New Hot Water Heat System on a slab?

Brian Penney

I have a house that is on a slab. There is no basement. I currently have electric heat and I would like to convert to hot water heat. I have several question and would appreciate any input you could give.

1. Is it possible to run the plumbing necessary for this type of heating system without any basement or crawl space?

2. I am also have limited amount of space for a boiler. Could the boiler be installed just outside of the house in an enclosure constructed to house it, and pipe in through the wall?

3. What type fuel would be best for this? I would have to have a storage tank for either oil or gas.

4 The house is currently about 1200 square feet with two floors and I plan for an addition on the upstairs level. What considerations should be made for the future addition.

DIY Homeowner

1. Yes. It will involve some drywall repair, tho.
2. You want the boiler inside (greater efficiency). They make some mighty small boilers these days.
3. Fuel type depends on what you want, what you are comfortable with, and how expensive each kind is in your area. Additional thoughts on this are, you don't have room inside for an oil tank, and outside isn't the best place for it, and the smallest boilers made are gas-fired, and can hang on a wall inside a small closet.
4. When you do the heat loss calculation for the new boiler, size it based on what the heatloss on the finished building will be, not on what you have now.