remodel help

[GZOG]

Hi I am doing a complete remodel of a 2000 sq foot farmhouse. I would like to run in floor heat I am thinking under the floor in ceiling, first question I have herd a lot of ways, what have people found to work best, and most affordable?
Do I use regular pex or pex with aluminum in it? I am going to use wood to heat the water I do not think I will need a back up boiler because I would have forced air in emergency, and in spring and fall.
I would like to heat the hot water heater; if the wood boiler runs out will I be heating the boiler with an electric water heater?
And the most difficult question what type of boiler do I use? I would like to keep it outside but could put it in my garage I was looking at an outdoor wood boiler but the price is high and I have herd they use more wood. Would I be better off using a boiler in my garage? Should I use a storage tank? Can I use my Cistern ?
Just looking at options I have some time.
You all sound very knowledgeable and might be able to get me pointed in the fight direction.
I am also looking for the do not’s as well as the do’s
Thanks and have a great turkey day!

 

[jklingel]

Gzog: I'm kinda new here, too. It sounds like, though, your best bet is to do a search of each question individually. I have read a ton here on each question you have. I suspect you will be guided toward a gasification boiler w/ a 1000 gallon+ water storage tank; spendy, but efficient ,or maybe just an outdoor non-gasification wood boiler and storage tank. You can get them (HS Tarm, for ex) that have wood w/ oil back up built right in ($12K or so) and I think the monstrous Garn wood gasser has an optional electric back up. Good luck w/ your search; this is the right place, for sure. j

 

[Nofossil]

Hi I am doing a complete remodel of a 2000 sq foot farmhouse. I would like to run in floor heat I am thinking under the floor in ceiling, first question I have herd a lot of ways, what have people found to work best, and most affordable?
Do I use regular pex or pex with aluminum in it? I am going to use wood to heat the water I do not think I will need a back up boiler because I would have forced air in emergency, and in spring and fall.
I would like to heat the hot water heater; if the wood boiler runs out will I be heating the boiler with an electric water heater?
And the most difficult question what type of boiler do I use? I would like to keep it outside but could put it in my garage I was looking at an outdoor wood boiler but the price is high and I have herd they use more wood. Would I be better off using a boiler in my garage? Should I use a storage tank? Can I use my Cistern ?
Just looking at options I have some time.
You all sound very knowledgeable and might be able to get me pointed in the fight direction.
I am also looking for the do not’s as well as the do’s
Thanks and have a great turkey day!

Welcome to the forum. There are many of us asking the same questions, and there's good experience here. There are lots of tradeoffs - cost, wood consumption, outdoor air quality, comfort, convenience, and so on. You'll have to get as much information as you can and decide what works best for you.

Some quick answers, just so other folks can have something to improve on:

1) For heating, you don't need the aluminum pex. It's for high pressure use. You DO need 'barrier' pex, which hax an oxygen barrier to reduce boiler corrosion.
2) You can certainly heat your hot water with a wood boiler. Most folks use a SuperStore or equivalent - it's a tank with a heat exchanger inside it that's set up as a zone on your boiler. In your case (without an oil boiler for backup) you might run that in series with an electric on-demand heater, thoug I have no experience with that configuratuion.
3) Gasification boilers (there's some serious energy on the forum about what constitutes gasification) such as the Tarm and the EKO have efficiencies two to three times higher than most outdoor wood boilers. Much less wood consumption and cleaner air, but more expensive and fussier to operate. Expect to spend some time learning.
4) The consensus is that a storage tank has lots of benefit. Bigger is better, and they have to be really well insulated. Lots of threads here talking about how to build and use them.

I've been through this and put together a web site that describes what I've done and the mistakes I've made along the way. Here's the link.

Good luck and happy Thanksgiving!