Coalgun S500 Project

Joseph Leid · Post by **Joseph Leid** » Sun. Nov. 16, 2014 1:34 pm

titleist1 wrote:Looking Good JL!! Enjoy the warmth.

Are you planning on insulating the enclosure?

I was wondering about the efficiency if the boiler isn't insulated as well as heat loss from the piping if the building wasn't insulated.

The boiler is insulated pretty well.... We are not planning on insulating it at this point....
You think we should?
I'm considering insulating the pipes, just lookin' around for high grade pipe insulation...
I'm going to see what we get as far as condensation on the walls etc.
I don't want things to rust out on me. That might be the deciding factor for insulating?
Joseph

Sting · Post by **Sting** » Mon. Nov. 17, 2014 7:50 am

By the picture above re insulation and most bang for the buck
- I suggest you insulate the near boiler black piping and the plate exchanger
leave the rest - the heat will help scrub the condensation and save the building
or insulate on the outside but then it may have been beneficial to build new so let that rest

Lu47Dan · Post by **Lu47Dan** » Mon. Nov. 17, 2014 10:42 am

Joseph Leid wrote:
Lu47Dan wrote:Nice Installation.
One question, in photo #4 the greenish thing in the middle of the photo is that the generator? See attached photo.
If so I was wondering if you hooked it's cooling system into the heating system to keep it up to temperature, to minimize wear and tear on it when it fires up?
I have piped numerous back up generators into a buildings heating system to keep them up to operating temp for instant starts.
Dan.
Dan,
Yes that is the generator.... it has an electric block heater on it. I never thought of that idea of running heat from the boiler through it. Neat idea! do you need a heat ex-changer for that???

Yep, the heat exchanger was already mounted on the generator skid, one generator had a big John Deere engine in it that we ran 1-1/2" lines to. The oil pan had a platen type heater under it also.
The engine had antifreeze in it and the buildings heating system was water so you had to have a break between them.
Dan.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Mon. Nov. 17, 2014 12:13 pm

JL, Reinhold's,Pa.,it's a small world ! I've drywalled some jobs in that town,delivered feed,delivered many loads of cabinets there yrs. ago,driven thru many times. We are almost neighbors

If you had installed the existing heat exchanger up close to the oil pan area of the gen-set ,i believe you would be able to keep the engine warm enough with that . I think you will find as we did that all the pipes are going to shed lots of heat. Nice looking outcome to your project, now you can enjoy winter better.