I just closed on a heavily wooded 14 acre South Central Colorado Mountain property. It has electric, well, septic, phone, 864 sq ft garage, and the house burned down. The property is 130 miles from my primary (current) residence. The garage floor is dirt. The property has lots of dead wood on the ground plus wood building debris from former construction efforts.
Long term(3-5years), I want an off the grid homestead. It has excellent southern exposure for gardening and the well is zoned for livestock and residential use. I want to start by putting a hydronic heating system in the garage floor so I can work and be comfortable year round.
I plan to build a water tank (1200 gallons or so) and an outside woodburning boiler to heat the water in the tank. The floor will contain antifreeze and a computer will control the floor connection to a heat exchanger. I will also hook in a couple of solar panels to keep the water tank temperature up while I'm not there.
My boiler design calls for a firebox big enough to put in limbs and boards and pallets without cutting and stacking. I want to run a couple circuits of copper pipe. The first will be imbedded in sand between the firebox and the outside of the boiler. The second will be in or around the flue after the firebox. I was thinking of snaking the flue through sand above the firebox. I want a fast burn to release all the energy in the wood and a lot of copper to capture as much of the heat as possible and store it in the water.
I'm looking for your input. Should the firebox be steel, or ? I know they make a special "fabric" product that becomes ceramic when the firebox heats and cures. I also know to use high temperature mortar. I know cement and copper are not good together. Any other ideas?
Gary
Long term(3-5years), I want an off the grid homestead. It has excellent southern exposure for gardening and the well is zoned for livestock and residential use. I want to start by putting a hydronic heating system in the garage floor so I can work and be comfortable year round.
I plan to build a water tank (1200 gallons or so) and an outside woodburning boiler to heat the water in the tank. The floor will contain antifreeze and a computer will control the floor connection to a heat exchanger. I will also hook in a couple of solar panels to keep the water tank temperature up while I'm not there.
My boiler design calls for a firebox big enough to put in limbs and boards and pallets without cutting and stacking. I want to run a couple circuits of copper pipe. The first will be imbedded in sand between the firebox and the outside of the boiler. The second will be in or around the flue after the firebox. I was thinking of snaking the flue through sand above the firebox. I want a fast burn to release all the energy in the wood and a lot of copper to capture as much of the heat as possible and store it in the water.
I'm looking for your input. Should the firebox be steel, or ? I know they make a special "fabric" product that becomes ceramic when the firebox heats and cures. I also know to use high temperature mortar. I know cement and copper are not good together. Any other ideas?
Gary