radiant heat

larry merlau

Member
Messages
18,741
Location
Delton, Michigan
i know this has been discussed previously somewhere, but here is a small question.. i was told that you can run it off a 50 gallon water heater. has anyone compared the costs to other heat sources? i have any area of 36x48 that would be heated with a ten ft ceiling. so any info on approx cost comparison.. would be appreciated. michigan winters can be cool:huh:
 
One of the guys on SMC that built a nice brick faced shop was using a 50 gallon tank to heat his.
Just ran across that thread the other day
I do not remember the thread title or his name :dunno:

Dust collection was under concrete also.
 
Hey Larry

I don't have any information on the 50gal water heater, but I have a 52 x 100 building with full radiant, thats heated with a Trinity boiler(ti150 I think) broke into 3 zones.

This past winter was the first time heating (1 zone 40 degrees, the other 2 at 66 degrees) with a 1000 gal propane and used about 700 gal of it.

Building is basic stick construction, with 2x6 walls, spray on and regular insulation.

The reason I went with the Trinity Boiler is my HVAC guys have one in their shop, and they where happy with it :rolleyes:
 
Larry.....You can do it with a water heater. I wanted radiant floor heat so bad I could taste it. I even contacted several companies and got estimates on installing same and doing it myself. The catch for me was that I live in the city of Lewiston. I don't have water in my shop and that caused the design to have several safety circuits to protect it in the event of a leak which really pushed up the price. The city wouldn't give me an "open" heating permit to allow me to install the tubing and add the water heater or boiler later......In the end the LOML gave me a Lennox 75,000 btu overhead gas furnace for Christmas a year ago.........Now the Lennox works well but Boy did I want radiant!
 
larry, if you opt for radiant i`d look seriously at a dual fuel boiler, gas-n-wood, one that`s large enough to do your house too....even if your house has forced air a heat exchanger can be added so that when your boiler is running it`ll be heating the house too...what could be better than heating two buildings with the same stick of wood?...and if you set the system up correctly it could be used as a geothermal heat pump during the 4-5 days a year you`ll need air conditioning..
 
I don't know much about it, but have you looked into geo-thermal as a source of heat for your shop? I would guess it's more expensive up front, but I would think it would pay for itself in short order and save BIG over the long haul.

Of course I do agree with Ashman. :D Just invite him over every week or so and you and he spend the day in the shop. That should produce enough hot air to last at least a week. :rofl: :wave:

That's my $1.398 cents worth. Glad I could be of assistance. :wave: :D

Karl
 
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