After seeing Forestgirls review of her new heating system, I felt that I could add mine. I recently installed radiant floor heat in my new shop which is about 2,000 sq feet. I am heating ~1,200 sq feet of space with 12′ ceilings. I have the other 800 square feet set up with radiant, but have simply shut off the valves to that side of my shop which is considered by cold storage. I installed 2″ foam beneath the slab and placed the 1/2 pex tub about 12″ apart. I purchased the pump and transformer online but did my own plumbing to the boiler. After much debate I decided to go with a 18 KW electric Seisco Mini boiler. The Seisco is a on-demand tankless boiler that runs on two 40 amp double pole breakers. It is also a modulating unit. I went with the electric boiler after doing some number crunching based on the cost of propane (which was my only other option) and the off-peak electrical rate. The Siesco was sold by my local electric company (~$700). It is large enough to handle the entire 2,000 sq feet of shop space if i need it to. I have the boiler on off-peak electric and receive a $0.034/KWH rate as opposed to $0.08KWH which is my standard electric rate.
Now to the performance. I started the system up initially around the 1st of January. Which here in MN is usually quite cold, but the temps were in the mid twenties. I initially set the thermostat to 50 degrees which was about a 25 degree temperature difference. The system was started at noon and I stopped out to the shop the next day about 24 hours later and the building had a air temperature of 50 and the boiler had shut down. I was quite surprised as I thought it would take a few days to warm up the slab and reach 50 degrees. From there I raised the thermostat to 60 degrees which is where it has been at since the initial start up.
The water temperature is set to leave the boiler at 110 degrees enters the floor and returns it returns at about 85 degrees. When the temp drops below 60 the system starts up and runs between 15-20 minutes and shuts down. The temperature usually climbs to about 63-64 and holds to tempurature above 60 for between 4-5 hours before starting up again.
I am quite pleased with the system and the comfort level at 60 is great as my legs are always warm and the temperature is completely even throughout the shop. I have the shop insulated to R-19 in the walls and about R45 in the ceiling. I just reached the first months worth of operating the system and monthly costs are at $65 for electricity. Below are a few photos of the system. Hopefully this helps someone else making heating decisions for there shop. Obviously I would strongly recommend radiant. It is a fairly easy DIY project and the cost savings are considerable.
Aaron
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Awesome info Aaron! That is what I wanted to hear. You a helping to reassure me that radiant infloor is the right choice. As soon as my building site dries out enough in spring I'm breaking ground. My plan is to go with radiant infloor in 3 zones, joinery/assembly area, finish room, and a marginally heated woodstorage area. Right now I am looking at a pellet/corn fired boiler to heat the shop. I'll have about 2,400 sq ft on the first floor, half with a 10' ceiling and a 10' high room above. Initially the upstairs will be for storage while building our house, but later I plan to have an office up there as well as a workout area for my budding young atheletes (and my bulging waistline). The other half will be open full height in the assembly area with dormers to provide additional light. I am going to have a little more area to heat than you and I'm hoping the pellet boiler system will be a very efficient and automatic way to heat it.
Good Luck Brian,
How does the pellet stove work with a radiant system? Kind of like a outdoor wood boiler?
You certainly won't regreat radiant. My old shop was one that i would heat up only when i worked out there. I used a hanging gas heater fired by NG. The concrete slab was always cold and even if the air temp was 65 or higher the cold slab always bothered my legs and back and I am still quite young. The only problem know is that when working on the slab my feet sometimes get too warm.
Guys, here is one of the units that I am looking at.http://www.woodboilers.com/mh_multiheat.aspIt is both a pellet and corn burner. It's not the greatest website to find your way around, but there is lots of good info. There are a couple of units that I have at home, but don't have the websites handy here on my laptop. I am trying to avoid the rising cost of propane like Aaron, and corn is very plentiful and cheap here and pellets aren't that bad either. I am delaying building my new house on the same 12 acre piece of land as my shop until the summer of '07 because of other commitments, so I am looking into several alternative heat methods. Right now I am planning on some combination of a pellet boiler and a seperate glassfront woodburner in the family room. That allows me to continue burning wood in the same kind of unit I have right now that heats my 2000 sq ft house and my current 500 sq ft attached shop. My wife loves the look and efficency (we haven't even light the pilot on our gas furnace yet this winter in WI) of the woodburner and I burn my shop scrap along with logs. We also like the idea of the pellet on a thermostat to pick up the slack as the house will be larger and be the main heat source should we leave for a couple of days. I have though about geothermal but wasn't sure if it was efficient enough for th WI winters. I'd love to know your plan Aaron as I am sure our winters are pretty much the same. Brian
Be sure to let us know how the pellet stove works. I also have built a "barn" work shop. It is forty by forty two and has a basement, main floor and mow. Have yet to insulate and drywall. Am taking my time as finances and time allow. The tubing is in the floor and I was planning on an outside wood boiler. The pellet stove may be a possibility as I am getting too old to cut all that wood. Another possibility is used engine oil. It is usually free and some places actually pay you to take it off their hands. I don't know if anyone makes a unit that heats water from an outside unit though. All these units have a pretty hefty initial price tag. I just put geothermal in my house and that is the most expensive of all! Some day, if and when, I learn how to post pictures I would like to post pictures and explain the whole building. I will also have a bunch of questions to ask all these experienced folks.
Tinkerer2,
How do you like your geothermal. I am doing the same for our home. We are going to use a GeoComfort system with 4 vertical 180' wells. Tell me a little about yours? The claims are for our 4,500 sq ft home in Minnesota the yearly heating and cooling will be under $600. Does that sound about right again our system will be at a off-peak rate of $.034kwh. Our system is about a 12K up charge from a similar propane fired system.
Aaron
It sounds like a very nice setup - especially for that energy rate! Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH) charges us $0.153/ kWH. Our builder recommended radiant heat in our basement (where the shop is) and connected the circuit up to the system. (oil-fired Buderus boiler).
I too am quite pleased with the heat. An addt'l note: Our builder also placed a poly vapor barrier below the insulation to reduce any groundwater from permeating thru the insulation and concrete slab.
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