? Sizing and heat requirements ??????

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Bricks

Member
Jan 13, 2009
75
West Central Wi.
When we built the new house I told my wife we are not ever going to cut wood again. Our old 134 year old farm house ( chicken coup ) was, strictly wood usually about 23 cords a winter for 27 years Full cycle... LP is going up taxes are going up and if we plan on staying in this house, on the home farm we need to make some changes to save money.

In the planning stages for installing a gasification boiler this summer. God is the only one who knows what kind that may be yet. It seems the more I read the more confused I get. I have been reading about boilers going on a year now. Just don`t want to make a major mistake ( can`t afford to ) or have to baby sit one eiither. At first we will not have storage but want to do the intial setup so when storage is added it won`t be a big redo.

1 Our house design calls for 65,000 BTU furnace it is a Cap Cod 28 ft by 46 ft. Would that include the basement? How would I caculate for the basement. Due to contractor error our basment floor has 2 inch pink foam with pex on top but concrete ended up being seven inches thick. I don`t know if that makes a differnce. It is an unfinished poured wall basement. Our plan is to use water to air HX in furnace plenum, hot water side arm, and heat the basement flour.


2 Trying to calculate for HX for my garage using an LP furnace now. Would install water to air HX in furnace plenum. Gargae is 28 X40 X 11 foot ceiling. 2X6 walls R19 with R38 in ceiling. 5 double pane windows 36 X 36 inches and two insulated commercial 10 X 16 foot doors, and two 36 inch entry doors.. That`s where my clincher comes in can`t seem to find a way to calculate for the big doors?

3 How would I size a GB for future plans for storage and size of storage?

When it comes time I will being doing the install my self and asking a bunch more questions.

Thank You to all the great people that take there time and put in a lot of effort to make this site what it is.
 
I like the way your basement floor came out. The extra thickness with two inches of foam under will act as storage. What I don't understand is the water to air exchanger for the garage. First of all, there is no way 65K btu can include the house and the a garage that big. Second, ANY heat exchanger suffers or causes any efficiency loss. Why not go with radiant in the garage slab? Here it will pay off even better than in the basement. Finaly, for the heat loss of the commercial doors, talk to a commercial HVAC designer/installer. You may have to pay a small consulting fee, unless someone here volunteers some help.
 
Heat loss study or whatever its called is a smart idea. I think there are a few kinds to do. Do 'em all? I just started using my boiler. I should have done heat study, but i think I'm ok. I got to agree, 65,000btu sound kinda small. but most of the gassifiers' start off at about 100,000btu. This forum has helped me a lot. Good people, some installers that have a great wealth of knowledge, and are very kind in sharing it with us dolts. Do not be afraid to call the manufacturer directly on your boilers. If they don't answer your questions and or address your concerns, especially if your going to do your own install, move on. I talked EKO, Econoburn, Tarm, etc. All we're helpful, and patient. Trust me i tested there patience. ;-P

One other note, it's been very cold here, I'm sure it's just as bad in Wis. Damn nice being 70 inside and its -15 outside with a strong breeze, and the oil furnace isn't hammering away.
 
Dunebilly said:
I like the way your basement floor came out. The extra thickness with two inches of foam under will act as storage. What I don't understand is the water to air exchanger for the garage. First of all, there is no way 65K btu can include the house and the a garage that big. .

The 65,000 btu is strictly house only . Wanting to figure out if the house design includeds the basement when calcs are done.

The garage is allready built so adding pex to the floor ...it`s too late. That is why the LP furnace. I was not going to ever cut wood when we built this house 6 years ago..
 
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