Firewood burns most efficiently and cleanly when it is burned hot and fast. Your home, however, does not use heat in this same way; it calls for heat only as needed. In order to match both of these demands, we recommend combining a wood boiler with a water storage tank of 500-1000 gallons. By using this type of thermal storage your wood boiler will always burn hot and fast – even if your home is not calling for heat. Instead of smoldering in idle mode when your home is up to temperature, your wood boiler will continue to burn at maximum efficiency. The excess heat generated will simply be stored in the water tank for use later. A certain amount of this idling is acceptable and if you are only intending to burn wood during the coldest part of the year, no storage tank is necessary. However, once the warm days of early spring arrive, it will be time to shut down your wood boiler for the summer.

 

By incorporating thermal storage you will be able to continue to use your boiler to heat your home throughout the spring and fall and even right through summer to produce your domestic hot water if you choose. Thermal storage is something that can be easily added to a system at a later date.