some hot water heat questions

[mga]

read a few threads in here about hot water heating and i have some questions. my primary heat in my home is hot water baseboard heating...gas fired boiler. i've often considered designing something that would tie into the fireplace, but the safety factor is there and i don't want o blow the house up.

since baseboard heat is a closed system, would it be possible to rig up something into a fireplace that would also heat the water?

if so, what would happen during a power failure and i could not run the circulator pump? wouldn't the water in the fireplace lines over heat?

does anyone manufacture something like this?

giving it some thought, it appears to be an involved project, but it would be a nice way to distribute heat in the house.

 

[MS-310]

I dont think they make any thing for this but... I will think about it... I have lots Of ideas in my head. No the water wouldnt get to hot in the fireplace it would move the water though the pipe. Cool idea.

Jack

 

[mga]

thanks, ms-310. my concern was that the fire would get too hot if the water just sat there. as far as convection taking place, my boiler sits in the basement almost directly below the fireplace.

i'm not challenging your expert advice, i know you are experienced in this stuff from past threads, but it seems the water could reach a boiling point inside the fireplace. i realize it would be impossible as well as foolishly impractical to have a release valve in the fire place, so the main concern would be keeping that water moving by itself. ha...my wife would shoot me if it failed and blew water into the living room.

the other issue is i have two zone valves. both would have to be open for the water to move. man, the more i talk about this the more technical it gets. i'd have to design some over ride switches that would open them when a fire is started, but not allow the gas to fire up.

maybe this is why no one has attempted this yet?

 

[habanero]

... No the water wouldnt get to hot in the fireplace it would move the water though the pipe....

I disagree with that as a blanket statement. In a properly designed system, yes thermosyphon would take care of it. But, there are a lot of things that can go wrong, as well. Blowing water out into the living room would be a best-case scenario at that point. Not having a living room left would be a worst-case scenario.

MGA, I'm trying to put down your idea, but it is certainly not something to be entered into lightly. It is possible to have a safe and well-operating system such as you propose, it just isn't easy.

Also be aware that this may have repercussions with your homeowner's insurance.

 

[mga]

MGA, I'm trying to put down your idea, but it is certainly not something to be entered into lightly. It is possible to have a safe and well-operating system such as you propose, it just isn't easy.

hey, no problem. it was something i thougt of doing, but after discussing it here, it seems like the potential of something going wrong is pretty good. not good odds i might want to risk with my house.

i can understand now why those back yard boilers are "open" systems. man...i thought i was onto something good.

 

[WoodBurner44]

circulation pump

I use a mille-volt circulation pump to circulate water through a hot water heating system using an outdoor wood burning furnace as the heat source. You could probably install one in your system to keep the water moving. The water should not boil in the fireplace as long as cooler water is flowing in from the return. The relief valve on your boiler should protect the entire system from an overpressure situation.