume 1 gallon / hour. The diesel
generator costs $5k (.83 / watt), with a overhaul expectancy in excess of
5000 hours. The whispergen is "predicted" to have a overhaul at 20k hours.
Does this mean they have never run one that long?

I'm betting the diesel is the better buy.

 

[Ashley Clarke]

Doh, yes.

It was from around the 1950`s (I think I remember). The main use for it
would probably have been to power a Radio set, but your guess is
probably better than mine?
How about taking this subject to a new Thread?
We might come up with something better if we put our Heads together
on this one. Sterling Engines rely only on the difference between hot
and cold air, so the power to scale relationship would obviously exceed
something internally combustable...

--
--------------------
Ashley Clarke
-------------------------------------------------------
Email: [email protected]
-------------------------------------------------------

a whole 200 watts?