Hilkoil to heat exchanger info needed
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I am going to put a Hilkoil in my Harman Magnum and just need it to run about twelve feet to a new heat exchanger (with fan). My question is will I need a relief valve inline or anything else? This is for a garage setup and I do not want a tank inline. Thanks!
- McGiever
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yes, releif valve required as always on closed loop system...very dangerous w/o releif if fan, pump or power were to fail.
- McGiever
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- Lightning
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How big is the coil? I don't wanna rain on anyone's parade but those coils don't pick up very much heat. I'd be surprised if they will transfer more than a 1500 BTUs per hour.
- Lightning
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Hmmm. I use two 24 inch U shaped coils in my hand fed. One preheats domestic hot water, the other keeps my outside hot tub warm all winter.
It takes about 12 hours to lift my 40 gallon temper tank roughly 50 degrees during a high burn. So,
40 × 8.34 = 334 BTU/degree
334 × 50 degrees = 16,700
16,700 ÷ 12 hours = 1391
So if I did that right, one 24 inch coil at a high burn absorbs only 1391 BTUs per hour. That's not very much. There's just not enough surface area around a coil to absorb heat to make it do what your wanting. You'll need a lot more than that to heat a garage.
That's my view on it, with my experience on water coils. Your mileage may vary.
It takes about 12 hours to lift my 40 gallon temper tank roughly 50 degrees during a high burn. So,
40 × 8.34 = 334 BTU/degree
334 × 50 degrees = 16,700
16,700 ÷ 12 hours = 1391
So if I did that right, one 24 inch coil at a high burn absorbs only 1391 BTUs per hour. That's not very much. There's just not enough surface area around a coil to absorb heat to make it do what your wanting. You'll need a lot more than that to heat a garage.
That's my view on it, with my experience on water coils. Your mileage may vary.
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- Other Heating: OWB
Interesting.... so in order for my project to work I would neeed a bigger coil AND a water tank, correct?
- Lightning
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Well, you are attempting to make your hot air/convection unit act like a boiler. This subject has come up before and as one forum member once said, "a stove can't even play a boiler on TV" lol. But yes, you are right. Although it would take a significant network of many coils inside the fire chamber of a hand fed or stoker fed furnace to have enough surface area to absorb the amount of heat you need to heat a garage. Even if you used the one coil and heated a tank, then used that stored heat to heat your garage, the tank of water would go cold rather quickly and it would need a huge amount of time (like a full day) to recover so that your could heat the garage for two hours again. It's all about heat transfer at the source of heat. The water circles back to the coil which can't absorb heat fast enough for the demand needed.
- StokerDon
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No, what you really need is a boiler. There is no way for a small coil in a stove to absorb enough heat to power house sized a water to air heat exchanger. There is just not enough surface area. Sounds like you are trying to reinvent the wheel when it was already perfected 100 years ago.
Used coal boilers can be fairly cheap because, unlike a stove, they are not easy to move.
-Don
- Lightning
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Mr. Don is right. Just to put things in perspective, you would want at least 30,000 BTUs per hour on hand (during really cold weather) for your garage. And 30,000 is probably a conservative figure.
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I would suggest trying a 5000 BTU electric heater to observe the heating effect in your garage. It will give you an idea of what you need.
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i had a hilcoil single u in my keystoker 90 and worked ok , I had a w made up and it works perfectly , on hot burns it will dump hot water , so those are the days where I take an extra shower or do laundry
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The heat loss of an entire garage over a 24 hr period is much more then a shower or wash....the coil for domestic HW in my Harman boiler was many ft long. And it had fins on the outside to pick up the heat from the boiler water. I am guessing it was 10ft or more stretched out.
Listen to the guys that have advised, they have practical experience.
Kevin
Good old Sting would not be so kind....
Listen to the guys that have advised, they have practical experience.
Kevin
Good old Sting would not be so kind....
- StokerDon
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- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
- Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
- Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood
He's not trying to heat domestic water. He wants to heat his house with a Hilcoil.
-Don