Looking for Advice on Installing a Coalgun

Hello
I am looking for advice on installing a coalgun s130 in a small building about 20 feet from my house I use to have an outside wood burner I removed it and built a small building where it was so I could use the underground pipe that was in place. I have been trying to figure out the best way to hook it up I have a water to air heat exchanger in my furnace and floor heat in my attached garage I am trying to avoid leaving my pump run all the time but avoid sending cold water back to the boiler on the start of a heat call I wasn't sure if I should use a primary secondary setup or try a boiler bypass setup . The coalgun is a older one with the ash timer I was wondering if I should upgrade it to the thermo ash control or just stick with the timer . I appreciate any advice you guys can give Thanks

As for the ashing control, you can get a complete solid-state digital package deal at Amazon for $30. something.

rfry wrote:Hello
I am looking for advice on installing a coalgun s130 in a small building about 20 feet from my house I use to have an outside wood burner I removed it and built a small building where it was so I could use the underground pipe that was in place. I have been trying to figure out the best way to hook it up I have a water to air heat exchanger in my furnace and floor heat in my attached garage I am trying to avoid leaving my pump run all the time but avoid sending cold water back to the boiler on the start of a heat call I wasn't sure if I should use a primary secondary setup or try a boiler bypass setup . The coalgun is a older one with the ash timer I was wondering if I should upgrade it to the thermo ash control or just stick with the timer . I appreciate any advice you guys can give Thanks

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A boiler bypass is the best way this after the air separator and compression tank.
Have you insulated this building and installed fire resistant sheet rock?
Is your pumping system indoors to prevent freezing and damaging the pumps and valves?

When you install the older S130 coal gun you can easily plumb in a bypass loop
with a flow control like the B+G Circuit Setter using the following fittings;

2 Tee's
1 pipe nipple
1 bypass valve
1 pipe nipple
4 short nipples to connect the pex hot and return piping
The bypass loop is connected(tee'd) after the steel expansion tank in my case
but before the circulator in my case and then the B+G circuit setter diverts 1-2 gallons
per minute back to the boiler return at the bottom of the boiler.

Please order a copy of Classic Hydronics and Pumping Away from Amazon so that you can
understand the plumbing for hydronic heating better.

You have not mentioned whether you have a closed system or not, nor how big your system piping is.
You hot water delivery for heat is strictly dependent on the pipe tapping size on the S130 its recovery rate
and the Pex piping that is used for delivering the hot water heat.

DO you have the oxygen barrier pex that costs an arm and a leg per foot(I hope) to prevent heat loss?
Do you have a domestic loop in the system already?

So much of this is going to depend on your current plumbing which you have not discussed(but need to) in greater detail. You need freeze protection of some sort-either a battery back up or generator for the home and or the coal gun.

Hello
Thanks for the quick replies I will try to answer the questions . I have three of dan's books in the process of reading them again very interesting books the shed is ten by ten well insulated I do have a backup generator the lines running to the house are 11/4 insulated pex with oxygen barrier when I put the wood monster in I buried ten inch pvc drain pipe just in case I had to replace the pex I have a 40000 BTU heat exchanger in furnace and the garage is thirty by thirty I only heat it to 55 it was an open system with the wood burner I don't plan on tying in the domestic hot water I had to order some parts from ash and I priced the thermo asking kit from them I half to say they are very nice to work with but I about fell out of my chair when they told me the price I have a wattloo controller laying on my toolbox at work I was hoping someone could post a picture of were the temp probe is mounted at on the 130

McGiever wrote:As for the ashing control, you can get a complete solid-state digital package deal at Amazon for $30. something.

Here is info...

How Should an AA130's Fire Look at Full Burn?

Sounds like a nice setup. A Taco 007 should be plenty for a 40' run, I would mount it in the basement.

How is your radiant floor piped off the main loop?

Well I wish I had a basement I would have put the coalgun in there unfortunately I have a crawl space right now I have the floor heat tied into the return line from the heat exchanger I don't know if it will still work that way there is a taco 007 and mixing valve mounted right to the floor manifold

Can you post a drawing of the piping? A rough sketch is fine.

Sorry for the crude drawing

You could still leave the system open simply by hanging a
steel expansion tank(no bladder) with pipe straps above the AHS stoker
in your shed. depending on your requirements you may just need a 15 gallon
B+G tank and an airtrol valve and you can use one of the tappings on the top of
the AHS 130.

The bypass valve and piping would be easy to manage on the AHS as you want to
be pumping away from the boiler an if the pump is inside you can still plumb the
bypass valve in you rhome and have part of the hot water go right back to the AHS130
with the cooler return water.

You would need to add boiler treatment every year or so of course but you
are used to doing that and sending water samples out to be analysed when you
had your forest eater.

As as our esteamed member Sting would say "It depends".

Knowing what I know now I would have never let them rip out the
open to air steel expansion tank I had in the ceiling of the laundry room
and I would still have it there now, but as I am ripping out the 2 existing boilers
I am going back to a one circulator, no bladder/No Bleeding Baseboard,
no airscoop/no automatic bleeder, hydronic heating system.

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Still wishing I had one pipe steam or gravity hot water heating.

This is a very simple setup, and that is good. I assume there is (or there needs to be) a circulator on the 1.25" loop feeding the heat exchanger? Your radiant floor is basically a secondary loop off the main, so boiler protection from that load is not a problem.

Does the house get too warm if you continuously circulate through the air/water heat exchanger?

yes there will be a circulator at the boiler in the building . my furnace is a downdraft so it sits on top of the heat exchanger as the furnace warms up the sensor on the gas heat exchanger turns the fan on to cool it down . so you think a bypass loop would work good in this setup