new house, same problem

[fatkidracer]

hello everyone

i posted here a few years ago about boiler options. that house was slab on grade (both house and large garage) and used an oil boiler. after asking and reading here i came to the conclusion that i would not get my money back because i knew i was not going to stay there long enough.

well now i am in the final steps of buying a new much bigger "forever home". but this home is heated via forced air propane. which i know is going to kill me next winter as bad if not worse then the oil has killed me the last 3-4 years.

it is a modular home built on a very nice poured concrete foundation with foam insulated walls but no studs or anything. it is a ranch with a loft. i believe it is 2x6 construction and was built in 2005 so it should be decently insulated and has decent double pane windows. however in the great room there are a lot of them!

in the unfinished basement it looks like the previous owner had a large soapstone fireplace thing plumbed into the heating run. it was taken out when they left the property and the property is bank owned now so no idea on previous heating costs.

so i have two questions.

1. what is the best course of action to heat this place with wood/coal/pellets. since the basement is unfinished and its a ranch could i do radiant in between the joists and call it good or is a HX in the plenum of the existing unit the way to go?

2. how far and what elevation can radiant heating water be pumped? the home sits on 15 acres and has an unfinished pole barn that will eventually be my shop. its a good 200-300 feet from where i would most likely put a boiler shed and at least 50 feet lower. i will eventually finish this pole barn and pour a slab with radiant pex just trying figure out if i can tie into the first system or if it will need its own due to distance and drop.

 

[fatkidracer]

anyone?

 

[stee6043]

1.) Sure you could do in-floor. There are plenty of threads here on how to install such a system. The general consensus is that you need to do it right if you expect it to perform on peak days.

2.) 50 feet elevation change would very likely produce too much pressure if you tried to run a standard pressurized boiler. You'd be running 20+ psi static. You'd quickly run out of headroom on pressure with most boilers maxing out at 30psi. One way you could work around this would be to create an atmospheric vent at or near the same elevation as your house. How tall is your barn?

300 feet is also a pretty good run even on level ground. If I were in your shoes I'd probably lean towards installing the boiler in the house and plumbing it to the barn in the future with properly rated HX's. Or perhaps in a shed immediately off the house.

 

[kennyp2339]

Just like how you house is better insulated due to stricter codes and better insulation, your duct work should also be better, I know now that it is required to have higher insulated duct work, better flow technology (larger to smaller) all seems are taped ext.. what about hooking up a add on wood burning furnace?

 

[Tennman]

For a closed system the pressure difference across the pump is zero for your 50 foot or any elevation change. Think of it as a two sprocket and chain system mounted vertically. The pump only overcomes line losses due to friction and pressure drops over valves, fittings, and stuff like heat exchangers.

I agree with Stee, your complete closed loop system will probably approach 650-700 feet round trip which could result in a big pump meaning, big electricity expense. Ours is ~170 from boiler to HX or 350-370' round trip with a lot of underground pex, a lot of insulation, and a good size pump. Flow velocity, which is determined by the pex diameter for your required gpm, will be a big deal for a run that long to get a properly sized pump. And that doesn't take into account lost heat into the ground which shouldn't be huge, but it will definitely be a percentage of the wood you collect.

BTW, it's the slow time of the year around here. Most are on boiler vacation. My attention is shifting to lawn mowing.

 

[fatkidracer]

thanks for the info. i figured it was slow season around here. i just want to get some ideas in my head because i think i want to do something before it turns cold again. the sooner i get something in the sooner it can start paying me back.