Wood boiler in series/parallel?

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lamina1982
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Post by lamina1982 » Fri. Oct. 14, 2022 9:14 am

I have a coalgun 130 been using 4 yrs now and its great. I burn wood in shoulder months in a wood burning stove insert that does well but cant do it alone in winter.
Since coal has gone up almost 200$/ton for me i found a cheap wood boiler near by and was wondering what the best way to plumb in would be?
I have an endless supply of free ash wood so thats only reason im doing it, im sure ill still end up using coal when it gets cold for end of wimter but trying to save as much as i can.
Currently my boiler just runs a water to air heat exchabger in the furnace and 1 radiator in the basement...i have a garage full radiators to install some day but just keep running out of time before heating season.
Will attach basic drawing of my set up.
Thanks
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Sylvesterd101
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Post by Sylvesterd101 » Fri. Oct. 14, 2022 10:14 am

oh man what i would do to have a coal gun and for prices to still be 190 a ton delivered :baby:

 
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BunkerdCaddis
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Post by BunkerdCaddis » Fri. Oct. 14, 2022 11:04 am

lamina1982 wrote:
Fri. Oct. 14, 2022 9:14 am
i found a cheap wood boiler near by and was wondering what the best way to plumb in would be?
Image20221014_092213.jpg
I have debated this in my head for awhile as I work towards installing my boilers, from parallel, to in series, and to a plumbed in way to switch back and forth. I am sure others will have much more educated thoughts than I but this was my line of thinking. in series, assumes I would want to run them both or keep both warm, there are advantages to that but also the disadvantage of parasitic loss. My boilers will be on a secondary loop to a primary/secondary loop system, running them in parallel allows me to run either one at any time, I can pull one out and still heat with the other if need be or by throttling the valves back I can actually run both at the same time. The disadvantage is more piping cost than would be needed otherwise. Define your needs and then choose what best works for you. :yes:


 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Fri. Oct. 14, 2022 5:22 pm

Hello. If you intend to operate the wood boiler instead of the S130 and want to minimize heat in the basement, parallel is the way to go.

If you would prefer to keep the coal boiler warm and get a little extra heat in the basement, I would pipe them so that the wood boiler circulates through the coal boiler as shown in the attached diagram.

With that said, you should think hard about this before dragging a wood boiler into the basement. Even if it is free, all of the fittings and controls needed to hook it up are expensive. Old wood boilers also tend to make a lot of creosote. If you want to burn wood, I would see if you can upgrade the insert to a larger & more efficient model. Maybe you could figure out how to use a free standing stove instead of an insert. Being able to burn wood you already have on-site during a power outage is a plus.

If you just don't want to empty your wallet buying coal, sell some firewood. 8-)

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lamina1982
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Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: keystoker econo 90
Coal Size/Type: rice

Post by lamina1982 » Fri. Oct. 14, 2022 5:52 pm

Ya last yr was like 550 for 2 ton bagged lehigh delivered (which i thought was high price), this year 425 each ton!
I prefer coal thats why i got the coal gun as i was tired of cutting/splitting wood my whole childhood...and here i am back at it.
I survived one winter with the insert but that was waking up every 3 hours to load..
Didnt think coal would ever skyrocket

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