I have purchased a wood fired boiler (second hand @ 10% of new cost) to add to my existing gas heated home. The outfit came with all copper and radiator etc. to complete installation. We have forced air now and want to make this a separate system. Will put boiler in separate building 40 feet from house. (no fire protection's the reason) Will run pipes underground to house. Any ideas on how insulate the pipes? Also, the threads about chimney fires have me wondering what to do. We have a lined cement chimney already. Do we need a spark arrestor on top or should we go with a triple wall stainless pipe? Any advice will be appreciated. Will let you know how it works out. Dave

-- Dave (drcomer@rr1.net), February 10, 2001

Answers

Dave: As far as insulating the pipes I used some closed cell insulated pipe wrap. You can get it at the building supply place then I boxed it in with 2" thick strips of styrofoam. If you find some local guy who does these stove installations he'll probably have some other stuff too. I've seen it as long styrofoam blocks formed to fit both tubes in it and I've seen 4" thick closed cell foam also.

As to the stove pipe I'm not clear as to where its at. If its on the wood-boiler bldg I'd think the either type would be fine. A spark arrester probably wouldn't be necessary but it wouldn't hurt either. I don't think those outdoor wood boilers are designed for rip roaring fires and by the time the smoke gets to the chimney it been cooled significantly by heating the water so that a chimney fire seems unlikely.

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), February 10, 2001.

There is a product designed for direct buried hydronic heating delivery. The inner water conductor is Pex. The insulation is flexible and the outer layer is seamless polyethylene. I know that it is available from HEATLINK (www.heatlink.com). You can mail them at infocdn@heatlink.com and they will gladly help you. The product has been used in extreme conditions and will not cause the crokuses to sprout in the snow. The add on split foam insulation will not withstand the high temperatures emitted by hydronic boilers.

-- Fred Meier (fmeier@uniserve.com), June 12, 2001.