Re: jdemaris, thermo control question.

Posted by jdemaris on November 26, 2010 at 06:44:11 from (67.142.130.39):

In Reply to: jdemaris, thermo control question. posted by JayinNY on November 25, 2010 at 19:30:54:

I can't tell from the photo exactly how the water circulates. Thermoshiphon or electric pump?

I've never tried to use a wood stove or furnace for hot-water baseboard heat - so I can't give answer based on any first-hand experience. People that have tried it, had to install a circulator pump and not rely on thermo-siphon.
I know several people that used a 400 or 500 to heat baseboard in one small room somewhere - but never an entire house. The coils don't have the capacity - as least not the ones Thermocontrol used.

We installed many Thermocontrol 400s and 500s with coils for domestic hot water only. That works great, if set up properly. It's how I heat all our hot water.

Generally speaking though . . . it goes like this. At the least - your wood furnace has to heat enough hot water to keep up with the heat-exchange at the baseboard units. Most Thermo-control hookups were done so with the thermo-siphon method. Thermo-siphon works great with domestic hot water, but not well with baseboard heat. The water moves too slow. That is likely to require a circulator pump and aquastat between the stove-coils and storage tank.

My wood furnace has a coil that is U-shaped, around 48" total length. 24" one way to the U and 24" back out. It is hooked to an 80 gallon vertical storage tank. It would easily heat to 180 F if I let it. But, keep in mind that it sits often without being used since it's domestic hot water- and not hot-water heat.
Thermo-siphon, to work best, needs a check-valve at the inlet where the cold water comes into the furnace. Also needs an automatic vent on top. My tank also have the TPI valve, and a thermal regulating valve on the outlet. That is a must - especially if hooked in series with another heater. My 80 gallon hot-water storage tank is hooked in series with a 40 gallon propane hot water heater. In the winter, the propane never fires and it just acts as more storage. But. . . propane-fueled hot water heaters will get destroyed if the water coming into them is TOO hot. The one-time thermal-fuse will blow. So, the incoming water must be kept down to a certain temp.

I could be wrong, but I suspect the 400 isn't up to the task of making hot water to heat an entire house. If you added coils, and a circulator, and ran it super hot - the stove would probably burn out. I've had to repair many that burnt out the steel baffles, warped, etc.

One note. Thermocontrol - to a degree - is still in business. They cannot legally sell the big units as "woodstoves" anymore. So, last I spoke to them, they were trying to market them as indoor, or outdoor "furnaces" and put more coils into them. I'm not sure how far they got on that project.

Replies:

• Re: jdemaris, thermo control question. JayinNY 08:04:36 11/26/10 (0)

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