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Wood Furnace Pipe

Question
I have a large wood furnace in my basement ducted to my central air
system by way of a double wall ventilation system. The two sides are
single walled. I intend to drill two holes along the top side wall,
place a roll of copper pipe inside the top of the fire box and extend
the pipe out the two holes in the side. The pipes will then be
connected to a water storage container to hold the circulated hot water.
Here’s my questions for anyone willing to offer assistance:
What diameter copper pipe would you recommend?
Would you think natural convection circulation would suffice if the
bottom of the storage container is located at about the height of the
copper pipe exiting the furnace and the other pipe at the top? Or
would I need a water pump for circulation?
Could this be safely done with a secondary 50 gallon water tank with the
standard house pressure and the normal over pressure valve at the top?
What would be the advantages/disadvantages of having the hot water
circulate through an open, unpressurized storage tank (i.e. a heat
exchanger type arrangement).
Any suggestions as to what to use inexpensively for an open storage
tank?
Any amount of informed opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Answers
Well, I have some experience with one aspect. For 10 years I had a 6 foot
long, 12 tube half-inch copper pipe manifold hanging inside a solar lean-to
greenhouse (Piedmont North Carolina). The top and bottom headers were plumbed
into an old 30 gallon electric water heater tank, with insulation removed,
that sat on a platform above the final 40 gallon electric water heater. Cold
water entered the bottom of the preheater, joining the lower manifold supply;
the top manifold return went to the top of the tank and supplied the final
water heater. Everything was at house pressure, and the thermal convection
worked fine with just the ambient air temperature. The top of the manifold was
about 1 foot higher than the bottom of the preheater tank, and the temperature
differential across both was around 5 degrees C during the daytime, with both
ends tending to be around 25 C at the end of the day. The passive part never
gave any trouble; the electric heater had to be replaced once (the
construction was such that well sediment ended up in the electric heater).
Old, undamaged, glass-lined water tanks seem to last forever if they’re only
used for warm water, and the outside kept dry. So convection, pressurized or
unpressurized, ought to work fine with a coil in a wood heater, as long as you
keep the spiral continuously rising.

Associated Wood Furnace Pipe Question: Is it possible to vent a gas furnace through an existing wood stove chimney pipe?
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Answer:if the chimney is lined, yes. check with you local code enforcement officer or fire chief….most likely not a problem

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Answer:Like I said before you deleted your previous question and rephrased it so it would sound “better?”. Plastic melts when it gets hot and the furnace gets very hot! It’s like putting a lit candle under a paper towel!!!

Associated Wood Furnace Pipe Question: what would cause the pipe on a wood burning furnace to soot up if your burning dry wood and burning it hot?

Answer:maybe a blockage is reducing draft flow. too much bend in a pipe or if it doesn’t extend above the roof enough could be problems too.

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Answer:no doubt if you can collect the heat in a hood ( not the flue pipei t must be piped outside the house) I would connect it to the return part of the furnace and let the furnace fan move it around. just be careful your hood doen not create a negative condition where the stove does not draft out of the house. A negative condition at the stove coule actually pull the combuston product into the home and may be dangerous be careful

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Answer:home depot

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Answer:The vent must have a fire rating and be designed for this purpose, and it can not touch anything that could start to burn. Call a PRO and sleep well at night!

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Answer:Make sure dampers are open and the chimney is clean. A heated chimney pulls a better drafts. burn paper with good flame to get the chimney warm and build a fire slowly. You can stick a mirror into the clean out of the chimney near the bottom to see if there are any obstructions. Needs daylight. Do not run any exhaust fans such as bathroom and kitchen because they might pull a Backdraft on the chimney exhaust.

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Answer:I’m not a professional, but it sounds like some creosote may be built up in the pipe. Creosote can look black and tarry and can impair the release of smoke. It is also flammable. I would call a Heating/Cooling contractor or Chimney Cleaner ASAP. My bro is a firefighter and he warned me of two things: 1) Don’t burn pine in a stove, as the goop from pine will pollute the exhaust pipes 2) Always get your pipes/chimney cleaned once a year or so to clean out the creosote to avoid a chimney fire. Good luck