Thermal Storage__ Outside(in Shed) or Inside (basement)?

[DMX_512]

I know that if the storage is inside that the heat loss is put back into the house but....
Are there any other advantages / disadvantages?
I was laying out my shed dimensions today and thought that I could just as easily put the 650 gal propane tank in the shed with the boiler (EKO 40). This would save me aprox $250 by using 200' of 1" copper versus 1 1/4" copper, not to mention having to completely take out the faux french door to the basement. Plus free up that space in the basement. Then again, what is $250 after all of the other expenditures??
Thoughts / comments

Thanks
Ben

 

[Duetech]

If storage is used and you use your boiler for dhw then the basement will continue to have the lost heat escaping into the basement all summer long too. Inside of an enclosure (house or shed) you need to consider "what if the tank leaks?" or ruptures? I don't understand why you would use copper and not pex but I have not seen your lay out and may/have missed earlier discussion.

The advantage of storage in the shed is basically warmer air in the shed and if the shed is insulated probably toasty. Added to that is the air that the boiler takes in will be preheated just as if it were in the house/basement and that is a slight recovery of heat loss since cold air going into the boiler is a btu thief in the first place. If your wood is stored in the shed then you will also have heated versus cold wood and cold wood robs the boiler. If the shed is big enough for the winters supply of wood all the wood that goes into the boiler will be dry and free from snow and ice and rain and more prone to give the highest btu output. Again if the shed is big enough and not all of the wood you have is seasoned at the start of winter you might get your near cure wood up to par before the end of season. I guess the best way to sum it up is the boiler will have the opportunity to perform more efficiently and sooner due to the warmer air in the shed. The net result will be a lesser degree of energy/fuel loss for heat production by the boiler.

 

[DMX_512]

Cave2k,
Thanks for the input. The reason I was thinking copper was that there will be no way to bury PEX from the boiler to the house. There was some discussion about this earlier.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/35096/

I just figured that since I was going to be running a bunch of copper anyway.... Plus it will only be about 20' max run that I would insulate somehow.

 

[sdrobertson]

I have my storage in a pole barn with my boiler about 75 feet from the house. The reason is that I am gone for 14 hours while working so I needed allot of storage. I'm using 2000 gallons presurized storage and I couldn't fit it in the house. I have the tanks standing on end and about 14 inches of dense pack cellous insulation on the sides and 4 feet of insulation on top. I'm not loosing much heat as the frost on the roof above the tanks is never melted.

 

[Duetech]

DMX_512,
I insulated my pex with closed cell foam tubes built for insulating water pipes and put that in 4" corrugated plastic then buried it. Seems to work pretty good. I have .5*f loss in 50'. My boiler overheated once and melted some of that foam I used on the metal pipe but the pex never had a problem. One of the hidden problems with pex though is the cost of the tools to work it (especially the crimping tool) so for that short of a run I don't think you could put pex in at a cheaper price. One other consideration would be to run your pipe up high enough to not have to duck under. That way the patio will remain fully usable.

It sounds like you are not planning to build a very big shed? A shed big enough to house at least two full cord's will seem a blessing in winter and doesn't add that much room. A seasons supply would be better but that tends to get a bit bulky when close to the house. Smoke control (as usual) will be a problem in a shed I suggest you buy a used oven hood to control smoke in the shed for loading and start up.

 

[flyingcow]

A few thoughts,
I have my storage in my basement, my boiler 50 ft from my house and another 40ft from the edge of house to other side of basement where my mechanical room is. This is also where my unpressurized tank is. My DHW comes from this tank. I figured if I put my tank in the garage......errr wood storage building, I'd have to run 4 lines from mechanical room to garage. This way I only got 2 lines. Believe it or not I had more room to give up (my wife might disagree) in my basement, than the garage. I'm getting very, very little heat loss from the tank in the basement, but I am going to have to insulate the supply and return lines, too damn hot in the summer. I also figured that if my tank was almost 100ft ft away , my DHW would have to come from a source that far away.