calorifier

[nb Innisfree]

We have two cals, one next to the the kitchen taps and one next to the bathroom, 5 secs for the shower to run hot! One cal is 23' from the engine and the other is 30' away, no prob with engine heating them, neither has NRVs

[blackrose]

I've seen several calorifiers with leaks from poorly soldered seams. Fortunately all the ones I've seen have been in the engine rooms of boats which makes me think I'll move mine from the galley to the engine room at some point. Less of a mess if/when it happens.

 

What do others think about the potential for leaky calorifiers in cabins?

[Guest]

I've seen several calorifiers with leaks from poorly soldered seams. Fortunately all the ones I've seen have been in the engine rooms of boats which makes me think I'll move mine from the galley to the engine room at some point. Less of a mess if/when it happens.

 

What do others think about the potential for leaky calorifiers in cabins?

Exactly my take. Our horizontal Cal. is under the bed, but with hindsight I would fit a vertical one in engine room. For now I will take my chances

[Nathan90]

thanks for all your replies and advice, it is very much appreciated...

Having done a bit more research i have since found out that my lister sr3(air cooled) will no heat water?

so i plan to use an instant water heater rinnai or morco for the summer months and a back boiler on the

stove connected to the calorifier for when its too cold for the gas system but im no plumber and as such i'm

totaly unsure how to configure the whole system

thoughts, advice and opinons please??///

[blackrose]

thanks for all your replies and advice, it is very much appreciated...

Having done a bit more research i have since found out that my lister sr3(air cooled) will no heat water?

so i plan to use an instant water heater rinnai or morco for the summer months and a back boiler on the

stove connected to the calorifier for when its too cold for the gas system but im no plumber and as such i'm

totaly unsure how to configure the whole system

thoughts, advice and opinons please??///

 

Right, so you wanted to heat a calorifier from an air cooled engine?

 

Why would it be too cold for a gas water heater? You can use them all year round.

 

You can heat a calorifier with a backboiler but unless you're very crafty with the pipework you'll need a pump in the system. If I were plumbing in a central heating system & calorifier from a backboiler I'd make it work by thermocycling around the radiators (natural convection & gravity - no pump), and I'd add an extra loop with a pump that went around the calorifier. With that hybrid system you wouldn't have to run the pump all the time the stove was on and you wouldn't have to worry about the pump failing and losing your heating from the stove in the middle of winter. (On most pumped systems if the pump fails you can't light the stove because the backboiler will overheat).

Edited July 25, 2011 by blackrose

[Nathan90]

No I now know that my lister wont heat a calorifier.

As for the gas water heaters, the rinnai/morco systems seem to only heat water 25 degreesC above the temp that the water enters the system and in winter this can be as low as freezing point meaning that the water temp will only reach 25-30 degC ( correct me if im wrong ). and besides the stove will most likley be going most of the time throughout winter.

so my soulution would be to use the backboiler purely for heating the calorifier. (I plan to have the bathroom + calorifier adjacent to the stove)

so if i were to plumb the bb-the calorifier at an upward angle would this work without the need for a pump?

.... thanks again. nathan

[blackrose]

No I now know that my lister wont heat a calorifier.

As for the gas water heaters, the rinnai/morco systems seem to only heat water 25 degreesC above the temp that the water enters the system and in winter this can be as low as freezing point meaning that the water temp will only reach 25-30 degC ( correct me if im wrong ). and besides the stove will most likley be going most of the time throughout winter.

so my soulution would be to use the backboiler purely for heating the calorifier. (I plan to have the bathroom + calorifier adjacent to the stove)

so if i were to plumb the bb-the calorifier at an upward angle would this work without the need for a pump?

.... thanks again. nathan

 

I don't know about the limited water temperature from the gas water heater - mine seems to work fine in winter.

 

Yes, you can heat a calorifier from a backboiler without a pump, but the calorifier needs to have wide bore coils.

[Nathan90]

brilliant! out of interest which water heater do u have? and how would i confiure a system that enables me to use the heater when the stove is not lit but use the calorifier when hot water is avalible from that source? ideas please

[WotEver]

brilliant! out of interest which water heater do u have? and how would i confiure a system that enables me to use the heater when the stove is not lit but use the calorifier when hot water is avalible from that source? ideas please

You'd use the 2nd coil for the heater.

 

Tony

[ditchcrawler]

Could you use an oil to water heat exchanger to heat your calorifier from the engine. I am sure I saw this on an air cooled engine in Gloucester docks some time ago.

[arbutus]

I know very little about back boilers, but doesn’t the system need to be designed so as to always be able to dissipate the heat that the stove puts into the water.

Otherwise the water will just boil away If only a calorifier is connected to the back boiler, then when once the water in the cylinder is up to temperature there is nowhere for the heat to be dissipated and the water in the back boiler could boil.

 

In the 1980’s I had a 45 foot narrowboat with a small torgem stove with a back boiler. Without a pump, this heated the whole boat using a run of 2 inch diameter pipes along the side of the cabin and something like a 2” x 4” x 6 foot long steel box section at the far end that the builder fabricated, instead of using a panel radiator (but no calorifier fitted). The system worked great!

Edited July 26, 2011 by arbutus