Tarm Soloplus 40 Wood Gasification Boiler Without Storage Tank?
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I recently purchased a Tarm Soloplus 40 wood gasification boiler. It hasn't come in yet. I was told that I could run it without the storage tank and was planning on running it that way before purchasing and installing the storage tank. I'm planning on running the unit in line with my existing oil fired boiler using the oil fired boiler as a back up. I was hoping someone who has experienced this could tell me how well it works and maybe give me some advice.
- steamup
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- Location: Napoli, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Axeman-Anderson AA-130, Keystoker K-6
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: HS Tarm 502 Wood/Coal/Oil
- Coal Size/Type: pea, buck, rice
Storage only creates a flywheel effect. Running a wood boiler without storage is no problem. The only issues is how many times you have to feed it. The fire box will only hold so much wood. I have a standard tarm boiler and can get 8 -10 hours on a average day between loads. However, on cold days, I only get 4 to 6 hours when under heavy load. I use a night setback thermostat to help me through the night.
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- Other Heating: Wishing it was cold enough for coal here....not really
I used a storage tank for about 10 years with an old MeMCo boiler. I am now using it without the tank waiting for my Keystoker. My tank was an old propane pig that held about 365? gallons. The boiler held an additional 50 gal. The difference I am seeing is that when the temp drops quickly I have no buffer if I am not right there to add wood. But on the other hand I can get a fire going and quickly get the boiler up to temp. I am not using coal this winter as I have purchased 11.5 tons of rice coal and it wil not work well in the MemCo.
If I had to do it over again with a wood boiler and a storage tank, I would have to have at least 1000 gal. of storage and I would have it set up as a low pressure system with a heat exchanging coil. I would build my own tank and super insulate it. You have prehaps the best boiler for burning wood I can think of and it will work best as most wood boilers do when it is running flat out. This is where the storage tank is great. Without it the system has to idle waiting for the house to call for heat and there is a lag time for it to respond.
The only other thing I would say is that it is frustating to have all that water at say 160 degrees and it will not heat your house worth a damn. Unless you have radiant heat. Baseboard, old radiators, and any other types of exchangers just will not work unless the water is getting up around 180. For this reason I had my high limit set at 210 before it started dumping heat to my dump zone. This is much higher then anyone will recommend and it is hard on the system. I was maintaining it myself so it was my problem to deal with. But I must say, when that 210 degree water hits the baseboard it heats right now!
There are other things but this is already a long winded post. If you have any specific questions about my comments, just ask. Glad to discuss it.
Kevin
If I had to do it over again with a wood boiler and a storage tank, I would have to have at least 1000 gal. of storage and I would have it set up as a low pressure system with a heat exchanging coil. I would build my own tank and super insulate it. You have prehaps the best boiler for burning wood I can think of and it will work best as most wood boilers do when it is running flat out. This is where the storage tank is great. Without it the system has to idle waiting for the house to call for heat and there is a lag time for it to respond.
The only other thing I would say is that it is frustating to have all that water at say 160 degrees and it will not heat your house worth a damn. Unless you have radiant heat. Baseboard, old radiators, and any other types of exchangers just will not work unless the water is getting up around 180. For this reason I had my high limit set at 210 before it started dumping heat to my dump zone. This is much higher then anyone will recommend and it is hard on the system. I was maintaining it myself so it was my problem to deal with. But I must say, when that 210 degree water hits the baseboard it heats right now!
There are other things but this is already a long winded post. If you have any specific questions about my comments, just ask. Glad to discuss it.
Kevin
- Sting
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- Other Heating: OBSO Lennox Pulse "Air Scorcher" burning NG
Chunk wood boilers need storage
check this out
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/one-mans-eko- ... ish.29042/
check this out
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/one-mans-eko- ... ish.29042/