going from wood to corn boiler


  #1  
Old 01-14-08, 09:16 AM
B
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
going from wood to corn boiler

We are in the planning stages of going from an old wood boiler to a KernelBurner 100,000 btu biomass boiler. We have a gas boiler that we plan to continue to use as a backup. We hope to heat our DHW with the new boiler also. I will try to attach some pics of the current set up. Any or all help would be greatly appreciated. The HVAC guy that is going to do the install is a rookie at Biomass so the more help the better.

The current setup I am sure is full of flaws. It was originally put in about 40 years ago and has since been worked on by people that more than likely are even less knowledgeable than the original installers.



This is the current system with the wood boiler to the left and the gas boiler to the right.



This shows the water flow which comes from the gas boiler to the wood boiler and then up to the baseboard heat.



This shows the (incorrect?) placement of the water pump pushing the water thru the gas boiler.



This is where the hot water flows from the boiler and gets split with one half going around in a loop for the east half of the house and the other to the west half of the house.

Any and all help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
  #2  
Old 01-14-08, 09:30 AM
Who's Avatar
Who
Who is offline
Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: San Jose
Posts: 2,066
Upvotes: 0
Received 2 Upvotes on 1 Post
What's the heatloss for the home? If you don't know you can download a copy to calculate it from SlantFin's webite. If your heatloss is significantly lower than the net output of the corn boiler, a buffer tank might be a good idea. What's the capacity of the gas boiler? How do you plan to use it as a backup? Manual changeover or automatic fail-safe? Is there any information on how the corn boiler needs to be piped?
 
  #3  
Old 01-14-08, 09:51 AM
B
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
We are going to do the Slantfin heat loss calc. tonite.

I believe, but will double check tonite when we get home, that the gas boiler is around 150,000 btu's.

Would prefer to have the gas back up be automatic changeover, but am totally open to suggestions here.

Not much for info with the corn boiler.
 
  #4  
Old 01-14-08, 10:04 AM
Who's Avatar
Who
Who is offline
Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: San Jose
Posts: 2,066
Upvotes: 0
Received 2 Upvotes on 1 Post
Can we assume that the corn boiler isn`t open atmospheric - that it can be piped as part of the rest of the closed loop pressurized system?
 
  #5  
Old 01-14-08, 10:09 AM
B
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
That would be correct, it is a pressure type boiler.
 
  #6  
Old 01-14-08, 03:15 PM
NJT's Avatar
NJT
NJT is offline
Member
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 19,710
Upvotes: 0
Received 8 Upvotes on 6 Posts
I know from nothing what you want to do with the corn boiler, but...

I can't see in the pics where the flue pipes go... are they joining in a common chimney ?

I would probably get rid of that heat recovery device on the flue pipe. One thing you don't want to do is excessively cool the flue gas on it's way out. I know it seems such a waste to let all that heat go up the chimney, but you see those streaks on the pipe ? and all that rust ? That's probably caused by CONDENSATION of the flue gas from being cooled way down by sucking all the heat out of it. There may be similar damage to the chimney (even stainless can be attacked, though at a much slower rate), and clay lined masonry chimneys are also at risk.

Judging by what can be seen in the pics, a very thorough inspection of the entire chimney system is in order.

Please put some covers on those electrical boxes!

Did I mention CO DETECTORS ?

The pump on the return side of the boiler is not necessarily _wrong_, but modern installations may differ from what you've got now. I sure wouldn't wire it that way though!
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: