min BTUs for indirect?
My own home's heatloss is just under 80K BTUs. I am looking at a nice Camas or a Pinnicle 80K 94+% unit but with priority, is that enough to run a 60 gal indirect fast enough? should I be looking at a slightly larger boiler?
Tim
Working on steam and hot-water systems isn't rocket science....it's actually much harder.
Why the 60 gallon?
Do you have a large, what I call, "dump zone"? Like a spa or large tub?
I have a few boilers in that general size, with 42 gallon indirects that never run out. Their owners wouldn't trade them for anything.
It also depends on how you use the water and how your house plumbing is set up.
Do you plan on being able to have more than one shower running in more than one bath at a time? That is as much house plumbing/piping as it is boiler/indirect.
info
Thanks fir the reply. One shower at a time, period. Was going to go 50 gal to not run out. Old iron pipe in half inch, but I can run new pipe wherever needed. Nice big sunflower type shower head that must stay. Was also considering a dual coil indirect with a solar bottom coil but I will have to see what that cost would get to......
Tim
Working on steam and hot-water systems isn't rocket science....it's actually much harder.
go with a dual coil
indirect and connect both coils to the boiler for now. This doubles the HX surface but also brings back the lowest possible temperature to the mod con to keep efficiency up. Look for a tank with a large smooth coil to keep the pressure drop low and provide a lot of surface area. I think the smooth coil HX work best in hard water conditions.
Bock, Caleffi, Heat Flow, Bradford White, Lochinvar, Heat Transfer Products all offer smooth coil indirects.
Then the lower could could be used for solar when you go that route.
Here is how I link the two coils together.
Let me know when you are ready for solar components.
hr
BIGGER INDIRECT IS BETTER
Just my personal preference . Using a munchkin 80m I used to have a triangle 40 gal with mixing valve give plenty of hot water for two shower heads and unlimited hot water for 1 shower head and that was ok . but after replacing the the 40 gal indirect for the second time I put in a SSU119 with mixing valve stpt is 135* with 18* dif, I think boiler actually runs better much more efficient the boiler stays in high fire and supply reaches about 160* by the time the indirect satisfies. My summer time gas bill went down almost 10 bucks on this new oversize indirect undersized boiler setup its as close as I can get to having a reverse indirect since that is what I really wanted but there is no local supplier for those & so this is showing a similar performance .
Gerry Alder
