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Adding a shed to current Zone Circulator Question

miikeyd
miikeyd Member Posts: 5
I am considering adding my shed to my current second floor heat Zone in my home. I have only two rooms upstairs. My circulator pump runs the first floor and the second floor zone. Of course the circulator makes the trip upstairs and back down. What I am considering doing is going from my second floor zone to the top of my shed and down to a baseboard heat and old fashioned radiator and back up to the second floor. My question is should or could the circulator be able to complete this new Loop. Should I just try it and see or is there a way to determine if this will work without a second circulator pump. Thank you for your time and assistance great site.

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,160
    You need to figure out what the new head loss will be and what flow rate your existing pump will produce for that loss -- and then whether that flow rate will be adequate.

    There are two ways to pipe this: either the shed and second floor zone in parallel, which will increase the flow rate for a given head, or in series, which increase the head for a given flow rate. The former will present some significant balancing problems; that latter may not provide enough heat for either the shed or the second floor, depending on which comes first, as well as likely being unbalanced.

    But without the head calculations you can't determine where on the existing pump's head/flow curve you will be, and therefore whether or not it will be appropriate.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    miikeyd
  • Paul48
    Paul48 Member Posts: 4,469
    What's the heat loss for the shed? What's the total load? What size is the boiler?
    miikeyd
  • Zman
    Zman Member Posts: 7,561
    Is the shed attached to the building? It sounds like you are thinking of running a heating pipe overhead outdoors?
    BTW, the up and down has nothing to do with the circulator size.
    Could you post a sketch?
    "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"
    Albert Einstein
    miikeyd
  • miikeyd
    miikeyd Member Posts: 5
    Ty i will try to answer photo too asap!
  • miikeyd
    miikeyd Member Posts: 5
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,160
    Um... if that were my situation, I'd put a nice little vented propane wall mounted hot air unit in the shed...
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    Brewbeermiikeyd
  • Zman
    Zman Member Posts: 7,561

    Um... if that were my situation, I'd put a nice little vented propane wall mounted hot air unit in the shed...

    I agree with Jamie. by the time you add zone, figure out how to run the pipe without freezing it which will involve insulation and/or glycol, you could just put in a separate heater and be done with it. The Gas line can just be buried back to your tank.
    "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"
    Albert Einstein
    miikeyd
  • miikeyd
    miikeyd Member Posts: 5
    Ty
  • miikeyd
    miikeyd Member Posts: 5
    I actually own one of those!