Tell me it was worth it.

Its a Taco circulator pump (free-o) Guess its cast. May I inquire why?
Jimmy

hi Jimmy. free is good ! a free double 00 taco is better i am kinda in the same boat as you. i have 2 extra 008 and 4 extra 007 taco's. have been told cast is fine for close loop no oxygen in water(dead water) . for a domestic loop ( fresh water being added all the time... drinking .washing water) the oxygen will attack the cast causing rust and corrosion. this may or may not matter when mixing it with 80 gallons of water in 2 tanks. but normally bronze is suppose to be used in a domestic water loop. so i am looking at a bronze taco and bronze flanges. kills me though when i have these other pumps in boxes . mike

I've used the cast pumps in oxygen-rich [fresh water] systems and had no problems. The cast pump is so much cheaper than the bronze ones, you can almost treat the 007 cast pumps as 'throw-away' items.

Just make sure you put gate-valve shut-offs on each side of the pump so that if you do have to swap it out every 3-5 years, it is fairly dry opperation, not requiring draining the system. Then, just four bolts and a wiring connection and you have a new pump installed.

The only pump I had sieze up was in a closed loop system that didn't get used for two seasons. The pump siezed from rust. I was able to take it apart and with a small wirebrush clean it up and put it back in service. Took about 30 minutes.


Hope this helps. Greg L

Thank's never knew that. Also never knew prior to Sept 2005 how much $$$ I could save burning coal. Burned wood for over 20 years, this is by far much easier and better heat. Had it not been for this forum I would still be hauling wood, burning oil, and having the bride call me the heat nazi!! Learned a ton here in just over a year. Lots of knowledge from the members that have been in this for a long time, cuts down on the fustration of trial and error. The only other improvement I can see in the future might be the Coal-trol, until then I'll just sit back enjoy the heat, and watch it burn. Jimmy

I made my own 3/4" X 17' loop, should put out alot of hot water. I plan to run mine into the baseboard return line that runs right behind my stove. The oil boiler is only seven feet away. I plan on wiring that one zone always on when the stove is running. I figure doing it this way, the boiler will stay hot, hopefully without the oil burner running, provide constant heat to the baseboards in the one smaller zone & heat the tankless coil in the oil boiler. I think that easier to do than extra pumps, tanks, controls & plumbing. I do realise that this only works this way if you have hot water heat. I'm hooking it up this weekend.

I'm hoping that with 17' in the stove, the oil burner shouldn't kick on...I hate when that happens.

A 20' length of the SS 3/4" tubing cost $125, $150 for copper fittings, relief valve, gauges & 10' of copper. Not a bad investment.

Looks/sounds good. Like the way you came in/out the bottom of the stove. Great idea. Hope it works out for ya. The key is:don't let the boiler kick on!!! Had to go with a tempering tank/pump etc... because I have a seperate oil hot water heater and boiler. Looked all around for someone to make the coil cheaper but nobody showed much intrest, unless I wanted 100. Thought about making my own but time is short. Coming home one day from the plumbing supply saw a friend that works at a Gov. lab. Asked what I was doing, told him about the coil I just installed. He said "ya should have told me I could have made up what ever ya wanted." Oh well, next life. Keep us updated seems this is the only place that we can get good info, and save $$$ while we're at it.
Stay warm Jimmy

I'm bringing this up to the top of the list to hopefully get some recent feedback from George-NJ and wenchris about the hot water coil instalations.

Member alexw is considering installing a loop, circulating pump and a holding tank to aid in heating his second story. He wants to use a length of baseboard to provide heat.

Any suggestions from those who have done this??

Greg L

Hi

I am thinking about adding a hot water coil to my new Alaska Channing when I install it in March. I will probably make my own coil out of 3/4 316L tubing which is readily availiable to me at a reasonable cost, but as has anyone used pex tubing to connect it to there boiler. The pex plastic is used for radiant heating and is rated for 220 degrees F. @ 100 psi. My parents have this running off their hot water boiler to the radiant heat and to some base board heaters. It seams to hold up better than my copper does and I think this new copper is junk. I like the idea of using a baseboard section to cool the water when not being used for showers or such.

Thanks
Jimmy

Finally got the coil connected to my baseboard/oil boiler. I'm getting 115-123 degree hot water out of my 16'X3/4" SS coil. There is about a five degree difference in the in & out water temp. Keep in mind that My coil is squared and not directly over the burn bed, but up high to catch the heat. I was afraid that I'd get too much heat putting it directly over the burn bed. What I'm getting now is not enough to heat the domestic hot water coil enough in the oil boiler. I keep the oil burner shut off except for morning showers. It is doing a fine job of distributing heat evenly throughout the house otherwise, I don't need 180 to heat a newer insulated part of the house, the 115-120 is keeping it more than warm.

Keep in mind that it's been mild, so I'm figuring that when it's really cold out and the stove is cranking, the coil will perform alot better.

If I was doing it over again, I'd put the coil directly over the burn bed, I could always open the windows if it got too hot. Then again the stoker runs off a thermostat anyway, so that probibly wouldn't be an issue anyway. I still might be able to bend the coil alittle over or closer to the burn bed, I'm not in a rush to do that now though.

All in all, i'm very happy with it and I'd do it again.

I grew up with coal heat in north west NJ. The Burham boiler had a cast iron "hand" suspended directly above the fire bed. Looked like a four fingered hand with stub fingers. Plumbed directly to the hot water storage tank. An all gravity flow system. Worked well.

Yanche

George, you may be able to catch more heat for your coil by putting a shield on the outside of the tube 'box'.

I'm thinking a steel plate, maybe 12"x16" with a 4" 'L' bent on the longer side. Slide the 'L' of the shield over the top tube, [resting on the tube] with the remaining 12" hanging down on the outside of the tubes. I think this shield would trap more of the radiant heat and hot air from the burner, and heat the pipes better. I don't think you could see these shields with the door closed.

I'm not sure how much effect on the output of the stove itself this would create.

Greg L

Now that the weather is turning cooler, the water coil will be pumping out some serious hot water. Right now it is doing good. When someone takes a shower or we do laundry I put my ear on the chimney to see if the hot water heater kicks on. So far it has not unless the girls take back to back 1/2 hr showers. All in all I'm happy with the results so far.
Stay warm, Jimmy

Great posts. I also have purchased and installed a Harman magna stoker with the Hilkoil hot water kit. I have installed the coil into the stoker and now I am contemplating how I am going to best use the hot water.
Does any one know what the maximum bthu output of this coil is.
My plan is to usa a plate heat exchanger to heat the water for my entire existing hot water heating system. In order to size the exchanger I need to know what the maximum output of the coil is.
Does any one think that I still need a tempering tank for this setup?
As for the problem of overheating the coal fired loop, my plan is to blow off the heat via a unit heater that will heat my cellar area. I realize I must still have an emergency blow off for emergencies to avoid a stram explosion, but I don't want to waist the heat.
Proper execution of my plan depends on the maximum rating of the Hilkoil installed in the stoker. Please feel free to post replys.

I don't believe you will get enough BTUs from the coil to heat an entire house. Read George-NJ 's post. He has about 16' of coil in the firebox and is only getting 120*. Just barely enough for 10-20' of baseboard.

These loops work best to preheat a hot water tank for domestic hot water.

My boiler uses plate exchangers to heat my home hot water system. I'm pretty sure my boiler is about 200-250K BTU. I would guess that the Hilkoil loop is about 10-20K BTU. I use a 40 plate for the heating exchanger and a 20 plate for the domestic hot water.

Hope this helps. Greg L

Thany-you for your reply. Do you thing that I need a tempering tank?