Wood Burning Water Heater??

[Boydo]

Use a small tankless water heater ( natural gas), with a small pump you can circulate hot water to stainless steel coil ( heat exchanger) in sump or tank, use a thermostat to control.

 

[skynoch]

Use a small tankless water heater ( natural gas), with a small pump you can circulate hot water to stainless steel coil ( heat exchanger) in sump or tank, use a thermostat to control.

Would work good in a sump but may get clogged if the water is drawn from the tank.

 

[brianp]

The laws of thermodynamics are not easily circumvented. No matter how you slice it, you've got to get energy from somewhere. This energy source will have to be the cheapest you can find, deliverable and then efficiently applied and contained. I am not sure where your tank is located, but obviously you want the enclosure to be well insulated. If I was doing this, I would look into propane. How you then apply the energy from propane will depend upon where the tank is located. But, you may want to look into a swimming pool heater. I think large, outdoor propane tanks, filled each Fall are fairly affordable.

 

[Plum]

I did some investigation into solar thermal. I don't know where in Canada you are, but depending how much sunlight you get, it is quite possible to run a glycol to water solar thermal system that has a net benefit, even in winter. The trick is insulating your exchanger effectively against the cold air temperature while still allowing it to capture sunlight. Of course, snow buildup on your collector causes problems too, preventing sunlight from getting to the glycol... but again it depends where in Canada you are - If you're north of the 55th like I am, it's less than practical.

I am located approximately 50 KM ... not ideal, but I will break even on the project within a couple years at most - thus the ROI makes sense.

If you hook a thermostat to a pump rated for warmer water you solve your heating problem. Could you post some pic there might be other thermal bleeds you could fix.

Agree - will take pics.

You fail to see the main issue here. Then the tree, which has been growing for 20 years, can no longer filter the air.

Natural gas might be cheaper than electricity, and it is one of the cleanest burning gases widely available.

Biomass heating is spectacular, and as long as you are managing (replanting) your forests, it is ideal. Natural Gas is not available in my rural area.

I've worked on the woodburning boilers and live in canada and we have no problem with them around here. You need to run glycol/water mixture in your line and then to a heat exchanger which is best located in a hot water tank or wherever you want to put it. To protect against freezing when not running either bury the line below the frost level or use a self limitting heat trace on the line and insulate it. They also make models where there is a natural gas backup for when you don't feed the fire.
There are also models of wood furnaces with natural gas backup that also cointain a single pass heat exchanger in them which would do the job.

Looked at this last night again. When choosing a heating sysem, I chose a forced air, in house wood burning stove (kick myself now for not looking further into the woodburining (outdoor) boilers. Might consider installing a small one will have to investigate more into this. do you have a link to some good information?

Thank you

why don't you just heat your tanks through your central heating? The plastic pipes for underfloor heating are ideal. All you need is a thermostat and solenoid valve

Could work in winter ie: the months that I am heating my house with wood, I could run some sort of piping into the duct wotrk, and then into my sump - is this what you mean?

Sort of goes with the previous idea of wrapping pipe around the exit of the furnace (where heat is wasted) and running this back to the tank...

 

[Plum]

The laws of thermodynamics are not easily circumvented. No matter how you slice it, you've got to get energy from somewhere. This energy source will have to be the cheapest you can find, deliverable and then efficiently applied and contained. I am not sure where your tank is located, but obviously you want the enclosure to be well insulated. If I was doing this, I would look into propane. How you then apply the energy from propane will depend upon where the tank is located. But, you may want to look into a swimming pool heater. I think large, outdoor propane tanks, filled each Fall are fairly affordable.

Agree. This might be an option to look into also. My friend uses a closed loop in floor heating for his garage. The Source of the heat is NG, though With it unavailable I might look into the same system with a smaller propane tank.

 

[swede]

do you live anywhere near moving water? you could build a dam and actually generate enough power for your home if you do

 

[cvermeulen]

do you live anywhere near moving water? you could build a dam and actually generate enough power for your home if you do

Getting permits to disturb waterways isn't easy in most of canada, plus you're talking about a relatively expensive little piece of infrastructure, plus you have to consider the likelihood of winter freeze ups.

 

[carcrazy]

Geez, $1000/mth! I thought mine was bad averaging out at $240/mth. Although if I didn't have an equal payment plan, the coldest months might have bills over $500/mth.

Is the majority of your tanks glass or is mostly one large pond? Insulating a pond may help retain more of the heat. If you have many tanks connected to a central system, I think the best would be using a hot water tank heating the water in the sump. You could try insulating the sides of the glass tanks with styrofoam as well (not the nicest looking but it would help retain more heat). Just a thought.

 

[Nic]

so maybe you need to think about this differently.... maybe try insulating everything better...try making what you have more efficent..

 

[Otto_VonBacon]

Someone should make a steam punk tank with a steam driven pump and flame heater.