infloor heating question for the Plumbers on S&M

[GYMBRAT]

FINALLY getting my infloor heat flanged up! I currently have a 40 gal hot water tank and am buying a 50 or 60. Or my question is....should a guy keep the 40 gal and jst add a 10 gal to run the floor heating?

Thanks

 

[Joholio]

Who is your plumber Gymbrat? Is it your house or garage?

My shop has an Allied boiler that cooks a glycol mixture and passes thru a heat exchanger for my domestic hot water.

 

[fnDan]

not a plumber but.... I have a 70 gal tank that supplies both the house and infloor heat. I think it would have been much better to go with a separate tank for the infloor just for the winter. Every now and then we run out of hot water during a shower in the winter. It's usually when my wife is showering and I hear about it right away. I've had a plumber come in and adjust the mixing valve.

 

[GYMBRAT]

Who is your plumber Gymbrat? Is it your house or garage?

My shop has an Allied boiler that cooks a glycol mixture and passes thru a heat exchanger for my domestic hot water.

Its going to be for my basement and garage. The Plumber is a buddy. Whats the cost of your boiler?

 

[GYMBRAT]

not a plumber but.... I have a 70 gal tank that supplies both the house and infloor heat. I think it would have been much better to go with a separate tank for the infloor just for the winter. Every now and then we run out of hot water during a shower in the winter. It's usually when my wife is showering and I hear about it right away. I've had a plumber come in and adjust the mixing valve.

Lmao....spit my coffee all over with that!!!

 

[Clode]

I friend of mine is using a on-demand hot water heater, set the temp and forget about it, he uses a glycol product to avoid scale issues that water causes

 

[fredw]

Buddy has the same problem with his set up, two seperate tanks would solve that he said

not a plumber but.... I have a 70 gal tank that supplies both the house and infloor heat. I think it would have been much better to go with a separate tank for the infloor just for the winter. Every now and then we run out of hot water during a shower in the winter. It's usually when my wife is showering and I hear about it right away. I've had a plumber come in and adjust the mixing valve.

 

[Joholio]

Its going to be for my basement and garage. The Plumber is a buddy. Whats the cost of your boiler?

Cant remember how much but its a 75000btu Allied Super Hot boiler.

 

[Joholio]

Its going to be for my basement and garage. The Plumber is a buddy. Whats the cost of your boiler?

Cant remember how much but its a 75000btu Allied Super Hot boiler. mine is the ine buddy has his hand on

 

[mareshow]

I friend of mine is using a on-demand hot water heater, set the temp and forget about it, he uses a glycol product to avoid scale issues that water causes

Dont use on demand for infloor heating, those things are so finicky with our water. If you really want to used a hot water tank to do the job then my recommendation would be a 40-60 gal for you and domestic use and a 40-60 gal High output for the infloor. The problem with using the same tank is that infloor requires a lot lower temp than your domestic (showers, etc) does. You risk cracking concrete doing it with one.

Cant remember how much but its a 75000btu Allied Super Hot boiler. mine is the ine buddy has his hand on

Dont use a super hot, they are probably the worst boiler on the market (I replace a lot of them a year haha) If you want to go the boiler route I would recommend an NTI (made in canada), Viessmann, Lochinvar or Mcknight. If you want the absolute minimum, then an RBI copper tube or a peerless Cast iron sectional would be your best bet (Longer life on the Peerless FYI)

for set up your best bet is to Have a high temp boiler primary loop with a domestic indirect tank piped in secondary off it (using an injection pump), then using a heat exchanger have another secondary loop for your infloor ( a lot easier to monitor the temp for the infloor that way. Again that loop with be with an injection pump as well. Your secondary loop pumps will start when there is a call for heat (thermostat or Temp sensor in domestic tank)

Super simple set up, guaranteed to work and no headaches

Or if you want to do it the HWT way, have your hwt tank for your domestic as you normally would, and for the infloor tank, set the temp really low (again concrete cracking...), Have a pump on the tank that turns on, when there is a call for heat. I would put a time delay on it as well so it doesnt cycle on and off all the time (as well as a temp differential)

hope this helps

I can get you the equipment (good guy deal of course), just let me know what we're dealing with

Oh and i should say, I'm a hydronics specialist as well as a Building environmental system technologist, so not a plumber, sorry

 

[Joholio]

Good info^^

I have had zero issues with mine in 5 years. I'm no pro thats fo sho

 

[mareshow]

Good info^^

I have had zero issues with mine in 5 years. I'm no pro thats fo sho

thanks! and sorry! not trying to bash what you have but yeah i always try to encourage away from them because i dont think they've had a redesign since the 70s, They are a great boiler but there is a lot of newer tech on the market that is a lot more efficient is all

 

[Joholio]

No worries here. I am sure there are better products. I am a fan of dooing things once(and hiring the right people for the job) the right way! Most times its the installation that counts. Cheers!

 

[senorjeem]

I have had the HWT version for the last 12 years and I can tell you that I don't think that it matters which way you decide to go so long as you get quality work and quality equipment. Where I would like to help you, is to tell you to install either a timer based, or a humidistat that will start an exhaust fan. This fan should be set to start when the humidity rises, or, set it so that the fan comes on a few hours after you park in the garage and the snow and ice has had a chance to melt. I was fortunate enough to have installed a central floor drain that runs to a dry well. If you don't have a floor drain I don't know what to tell you.

 

[250mark1]

Pretty sure he only way you can use a hot water tank anymore you have to use it for both domestic and underfloor
cant just use them for undfloor anymore (by code )

 

[GYMBRAT]

I may just add an extra smaller tank for the infloor heat on its own. Also add a separate thermostat of some sort to control it...

 

[JP.]

I may just add an extra smaller tank for the infloor heat on its own. Also add a separate thermostat of some sort to control it...

I have a Navion tankless on demand heater that I just took out of a rental property for sale. It works fine just wasn't what I needed in a up & down rental house, would work perfect for a floor heating sys in garage.



Looks similar to this


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[QMAO]

JP. I may be interested in the heater you have for sale. What are you asking for it?

For the last 15 years I have been using a 40 gal. hot water tank. I have the Gunn Fos pump set up on a thermostat. I have never had a problem except it may not be the most efficient.

 

[JP.]

JP. I may be interested in the heater you have for sale. What are you asking for it?

For the last 15 years I have been using a 40 gal. hot water tank. I have the Gunn Fos pump set up on a thermostat. I have never had a problem except it may not be the most efficient.

I will get a model #, price and size of the Navion this weekend, my plumber still has it. It's most efficient heating up to 1500 sqft

 

[Clode]

I have had the HWT version for the last 12 years and I can tell you that I don't think that it matters which way you decide to go so long as you get quality work and quality equipment. Where I would like to help you, is to tell you to install either a timer based, or a humidistat that will start an exhaust fan. This fan should be set to start when the humidity rises, or, set it so that the fan comes on a few hours after you park in the garage and the snow and ice has had a chance to melt. I was fortunate enough to have installed a central floor drain that runs to a dry well. If you don't have a floor drain I don't know what to tell you.

my dad runs a de-humidifier that takes care of the moisture issue and it works well