Has anyone used a corrugated iron water tank (around 2kl) as a heat storage tank. It would of course be insulated and peak at a temperature up to 120C, being fed via an embedded heat exchanger from a slow combustion stove. Heat then used to drive radiator panels, via another heat exchanger.
Corrugated iron tank as a heat store
(9 posts) (6 voices)-
ghostgum
MemberIt sounded reasonable until you got to the 120C bit. If you have water at that temperature (as opposed to steam), then you have a pressurised tank. You don't want to do that with a "corrugated iron water tank".
You could make sure that the tank never exceeds 80C, and have the tank vented. Then it would store enough energy for 1-2 days of heating.
Have a look at builditsolar.com for some uses of water tanks as storage for home heating.
Posted Monday 25 Jun 2012 @ 12:39:52 pm from IP # -
cangus
MemberThanks for your inputs. Apologies, should have been 100C, I'm not planning to store steam
I plan to run the tank to about 80C at the top where the hydronic circuit coil would be, but you never know with the boiler running full tilt it may be possible to boil the tank so it would need to take 100C for short periods.
My concern was if the tank would loose it's integrity at the seam due to continuous heating and cooling cycles. Tanks come in both soldered and silicon sealed options, I'm thinking soldered would be best for higher temperature operations. Soldered pipes obviously survive OK so maybe a tank would too?
I'm an avid reader of builditsolar.com and they have some great information there but they don't seem to use any corrugated iron tanks, perhaps they are not common in the US. I have considered using a liner but at my temperature it is getting to the limits of EPDM which most people use for solar storage that is running into under floor heating as it can use lower grade heat.
Posted Friday 6 Jul 2012 @ 4:20:10 am from IP # -
gazmo88
MemberHere's an idea for you:
http://www.xperimentalstudios.com.au/dincelconstructionsystem/animation/tank.html
Not tried it myself but the developers around here use it a fair bit for constructing units (not the round stuff though)
If it didn;t work as a tank it might be handy as a nuclear bunker
:-) Cheers
Posted Friday 6 Jul 2012 @ 6:02:30 am from IP # -
cangus
MemberLooks pretty good, similar to how some houses are built with the blocks used for insulation and then filled with concrete. I had considered making a concrete tank but would be pretty labour intensive and I was concerned about the concrete cracking with the large temperature variations.
Thanks.
Posted Friday 13 Jul 2012 @ 4:26:23 am from IP # -
You could easy overcome 100 C limit , without risking steam explosion.
Fill the tank with oil, organic waste from fast food chips makers or motor oil or mechanics shops after oil change.
Heat/cool this reservoir with heat exchanger coil.Pro :
+ Temperature you could reach will be in excess of 150-200 c.
+ Rusting greatly reduced
Con:
- Fire risk and environmental damage in the case of any leak
- bigger heat losses due to higher temperatureSo for domestic heating purposes water as a storage is much more practical, for other industrial usage oil storage could be considered.
Posted Saturday 14 Jul 2012 @ 2:01:14 am from IP #
