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renewable
energy
A case study

Heating the shop and

battery enclosure

It all started with the Why are we investing in renewables?

decision to locate the The solar and electrical installation.
renewable electric
The wind turbine installation.
hardware in the shop Solar domestic hot water.
rather than in the
A breakdown of the system cost.
house. That decision System performance.
led to the batteries
Heating the shop and battery enclosure.
getting cold because
The wood stove used for space and water heating and cooking.
the shop is not heated The outdoor brickoven.
every day in winter.
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Cold batteries are
inefficient batteries,
which started me
thinking of ways to
keep them warm. After
much consideration, I
decided to build a tiny
boiler and run the
resulting hot water
through in-floor radiant
tubing inside the
battery box. The
decision was simple,
the execution of it was
not. The project took a
year from start to

finish.
Here is an overview of
the installation
showing the boiler,
water storage tanks and
part of the battery
enclosure. The tanks,
which are recycled gas
water heaters, are up
high because the heat
exchange loop from
the boiler to the tanks
flows by convection.
The second loop from
the tanks to the battery
enclosure uses a pump,
which is the black
thing at the end of the
enclosure.
The system works fine.
Once it was finally
completed, I was able
to raise the battery
temperature from 8C
to 22C in a day and a
half, which is good
considering that the
batteries are so
massive. Each one
weighs 320 pounds and
there are eight of them.
Last winter the bank of
batteries got very cold,
down to near freezing,
and there was little I
could do about it.
The heat loss from the
boiler cabinet is just
barely able to heat the
shop, so the balance
between heating air
and water is fairly
good. I might add a
fan-coil unit later so I
can heat the shop

faster.
Here is a front crosssectional drawing of
the boiler, with the
access doors and
primary air inlets
ghosted in. The two
semi-triangular blocks
forming the floor of the
firebox are custom
refractory castings. I
had to build an
elaborate mold for
these, with a central
duct for secondary air
and ten 3/16" air holes
from the duct into the
slot between the
blocks. The blocks are
formed so there is a 1"
space 11" long which
forms the slot through
which the exhaust
flows down into the
secondary combustion
zone.
I produced a drawing
for each of the steel
components and had
them cut and bent by a
local company. I did
the welding assembly
myself.
Ever since I built a
couple of downdraft
stoves back in the
1970s, I've had a soft
spot for downdraft
combustion. Part of the
reason I built such an
elaborate shop heater
was so I could play
around with a
downdraft. I've really
enjoyed it so far.

Here is a side crosssection. A couple of

things are worth noting
here. First, there is the
bypass damper to
allow updraft
combustion to get the
thing started and for
loading. Building a
one-off damper like
that is not a lot of fun.
It is also the most
vulnerable part of the
boiler. I'll be watching
to see how it stands up,
but I've already
decided how to change
it if it gets warped
from too much heat. So
far, so good.
Second, note that the
front panel is two
layers, which forms a
1" plenum through
which the combustion
air flows. The upper
chamber of the plenum
feeds the primary air
tubes over the door.
The lower chamber
feeds the secondary air
through the refractory
blocks at the base of
the firebox. The
plenum uses heat
released through the
front to pre-heat the
combustion air.
The water tube heat
exchanger (not shown)
has 14 vertical steel
tubes welded to top
and bottom manifolds.
It was not easy to build
for a hack welder like
me. Unfortunately, I

didn't photograph it
before it was installed.
Here is a shot of the
core as I mocked it up
for fit. Except for the
two refractory castings,
the core is made up of
firebrick splits.
The white material
below and beside the
bricks is Kaowool, a
fiber refractory
material; the pieces
shown are not
complete, but are just
for dimension. In the
final assembly the core
was surrounded by 1"
of Kaowool, made up
of 1/2" of blanket and
1/2" of soft board. The
idea is to get the core
very hot and to limit
heat loss from the core
to the outer cabinet.
The centre passage is
blocked at the back,
which forces the
exhaust forward,
around the two rows of
bricks on edge, and out
the back to the heat
exchange section
through the two outer
passages.

Here is a view of the

core through the ash
door. Note that the
door is lined with
Kaowool to retain heat
and protect the steel
from the intense heat. I
used cotter pins
through small squares
of stainless steel sheet
to hold all the Kaowool
panels in place, a
method I've used with
success on other
projects in the past.
Here is a pic of the
lower door showing
the primary and
secondary combustion
air controls and the
viewing port. I have
now added a small
combustion air fan to
the secondary air inlet
under the lower door.
The door handles never
get too hot to touch.
The two covers at the
top corners of the door
provide access to the
air ducts at the ends of
the refractory blocks.
Access was needed
during assembly to
create the seal between
the cast blocks and the
steel cabinet shell.

Here is a pair of
replacement refractory
castings just before
they were removed
from a friend's pottery
kiln. The first ones
broke when I tried to
remove them to reseal
the joints at the front
and back of the
firebox. The originals
hadn't been fired this
way. The second ones
were much harder after
firing. If you tapped
them with something
metal they would ring
like a wine glass.
These ones have been
used to two years and
they still have sharp
edges like new.
Here is the concrete
being placed over the
'PEX' tubing inside the
battery enclosure. The
enclosure is only 24" x
91" and yet I was able
to stuff almost 90 feet
of tubing into it.
Although I had heated
the shop through the
first half of the 20052006 winter with the
boiler without the heat
exchanger or battery
heating loop, the full
system was finally
completed and put into
service on February 6,
2006.

Here is a picture taken

with the lower door
open. The refractories
are not just lit up by
the flames, they are
glowing red on their
own. The reason
downdrafts burn clean
when they are set up
right is that these
chambers and ducts
under the firebox are
insulated and are a
great environment for
combustible wood
gases to burn in.