Addition to Tarm Wood Boiler

[rockwall]

I installed my heating system and have used it for two years. The system consists of an old Tarm 40 wood boiler and 820 water storage tank from American Solartechnics. I am heating a 1400 square foot well insulated home. Radiant floor heat is used in first floor concrete floors and second floor wood floors. We do get a lot of passive solar gain also. We are very happy and warm with this system. I know I could burn a lot less wood if I went to a gasser but I can't afford one right now. I am interested in adding some unit so the house could be heated if we went away for a few days. I was thinking of swapping out the Tarm 40 for a Tarm 502 which can burn oil. My chimney is 6" Metalbestos and 35 feet of it so I would like to have a unit that would work with that. Thanks for any recommendations.

 

[maple1]

I have an electric boiler for backup. Takes up no space and doesn't need a chimney. Would cost a lot to run though if doing more than just backup a day or two at a time once in a while. Had a wood/oil combo before that, but got rid of all our oil stuff. Do you have oil now? I would be hard pressed to go back to it. Seems though that I am still thinking a lot about what else I could heat with or how to do it better if we're away or can't burn wood - I think I almost have myself convinced that a mini-split heat pump might be a good choice on what to do next. Added bonus would be summer a/c. And it would reduce wood use in the shoulder seasons.

 

[Chris Hoskin]

HI rockwall, I assume you have an older, orange, Tarm MB40? (a Tarm Solo Plus 40 is a gasifier and a Tarm 502 is not. I think a move to a 502 would be a step backwards and encourage you to consider a separate backup heat source. A big part of the decision will be based on how you make your domestic hot water. If you are using a coil in your 820 gallon tank only, then you will need to add some kind of water heater to the system (using your back-up heat source to heat the tank is possible, but not ideal). If you already have an indirect water heater in place, then a back-up LP boiler would be a good choice. If you are not using your wood boiler to make domestic hot water, or you don't care about making domestic hot water with your back-up, then continue to use whatever you have in place now and a Monitor-type space heater or mini-split heat pump system would be a good back-up choice.

 

[maple1]

I put quite a bit of thought, trial & error, and $ into my wood burning DHW setup. After all that, I am not sure it would be worth it to make big changes or allowances to a heating system plan just to allow heating of DHW with wood, particularly in the summer. Our ordinary electric tank water heater was cheap (relatively), and only costs about $25/mo to run. If you can easily & cheaply incorporate it in to the wood side, that's great, but I don't think I would let it influence all the decisions that have to be made, or it would not be a primary factor, likely.

 

[Highbeam]

I installed my heating system and have used it for two years. The system consists of an old Tarm 40 wood boiler and 820 water storage tank from American Solartechnics. I am heating a 1400 square foot well insulated home. Radiant floor heat is used in first floor concrete floors and second floor wood floors. We do get a lot of passive solar gain also. We are very happy and warm with this system. I know I could burn a lot less wood if I went to a gasser but I can't afford one right now. I am interested in adding some unit so the house could be heated if we went away for a few days. I was thinking of swapping out the Tarm 40 for a Tarm 502 which can burn oil. My chimney is 6" Metalbestos and 35 feet of it so I would like to have a unit that would work with that. Thanks for any recommendations.

This is the time to install an independent backup boiler system. Not a fancier dual fuel replacement boiler. If the boiler goes (leaks, maintenance) down you need a separate boiler that can keep the house warm. If you have the electric power available then an electric boiler is relatively cheap and easy to install. No maintenance, no flames, no space, very little chance of failure but can be expensive to run depending on your local power cost. Thing is you won't be using it unless you have to and then only short term.

 

[rockwall]

This is the time to install an independent backup boiler system. Not a fancier dual fuel replacement boiler. If the boiler goes (leaks, maintenance) down you need a separate boiler that can keep the house warm. If you have the electric power available then an electric boiler is relatively cheap and easy to install. No maintenance, no flames, no space, very little chance of failure but can be expensive to run depending on your local power cost. Thing is you won't be using it unless you have to and then only short term.

I have a DHW coil sitting in the 820 gallon heat tank and it works very well. I also have a solar hot water coil sitting in the tank but have not hooked up the solar panels yet. I'm thinking this will heat the tank in the summer. I hear you about the heat pump but I am a little concerned about no heat in the concrete floors if we go away for say a couple weeks and it's 10 below. Electric boiler sounds good, I'll have to check on electricity price. As far as oil is concerned, I don't have any oil at the house. We do have a propane kitchen stove.

 

[Highbeam]

Check out thermolec or electro boilers. Not a hot water heater meant to produce domestic water but an actual boiler. You'll see 3/4" or bigger connections, pump relays, thermostat activation, etc. on a real electric boiler. Around a 1000$.