Wood Burning Water Heater??

[Plum]

My elecric bills are running at about $1000/month.... The wife is not happy.

In my continuing quest to lower my electricity costs for my 2500 gallons of water, I tripped over this http://www.woodheatedpools.com/gpage6.html

Anyone have any experience with such? I already have a wood burning furnace http://www.newmacfurnaces.com/showroom/wg100.html and would love to be able to install a heat/exchanger internally, then run the piping over to my central aquarium system.... though not sure if tampering with the wood burning furnace is the brightest idea.

Is anyone able to brain storm with me?

I had also thought about running a closed loop over to the hot water tank...................

 

[Koi_Boi]

Perhaps the wood burning heater isn't the best kind of heater because you cant control how hot the water coming out of it is, and it pollutes.

 

[mike dunagan]

what about geothermal?

 

[Plum]

Perhaps the wood burning heater isn't the best kind of heater because you cant control how hot the water coming out of it is, and it pollutes.

It would be simple to control the amount of heat that would enter into the aquariums as once a certain temp has been reached you regulate the amount of O2 that the fire gets, and you can slow down or shut off the water passing through the system.

As for the pollution comment.... the tree grew for 20 years thus more than offsetting it's polution, and it is natural.

Probably the most earth friendly way to produce energy (biomass that is) but that's another story.

 

[Plum]

Geothermal is too expensive for the return.

I can easily get my money out of this "wood burning heater", just seems as though the unit is not able to be used while outdoors in the winter.... (major fault for my application).

I am not sure if I could install it indoors either (literature seems to indicate only outdoor install allowed)... as this would be a great option if I could tap into my existing chimney's.

 

[sostoudt]

It would be simple to control the amount of heat that would enter into the aquariums as once a certain temp has been reached, you may slow down or shut off the water passing through the system.

As for the pollution comment.... the tree grew for 20 years thus more than offsetting it's polution, and it is natural.

Probably the most earth friendly way to produce energy (biomass that is) but that's another story.

how about a solar hotwater heater that way you dont have to deal with the wood. dont know how viable this suggestion is as i see your in canada.

does the system on the stove shut off automatically or is it manual, but i guess the biggest question about this system do you have enough wood available or can get enough for the whole year and future years?
i guess you could use it to offset costs when woods available buy shutting off the heater.

they sell super efficent stoves that barely pollute i think, i see them on the green channel, at first i was like how the hell can those be green

 

[sostoudt]

I am not sure if I could install it indoors either (literature seems to indicate only outdoor install allowed)... as this would be a great option if I could tap into my existing chimney's.

thats probably just because they dont want to get sued, im sure it would work if you installed a chimeny to carry the smoke.

 

[Knowdafish]

Wrap copper tubing around the exhaust vent/flue for your wood burning furnace. No furnace is 100% efficient and you could capture some of the heat that is being lost.

 

[OnceLoyal]

Wrap copper tubing around the exhaust vent/flue for your wood burning furnace. No furnace is 100% efficient and you could capture some of the heat that is being lost.

Or try the solar. I nknow there would even be enough sun up there to keep the temp up. My father built one for his indoor pool and hot water heater for showers. It is cheap to make and I am sure you could make it work with some form of thermostats and stuff...Sorry to hear about your bills ..My god I thought my $400 a month was expensive

 

[Knowdafish]

The problem with solar is that the water freezes in the tubing in Winter, especially in Canada!