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anonymous July 31 2008, 02:13:47 UTC
The output of the boiler is 115K BTU per hour. So theoretically, I could make 115K BTU x 24 = 2.76 MBTU per day. The static capacity of the 700 gal water tank is around 850K BTU. At any given instant the maximum amount of heat storage of the tank is 850K BTU.

The maximum amount of heat I can actually distribute to the house is around 80K BTU per hour. I have two zones, upstairs and downstairs, each having a circulator pump and a radiator in forced hot air ductwork. The rating of each radiator is 40K BTU per hour. So, worst case I could use 80K BTU x 24 hours = 1.92M BTU. This never happens though as my house is well insulated and it has never gotten down to -40 deg.

To answer your question about how much heat I need per day is difficult to answer because the outside temperature fluctuates. Last year I burned 6 cords of wood. Each cord has around 25M BTU. So 6 x 25 = 150M BTU per heating season. I burn from Oct 1 to May 1 or 8 months or 240 days. 150M BTU / 240 days = 625K BTU per day or 26K BTU per hour.

It is not that much work to cut and split 6 cords of wood per year.

-v-

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