radiant options

Unknown

I have a customer that has forced air in main part of the house and a small addition off the back of the house with staple up radiant heat. The system was installed about 4 years ago with a hwh as a heat source and now has failed. They are open to other heat source solutions, the system requires only about 8,500 btu's.

What are some solutions for radiant systems under 10K heat source requirements? any sugestions are appeciated.

Thanks Don

bigugh_4

Burn 60 X's 8500 matches per hour and thatr should do it

How's that for an educated donkey answer? 1 kit match is about 1 BTU.
There are in line water heater electric elements, and water heaters, and any number of heat sources for that situation. Fuel heat sorces will need a condensing unit to keep from terminating their selves or you need a fuel heat source tempered to in floor temperture by mixing valve to prevent early compromise of itself. You might look at www.slantfin.com for some ideas.

Joe Brix

I dont even think a wall hung

tankless gas hot water heater will run that low. Checkout a takagi T-K jr. can be used for heating but min heat is 20K BTU's. How about replacing gas hot water heater with a AOSmith or Bradford WHite with a bult-in HX coil.

hr

That's a small load, alright.

and at design day to boot. how oiften are you at or below design in your area?

How do your fuel costs compare. If electric is reasonable, you might try a small modulating electric boiler. i have used the Thermolec brand.

Or the smallest condensing boiler with a buffer tank. possibly a T-50 Munchkin with a 40 gallon buffer tank??

hot rod

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Glen

Or -

install a wall hung boiler of your choice to handle all the heating of the home - by switching out the furnace for a hydro air unit. And then add in the indirect. Might be a bit of a sale - but savings can be proven up front. And long term reliabilty is assured. Never assume what your client can or can not afford!

Unknown

I would guess the HWH is a dedicated heat source that is not also doing Domestic?

There isn't really any reason to use anything more intense than a HWH for that kind of load unless they are expanding the system. You'll waste their money on anything higher end there.

Sounds like you might have some kind of water quality issue though if it failed that fast. Or it was a real cheap HWH.

Unknown

I've heard an awful lot about premature failure with those built-in HX coil HWH's. We generally stick to external brazed plate exchanger. At least then if either one goes you don't have to replace both.

Unknown

Thanks guys for your sugesttions.
The job in Princeton, NJ so are average winters are not that bad and the domestic hot water is a 40 gallon Rheem

I have conciderd the following

The area is where the current HWH is located is small and I would have to rip ut the furnace to install anything largerand the cost of a Bradford White Comicore is almost cost the same as a boiler.

I could put in a Munchkin w/ hyroair & an indirect HWH but I dont think it is worth the investment in this house only about 1200 Sq ft .

Her son is a licenced electrican and I am going to suggest the electic boiler.

Any futher info would be apprecated

Thanks Don

hr

I believe AO Smith

Flat Plate, Danfoss and a few others offer prebuilt HW HX packages. I remember seeing an AO Smith external plate HX water heater at the ISH Boston show. I'm not sure the $$, but I would much, much rather have that HX external. Especially after my BW CombiCor experiences. I mean nightmares

hot rod

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Bob Sweet

Thats pretty slick

any idea the Maximum load the water heater can handle?

hr

Or a Solar Wand

this clever HX drops into the 3/4" top connection of the water heater. It's actually a double walled small HX, intended to heat a DHW tank from a solar panel.

I have a fairly large, radiant bathroom floor powered by one of these in a customers home.

I modified the connections a bit, for better flow. I sent the ideas to the inventor and he sent me a free wand for thanks.

I suspect they work a tad bit better if the water heater has a recirc pump. This way you have two "pumped" flows to increase heat transfer. I'll bet it can transfer 8-10K worth.

http://www.butlersunsolutions.com/

hot rod

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Unknown

radiant options

Thanks Guys for your input

The house is only about 1400 sq ft with the radiant (staple up) added to a small addition to help supplement what where the hot air system fell short. The domestic HWH and the furnace are 2 years old so it is not worth tearing them out, but not out of the question.

I would like some more comments on electric modulating boilers, like brands and do they work with out door sensors also are they more expensive to run with such a small load, compaired to natural gas.

Thanks Don