polaris water heater

kpc_44

put the zip in FAP.

oil-2-4-6-gas

my aunt lives in Virginia shes been building a house --had the floor poured with radiant tubing -she had someone lay it all out and tested, they had spec'd a Polaris water heater heat-loss on the structure log cabin w/minimal insulation 100,000 btu --the heater was a couple of grand -- well shes running out of money, freezing and looking for me to help-trying to figure out what kind/brand of boiler/water heater she can use -is there anyone in the south-cental VIrginia area of North-central North Carolina who knows radiant --or anyone who can give some advice/guidance --(i don't know how to spec ,set-up a radiant system --she will need a heat source ,manifold ,and pumps

Mark Custis

oil246gas, can we help

We are headed to DC to spend time with the grad student. DC is in VA. right?

We do rescue radiant in Northern Ohio so we will provide more heat than needed. I love making stuff work that I would have used 6" o/c on at 18" o/c.

Have tools, knowedge, will travel.

pics and referances on request.

Yes a Polaris could work.

oil-2-4-6-gas

Nathalie Virginia,--- the tubing was already laid out i think 12 0n center tubing was attached to rebar the slab was poured with the required insulation and layered & vapor barrier ,,,my aunt researched a lot about radiant layout before the slab was poured ( she was an engineer at IBM years ago working on their systems,an Hvac estimator for commercial systems, went to taxidermy school,used to run summer programs for urban kids --for the Sharpe Reservation-,built an A-frame house in the woods -she knows enough to get her into trouble) but now i need to try and figured out the piping,manifolds,control layout, wiring,what pumps,and what unit to warm it all-up and hopefully be efficient and cheap up front ---unfortunately she's running low on money --there's no work we she lives for more than $5.00/hr and what ever money she had from the sale of her house in New York has dwindled very rapidly with the house project ----right now she lives in a 10'x20' shed with a woodburning stove, no indoor plumbing and no running water -----shes definetly roughing it

oil-2-4-6-gas

kpc yeah the area she lives in is part of the "TRUE SOUTH" there are no pro's in the area in the FAP /////// MARK CUSTUS shes in the extreme southern county of Virginia in the middle of the state Halifax county -- near South Boston,Halifax,Danville that would be roughly 3 hours southwest of DC

Mark Custis

Oil

Heat is heat. I'll be on a road trip anyway. Two circs a manifold and away we go.

Does she have fuel?

PS We the wife and I are the company. Google Lake Erie Indoor Air Services.

Try Servicemagic, too.

oil-2-4-6-gas

shes going to use propane

Mark Custis

radiant rescue

Oil I can at least give you a hand with the design.

tim smith

Re: your Aunt's heating, what is her budget. I was trying

to figure out if you were saying that 2000 was too much! Just thinking about cheaper options if that's the case. Not easy although. Tim

scott markle_2

I had a polaris in radiant service on a 800sq.ft slab for years. It was very fuel efficient but had some rough start issues, no big deal but a bit noisy especially on start up. Biggest issue was lack of reset control. The unit is designed to supply a set point dhw temperature and it has a fairly narrow and non adjustable differential (the temp difference between start and stop). On my small slab short cycle was chronic. Learned some interesting things about supply temperatures and radiant control from that heater.

Since water heaters are designed to run closer to radiant temperatures and are not fussy about purging or flow rates they do make some sense as a radiant heat-source for the DIY installer.

Have a look a Heat Transfer Products. They make a unit similar to the polaris called the phenix I think it may be better in regards to short cycle it has two sensors and logic that is supposed to limit cycling.
http://www.htproducts.com/phoenix.html

Pair the tank water heater with a heat exchanger like this:



And you can use the unit for DHW and heating. Plus this X-block has the capacity to give you full outdoor reset control. If well calibrated this device will supply water that is just the right temperature to heat the house. The thermostat becomes more of a high limit or kill switch than a conventional on/off feedback device. This results in near constant circulation. For slabs constant circulation is ideal because it helps counter the thermal inertia that can be problematic for a high mass emitter.

This hardware doesn't come cheap but would be well suited to a DIY radiant job.

More on the Taco X-block;
http://www.taco-hvac.com/uploads/FileLibrary/102-202_XPB_Inst._Sheet.pdf