Need advice on arch placement

[scottw]

Still novice, but one season under my belt and got the hang of it last year. Need advice on placement of my arch.

Here's the scoop: I've got a King 2x6 arch and last summer I had to get a new oil tank. The new tank is now installed inside the sugar house which is about 10 x 11 overall. I had the tank installed there thinking I would move the arch to a better location anyway, but I didn't have time to make all the changes I wanted this past fall. The smoke stack end of the evaporator, in its current position, is 3 feet from the tank and the arch portion is a good 4 feet from the tank. Less than a 1/4 tank of oil in a 275 gal. tank.

Option A is to leave the arch where it is. It doesn't seem smart to have the evaporator so close to the tank, but I might be overly cautious. One suggestion I got was to build a cement block firewall between it and the tank and to put insulation board behind the blocks to absorb/dampen the heat coming off the evaporator. Sounds like a good idea, but still not 100% confident. The sugar house has a slab floor.

Option B is to move the arch to an open, but covered area that I use as a woodshed now, no slab, about 7 feet high. I could put the arch on blocks and stick the smoke stack on the outside of the covered area with most of the arch under the tin roof (unless I cut a hole which I'd rather not do). This seems like the safe idea. What I don't know about are any disadvantages of not having the hood and not being able to keep in the heat as I would in the sugar house.

Any thoughts are much appreciated.

[Jec]

Well, pics would be great. But, code down here is 18" from combustibles. So, 3 feet seems more than enough. If you want you can put concrete board over the tank. A whole wall is probally not neccessary. Whatever you do keep it inside. You don't want to be boiling out in the cold while it's raining. Trust me. Been there done that. Hope this helps,
Joey

[scottw]

Joey,

Thanks very much for the tips. Attached is a picture that should help (still much clean up and set up to do). You'll see the end of the tank at the right hand side of the picture. Measuring directly from that side to the evaporator is 3 feet. Measuring diagonally from the end of the tank to the firebox is 5 feet. You'll see I have permaboard up against the smoke stack end of the arch. I could get more permaboard and I also have enough concrete blocks to build a temporary wall between the tank and the arch - 3 feet wide and 5'6" feet high.

5402

Scott

[Jec]

Yeah if you put insulation and brick in your arch the hottest thing would be the stack. So, your stack should be even further from the tank. Also, heating oil ignites at about 400F.

[Tweegs]

I can’t speak to the oil tank placement, but I can relay some first-hand experience about option B.

Last year we housed our 2X6 in a “Garage in a box” that we got from Tractor Supply. Nothing more than an aluminum frame with a fitted tarp over it. It was open on both ends and had a roof and side walls, very similar to your wood shed, as I picture it. We stuck the stack out just far enough from under the tarp to keep it from melting. The arch was up on blocks, just as you describe.

Here are the downsides:
The steam will condense on the underside of the roof and it will rain under there, on you, back in your pans (carrying with it anything that was once above), and on everything left out and uncovered.

Water everywhere, snow run off, rain, condensation, etc. caused the area around the arch to become a muddy mess. We bought some indoor/outdoor carpet to put down near the arch to keep the mud to a minimum.

With the aforementioned, keeping the wood dry presented its own challenge. Never thought I would have to put a tarp over wood that was under a roof.

The slightest breeze will cause the steam to swirl under your roof. If you are a wearer of glasses, as I am, this resulted in instantly fogged glasses, and usually at the worst possible time, like a draw.

A strong wind would rip right through your cold and soaked clothing, even on a bright sunny day. I had to wear rain gear at all times.

I’ve had more miserable experiences, but I can’t remember when.