Radiators hooked up to outdoor boiler

mallgeyer

I am hooking up some wall radiators to my shop and would like some help and or suggestions. I have attached some photos of the wall units. You can see where it was cut to remove. Should I use the same holes for input and output? How should I mount the units, input and output on top? Should I use a spacer against the wall? Would I need a radiator spud tool to take existing parts off? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.

Ironman

I hope that you're not planning to hook them directly to the wood boiler.

hot_rod

is the outdoor boiler an open, un-pressurized type? If so you will need to use and add a corrosion inhibitor from time to time.

Are the radiators on the same level as the boiler/

ideally feed lower side, return from the opposite top so you get flow across the entire assembly.

mallgeyer

Yes, I was planning on hooking up directly to my wood boiler. My idea was to keep my shop above freezing. I heat my boiler to 185 so didn't know how much heat I would get.

The radiators will be the same level as the boiler unit and the unit is an open, unpressurized unit. The boiler will have 2 pumps, one that feeds my forced air system to my house and the other pump will feed the radiators.

That was the plan anyway and was hoping to get some good advice on what could work or if this is just a very bad idea? But would like to know why if it is as I see that there are a lot of people hooking radiators up to water. Thanks again for all your help.

Mark

hot_rod

Sure it will work. All sorts of heat emitters have been connected to hot water hydronics. As long as the iron gets hot it will transfer heat.

I have used cast iron radiator with just bottom connections and they heat up from top to bottom over time. If you can pipe crossflow the iron mass will warm faster and more consistently.

In a system open to atmosphere like that, corrosion will be ongoing. So either install a heat exchanger at the boiler or add O2 scavengers like sodium sulfite from time to time.

Some good info and piping options regarding open systems in this issue.

http://www.caleffi.com/sites/default/files/coll_attach_file/idronics_10_0.pdf

Ironman

You'll save yourself a lot of long term head aches if you put a heat exchanger between the house and the ODWB. There's a reason that we pressurize hdronic systems in houses. Under certain conditions, it can be bypassed, but all of the right conditions must be met. Like HR said, even then, proper treatment is required yearly. I have an ODWB at my house and I sell and install them so i also see all the long term issues that arise when corners are cut. If would always recommend pressurization when connecting ferrous emitters (cast iron rads) to a system.

The idronics issue that HR gave you a link to is well worth the read. Lots of great info.