- Feb 11, 2010
- 149
I'm putting in an outdoor wood boiler to heat my home and garage, as well as domestic water. I'll be using a Heatmor 200css with a domestic coil on it rather than a sidearm or flat plate heat exchanger for the water. I plan to place the unit approximately 100' from my house and about 50' from my single car garage.
1) What size PEX should I use?
1" PEX would be great because I anticipate needing at least 200' of tubing to go from the boiler to the house and back. I'll be self-insulating and water sealing my own lines. Will 1" PEX be enough to heat just my home (drafty 1660 sq ft forced air) or do I need to step up to 1.25" PEX? 100' or so in one direction. It's far easier to find fittings for 1" than it is 1.25". The clamp tool I'm seeing only does up to 1".
2) 3/4" PEX for the domestic coil?
It's separate from the lines dedicated to heating the home. Cold well water to the furnace coil, hot domestic water back to the house. Is 3/4" going to be plenty for just that? 100' or so in one direction as well.
3) Garage heat PEX size?
Only 50' away from the boiler. Totally uninsulated small garage, single car sized. I'm going to put a water/air exchanger with a fan behind it hanging from the ceiling. I'm not looking to keep the place 75 degrees, but 50-60 degrees would be nice. I was thinking maybe 3/4" PEX again?
4) Splitting the lines?
The house and garage aren't very close to each other. Would it make the most sense to Tee the output directly at the furnace so one side goes to the house for heat and the other goes to the garage for heat? Then, bring the two loops back together with a Tee right at the inlet side of the furnace again? Control valves on everything. Separate pumps for each loop? The domestic coil is totally separate and pumped via my well pump/house water pressure.
5) Manifold?
Right now all I have in the house is a forced air setup. All I need is a water/air heat exchanger in my plenum as far as I know. My tile kitchen floor is ventless, however, and my feet are quite cold. It would be quite difficult to add a vent to the kitchen near the floor, and equally difficult to add radiant heat by design of the house. I am thinking about adding baseboard heat along the bottom of the cabinets from the hot water. Should I build a small manifold in the house to split the water/air exchanger and the baseboard in the kitchen or could I just incorporate the loop back to the boiler into the baseboard heat? I don't need to make it a separate zone, just warm up the kitchen a little.
6) Sharkbite or stainless steel clamps?
Sharkbites look really simple to use and are cheaper than buying the clamp tool. The clamps shouldn't fail over time because they don't have any o-rings. Which would you recommend? I plan on purchasing as much as possible from pexsupply.com
1) What size PEX should I use?
1" PEX would be great because I anticipate needing at least 200' of tubing to go from the boiler to the house and back. I'll be self-insulating and water sealing my own lines. Will 1" PEX be enough to heat just my home (drafty 1660 sq ft forced air) or do I need to step up to 1.25" PEX? 100' or so in one direction. It's far easier to find fittings for 1" than it is 1.25". The clamp tool I'm seeing only does up to 1".
2) 3/4" PEX for the domestic coil?
It's separate from the lines dedicated to heating the home. Cold well water to the furnace coil, hot domestic water back to the house. Is 3/4" going to be plenty for just that? 100' or so in one direction as well.
3) Garage heat PEX size?
Only 50' away from the boiler. Totally uninsulated small garage, single car sized. I'm going to put a water/air exchanger with a fan behind it hanging from the ceiling. I'm not looking to keep the place 75 degrees, but 50-60 degrees would be nice. I was thinking maybe 3/4" PEX again?
4) Splitting the lines?
The house and garage aren't very close to each other. Would it make the most sense to Tee the output directly at the furnace so one side goes to the house for heat and the other goes to the garage for heat? Then, bring the two loops back together with a Tee right at the inlet side of the furnace again? Control valves on everything. Separate pumps for each loop? The domestic coil is totally separate and pumped via my well pump/house water pressure.
5) Manifold?
Right now all I have in the house is a forced air setup. All I need is a water/air heat exchanger in my plenum as far as I know. My tile kitchen floor is ventless, however, and my feet are quite cold. It would be quite difficult to add a vent to the kitchen near the floor, and equally difficult to add radiant heat by design of the house. I am thinking about adding baseboard heat along the bottom of the cabinets from the hot water. Should I build a small manifold in the house to split the water/air exchanger and the baseboard in the kitchen or could I just incorporate the loop back to the boiler into the baseboard heat? I don't need to make it a separate zone, just warm up the kitchen a little.
6) Sharkbite or stainless steel clamps?
Sharkbites look really simple to use and are cheaper than buying the clamp tool. The clamps shouldn't fail over time because they don't have any o-rings. Which would you recommend? I plan on purchasing as much as possible from pexsupply.com