[Greenbuilding] stealing heat from a woodstove for water heating

[Reuben Deumling]

Thanks, Gary.

On Wed, Jan 1, 2014 at 5:59 PM, Gary Reysa <gary at builditsolar.com> wrote:

> Maybe you are already aware of this, but there are coils that fit inside
> the fire box: http://www.hilkoil.com/product.htm
>

These are elegant. My only reservation (and I have this about all systems
installed inside the firebox) is that due to their proximity to the
fire--which to promote complete combustion we'd prefer to burn very
hot--the coils are going to continuously reduce the temperature in the
firebox by bringing cold/cool/warmer water right into the fire. It is my
understanding that this is the reason why (EPA-certified) domestic wood
stoves are no longer permitted to be designed around/preplumbed for/sold
with firebox mounted water jackets. The amount of heat per hr you can
extract from the system and use for DWH purposes is certainly highest doing
it this way.

>
>
> You do have to be very careful to have pressure/temperature relief valves
> at the right points in the plumbing with these to avoid steam explosions:
> http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/BioFuel/biofuels.htm#FireboxCoils
>

Thanks for those links. I so enjoy your whole webpage and have recommended
the solar water heating portions to many folks.

>
> Seems like this would be a more efficient water heater and reduce the
> chance of cooling the flue gases too much?
>

faster yes. I'm just trying to figure out a way to trade off incomplete
combustion and speed.
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