The project has begun: Harman Mark III heating coil install

Moving right along here.........

Now, time to plumb!

Great job!!

Will that set-up provide enough hot water for all your family needs though?
Will it lower the stack temp to weaken draft? (especially on warmer days?)

FYI,

I was told that the biggest thing with the drill bit is keep it cool. I used rubbing alcohol in a squeeze bottle and kept a small stream of rubbing alcohol squirting onto the bit while I was cutting. 2 holes in the side of my Harman Magnum and the bit was still sharp!!

I didn't go slow either!

Hind sight

It would be cheaper to drill a pilot hole and rent a hyd hole (slug) cutter by Green Lee.
1/4 max depth
BBD

Nice work smitty. That's some serious pipe in that stove, what size is it?

Yes I am using 2 in series ( I want the oil burner OFF this year!

What size & grade ss is it? Is it pipe or tube? How many btu's output do they figure? I checked the link but supisingly couldn't find ant tech info? BUt sure looks like it will give you a ton of hot water. Maybe you can isolate one loop and run a bypass outside the stove? Sorry, my mind runs away with ideas.

Nice job, Smitty. That will create some serious heat.

Thanks everyone!

Cap wrote:What size & grade ss is it? Is it pipe or tube? How many btu's output do they figure?

It's 304L stainless & it is pipe. I couldn't find any info either on BTU output -- I wish I knew. I just dove into this project on guesswork as far as BTU's go -- I'm hoping for the best! I definitely won't make the 113K BTU's that the furnace is capable of, but it's only going to heat one zone at a time (plus the 4th zone for the indirect-fired tank for DHW, as needed) -- not all 3 at once. I'm relying on the radiant heat of the stove to heat the biggest zone in the house. The water will just circulate through the boiler to keep it hot, rather than using oil. I'll set the aquastat temp low, so the burner won't kick on. I'll also have to open the flocheck valve, so the hot water from the stove will get into the boiler. If I turn on a zone, it will pull hot water from the boiler & the stove. It sounds weird -- you'd have to see the way the plumbing is. Ill be taking some pics later. I ran into a few problems that required some time-consuming modifications, so I gotta get back down there so we can take a hot shower tonight!

Adamiscold wrote:That's some serious pipe in that stove, what size is it?

It's 3/4" pipe, & I estimated that over 6 feet of it will be in the stove. So just under 13 feet of pipe should keep that furnace (sorry -- boiler) hot.

Devil505 wrote:Will that set-up provide enough hot water for all your family needs though?
Will it lower the stack temp to weaken draft? (especially on warmer days?)

I should have plenty of hot water, because the indirect-fired tank will heat up when the boiler is only @ 150. Plus, the tank stores heat forever. I shut the boiler down & drained it yesterday @ about 9AM & at 7AM this morning, the water was still warm after 2 showers, a load of dishes the night before.

I don't think the coils will weaken the draft enough to cause an issue. The draft is very strong too.

SMITTY wrote:I should have plenty of hot water, because the indirect-fired tank will heat up when the boiler is only @ 150. Plus, the tank stores heat forever. I shut the boiler down & drained it yesterday @ about 9AM & at 7AM this morning, the water was still warm after 2 showers, a load of dishes the night before.

I don't think the coils will weaken the draft enough to cause an issue. The draft is very strong too.

Sounds like old man winter hasn't got a prayer bothering you this winter!

I'll go with you that lenox makes some good stuff too Freddy. Try those new hole saws milwakee has out they really take the abuse and have different more aggressive profile to them. I agree milwakee band saw blades are trash get lenox or even better do-all. However you probably will never beat a hougen cutter( hole saw) they are designed to cut through tooling steel and high grade stainless. Those things will shatter before they get dull. But wwith the mandrel for the 1 1/8 hole size coming in at around $70 it isn't the first choice of home owner.

Did you have those coils custom made or did you buy them?

I bought them from http://www.hilkoil.com/product.htm

Put in an 15 hour day today in basement -- had a few minor issues. I'l post the pics& details tomorrow.
Need to sleep now -- nodding off on keyboard

Let's see....

I had to cut my stainless steel chimney connector to fit in the new location -- had to make the 90* elbow into a 30*, otherwise it was pointing DOWN the chimney instead of perpendicular. Then I had to chisel out one brick & chisel around the hole to make it more round, because the pipe is now @ a steeper angle.



Then, I had to cut 2 copper elbows to fit this tight TIGHT turn on the coils where they come out of the stove, & solder them together with a tiny 3/4" long piece of copper! Barely cleared the boiler too!



Then I took the circulator I have out to the barn & oiled it with Castrol Syntec & took it all apart & cleaned everything. I then soldered a cord I cut off an old sump pump to the circulator & covered it with fireproof conduit, just in case it gets left on the chimney pipe. Now I'll have to wire up an outlet for the circulator & the stove fan close by.



After I had all the plumbing done, I realized that I had a galvanized T & a shut off valve in opposite locations from where they were supposed to be........



sooooo.........I had to take that section all apart & put them in the proper spots, which caused my only leaks WTF!! So I'm heading back down there now to fix that. At least I got to take a hot shower last night! lol:

The oil boiler took my 55* well water & heated it to 180* in 16 minutes (plus heated the 41 gallons in indirect tank to 131*) -- that's about 1 qt. of oil.

Smitty, this is a great post it looks like your set up is very similar to what I intend to do when I get my new stove. I am new to all of this plumbing stuff and your posts are helping me out I hope you won't mind a few questions along the way.

WOW is all I can say. I havent fired up my new Harmon DVC-500 yet but was already thinking about something like this.

Does anyone know if there would be issues adding this type of coil to a DVC-500?