# Wood boiler with Propane back-up...



## Lifer

this is a common site to see here in Nova Scotia , but usually it is an Oil fired back up ... a lot of work but got it done in 3 day's with a little help wrestling it into the basement ..


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## OldSchool

hard to see what you really have going on there,,,,, looks clean but the next guy may need a road map.... to figure out what is going on...

what is the make of wood boiler?

The one I installed along with my propane boiler was a Kerr wood fired boiler.....

Did you have to do some base board rad for this wood boiler as part of the safety if the power goes out.... Kerr makes it mandatory to at least install 15 ft of baseboard on the floor above.... the piping has to be graded so that it is gravity system which does not need a pump.


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## Lifer

Haha , Yes a road map was made and left on site for the next poor fella that has to figure out why this guy is burning so much propane . ( the mrs. does not like to put wood in ) .. 
Yes This house has a dump zone with a normally closed zone valve ( so as to open if it looses power ) and I had to run a min. of 20' of rad , not pipe but rads ... It was actually a small house so the main zone got doubled up as a regular zone and a dump zone all in one ( tee'd together upstream of the reg zone valve ) . 
But I did not have to grade the pipes back to the boiler as as to work with out a pump ... although in hind site it is not a bad idea .

Blue should have been a big give away on the Brand it's New Yorker.


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## Bpo1222

What type of boiler is that wood stove boiler is that and can you get it gas backup


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## OldSchool

Lifer said:


> Haha , Yes a road map was made and left on site for the next poor fella that has to figure out why this guy is burning so much propane . ( the mrs. does not like to put wood in ) ..
> Yes This house has a dump zone with a normally closed zone valve ( so as to open if it looses power ) and I had to run a min. of 20' of rad , not pipe but rads ... It was actually a small house so the main zone got doubled up as a regular zone and a dump zone all in one ( tee'd together upstream of the reg zone valve ) .
> But I did not have to grade the pipes back to the boiler as as to work with out a pump ... although in hind site it is not a bad idea .
> 
> Blue should have been a big give away on the Brand it's New Yorker.


It would not work as a gravity system if the pipes were not graded back to the boiler.... you should give it a test try to see if the hot water will flow with out power for the pumps.... also make sure you dont have check valves in the pumps as some pumps do..


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## Lifer

Bpo1222 said:


> What type of boiler is that wood stove boiler is that and can you get it gas backup


 
Really...is that how you wanna start your life here on the PZ.. I think you should delete your message and try again ...:thumbsup:


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## RealLivePlumber

OldSchool said:


> It would not work as a gravity system if the pipes were not graded back to the boiler.... you should give it a test try to see if the hot water will flow with out power for the pumps.... also make sure you dont have check valves in the pumps as some pumps do..


 
Yes it would.


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## OldSchool

RealLivePlumber said:


> Yes it would.


It would ?

and how would that be on a Gravity Convection.... once you create a heat trap that is any where the pipe goes down and back up the proper flow of convection will stop.

Don't confuse his configuration with monoflow tee system.... this is part of the safety for indoor wood boiler when the power goes out.


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## Lifer

OldSchool said:


> It would ?
> 
> and how would that be on a Gravity Convection.... once you create a heat trap that is any where the pipe goes down and back up the proper flow of convection will stop.
> 
> Don't confuse his configuration with monoflow tee system.... this is part of the safety for indoor wood boiler when the power goes out.


 
well i really do not wanna but heads but the reason you make a dump zone has 2 functions one for power outage protection .. the other more important one is for a " fire too hot dump the heat " so as not to make a large grumble bomb in the basement ... 

actually i have never heard of using it on pourpuse if the power goes off, That is why i said .. " in hind site it's not a bad idea " but i was always told it was for the later.. too hot senario..


but hay i'm here to learn ..
Lifer


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## Catlin987987

Lifer said:


> Yes This house has a dump zone with a normally closed zone valve ( so as to open if it looses power )


 :whistling2:


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## Lifer

Catlin987987 said:


> :whistling2:


 did i get it backwards? i always get them mixed up, we just call them dump zone valves


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## OldSchool

Your dump zone would be a normally open zone valve and the other zone valves would be normally closed...

The dump zone valve would be tied directly to the transformer... so when there was power applied to it ... it would make it self closed... and when the power went out the zone valve would be open allowing the heat from the wood boiler to go to the dump zone on power outage.


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## Mike Jessome

OldSchool said:


> It would ?
> 
> and how would that be on a Gravity Convection.... once you create a heat trap that is any where the pipe goes down and back up the proper flow of convection will stop.
> 
> Don't confuse his configuration with monoflow tee system.... this is part of the safety for indoor wood boiler when the power goes out.


If you have a woodfire on when the power goes out even if the pipes are not graded back it will still work without a circulator do you think 70 years ago every house built had its pipes graded?


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## cowboyplumber

Clean....I just installed a Frohling FHG wood gasification boiler with an 820 gallon thermal storage tank. Works phenominally well. Mandatory power outage heat dump and secondary over temp aquastat tied into the largest zone.


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## hasbean

of course 70 years ago all heating pipes were graded, there was very few pumps, my first heating system the early 50s was all gravity. .
My wood fire in this house is gravity convention for the hot water in case the pump breaks down.


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## Mike Jessome

hasbean said:


> of course 70 years ago all heating pipes were graded, there was very few pumps, my first heating system the early 50s was all gravity. .
> My wood fire in this house is gravity convention for the hot water in case the pump breaks down.


 of course the right way to do it is grade it, but I seen level pipe work just fine thats all


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