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Gas-Powered Boiler for Home Heating and Distilling Whiskey
I’ve scoured these forums but I can’t find info on this- could be it’s really a dumb question, but I need to ask. Why do you need a process boiler to heat your steam jacketed still instead of using a powerful home gas powered steam boiler like a 221K BTU Crown? Is it too weak, dangerous, or just plain wrong? I’m opening in a very small space with a small 100 gallon still and 100 gallon mash tun. The building has city natural gas and 200amp 3 phase electric service. Initially, because of the gas, I was thinking steam. But I found information about the equipment was hard to find. Then I spoke to someone who said electric was the way to go, and changed my mind. Less hassle with equipment, fire code, etc. Electric is easy but not free. About $4K for the hardware per unit then $0.12per kwh to run it. Hmmm…I started thinking about the steam again and this question of using a home heating steam boiler- Can it work?
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6 Replies
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Yes.  It can certainly work.  I’ve operated for a decade and distilled tens of thousands of gallons on two different stills (a 30 gal. and a 300 gal.) with the same Weil-Mclain natural gas steam boiler that I bought new on eBay for about $3000.  I hired certified professionals to do the install and pipefitting and to do some minor upgrades over the years. We even moved this boiler from one location to a new location.  It works reliably, day after day.  When I started, I did not have the cash for an expensive boiler and I figured out how to make a cheap one work for me.
Steam (even at the low pressures we use) is obviously dangerous.  Just as distilling can be dangerous if done carelessly.  In my opinion, the basics of steam generation and typical boiler controls should be understood by anyone operating a steam heated still.  Dive in and do some internet learning about boilers and how they work.  Maybe you can pick the brain of an HVAC buddy you may have. Â
As to be expected, the “industry experts” are always likely to advise you toward more expensive options – That’s because it’s easy to, and it makes these folks feel smart and authoritative in doing so.  Remember, distilleries have operated for hundreds of years – before modern plumbing, before electricity, before steam power, and certainly before computers.  You do not need fancy equipment to make great spirits!!!! A basic boiler, like a Crown, can work and may be easier and relatively more inexpensive to repair and maintain.  Keep in mind that you may not have as sophisticated of controls with a cheaper boiler.  For example, the steam pressure may fluctuate more on a more basic system.  The system might not be quite as efficient, etc, etc.Â
Electric boilers are a good option for  convenience, safety, and cleanliness (no flames, no exhaust, etc.).  Gas boilers should be isolated in their own fireproof room away from any distilling and distillate storage.  That being said, a gas boiler might be better now if you ever want to scale up from your current equipment.  You could oversize your steam pipe to accommodate a larger boiler in the future. That all being said, if you are an owner/operator I recommend to keep your equipment small and simple and simply run your equipment more hours per day for as long as you can.  Â
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We use a 15 horsepower cast iron Weil McLain, it’s not a residential boiler, but it’s a small commercial boiler that’s really not much more than a larger version of a typical residential cast iron steam boiler.  There’s no magic to big iron boilers.  However, depending on your jurisdiction, the steam trim on the boiler may not be sufficient, for example, we are required to have dual redundant pressuretrols, with manual reset, that’s not something you generally see on a home boiler, same thing on the manual reset low water cutoffs.  Also, you’ll still need a condensate pump system, which isn’t cheap.  The bigger boilers have the water feeders on the condensate return tank and pump controls on the boiler, versus residential boilers having water feeders to the boiler and using a float switch to pump condensate back on the condensate tank.  This can sometimes cause issues with boiler overflow.  Can you fix this?  Sure, but it’s replacing more expensive parts on the boiler.
It’s doable, you’ll save money, there are lots of additional costs that need to be considered. Â If you want to do this on the super cheap, just find someone with a steam system in their house, and upgrading to something like force hot air, etc. Â In my area, I routinely see 2-3 year old steam boilers for dirt cheap on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. Â The other thing I noticed is there seem to be a TON of dry cleaners closing during covid, selling small Fultons for next to nothing, for example:
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Oh yeah, always be friends with a plumber.
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The Problem with a LOT of these modern package type boilers or vertical units is mechanical integrity and design of internals. They can be near impossible to descale, and the same goes for repairs if major failure happens. There is nothing more rugged than the Scotch Marine style firetube boiler or modified version of this class. If they are correctly installed and run with proper blowdown, control set up, and settings, and chemical feed they will simply outlast any of these new designs which could be considered ” throw away ” technology in a major lot of cases. They pay for themselves this way compared to something which a Mechanic can walk up to, take one look and see trouble looming immdiately.
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Because your previous posts have revealed you as a certifiable idiot, your opinions on anything cannot be taken seriously. That’s a shame because you probably know something about some things, but you cannot be trusted to provide reliable advice.
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I can run and Electrical circles a minimum of 7 times around this kind of talk and have the both the education, track record, and Masters License to prove it all out.
I see you are likely drinking on the job again and confused about postings which you are short on knowledge and experience in. The screen name says it all.
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This is coming from the guy with a -17 community rating who thinks metric is unAmerican and covid is a hoax. you go girl. Â
btw where were you on January 6? asking for a friend…
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