wood fired boiler, indoor?

[SamWalton]

Check out Greenwood at Greenwood Furnace Series Indoor Wood Boiler and Wood Furnace

Great boilers but pricey.

I am thinking of using some cheap solar panels to heat our PEX tubing in the floor. We will also us a standard wood stove but we will have a HVAC return vent just behind the stove to pull the heat through the forced air system.

 

[Paddy]

Sam,

Have you figured out how many Btus one to vacuum tube panels will make per day? Do you like the radiant heat so far?

Patrick T

 

[scorpian5]

I have a Aqua-therm 145 non sheltered that i built a small shed for. It works great i keep about a weeks worth of wood in the shed but it would hold at least a months worth

here is a pic of the dirty furnace before i dusted it off.

 

[Floydian]

Paddy also check out Hearth.com. go to forums then to the "boiler room". Lots and lots of great info on indoor units and water storage which is a must for max. efficiency. I personally would only look at Gasification units. As much as I love solar hot water(I've installed a few DHW systems) it would cost a small fortune to heat with and you would still need a good backup. Another consideration in my opinion is an air to air heat exchanger when heating with radiant.
Your house sounds interesting-I like the idea of passive solar(a must for new construction IMO) orienting a house to the sun instead of say a road. I also like the high thermal mass-warm in the winter/ cool in the summer.
Good luck-Lots of interesting research for you.
Floydian

 

[randy41]

Are you from Floyd Co Floydian?

 

[greathands]

HI Paddy: I've just gotten a Tarm Solo 60 woodfired boiler on line up here in Vermont. It is a pretty slick, efficient unit in spite of the installation manual. I'd be happy to answer questions about it for you. It provides heat for radiant floors on the groundfloor of my house, radiators on the second level, and all the domestic hot water. If your wood supply is decent, I'd think that it would pay for itself pretty quickly... my plumber figured that mine would be in the free and clear in about 4 years. The unit is backed up by an oil boiler, and has a big heat storage tank. I have a toasty cellar - still working on that aspect.

 

[SamWalton]

Sam,

Have you figured out how many Btus one to vacuum tube panels will make per day? Do you like the radiant heat so far?

Patrick T

I am still in the design phase. We purchased our land and currently are cutting through the woods to install a driveway. We will be building early next year. I will rough-in many upgraded design features some may never get used and others will wait for funding to complete. We plan on using about 90% less energy for heating and air conditioning due to the earth sheltering of our Terra-Dome home.

 

[SamWalton]

We purchased a Greenwood Hydronic Wood Furnace. Because of Goldman Sachs more recent engineered financial collapse the Greenwood Corporation was denied it normal credit line causing its failure. We purchase a model 100 through their eBay site at a fraction of their original cost.

 

[TUG HILL ADDICT]

Check out this product:

Model 2000 wood heat stove

 

[MikeD74T]

Paddy, Not personal experience but a lot of information. MikeD74T
Complete Radiant Heat Information Site

www.setonboilers.com