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The secret to heating old churches

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HeatingHelp
HeatingHelp Administrator Posts: 637
edited April 2018 in THE MAIN WALL

Read the full story here

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  • Jackmartin
    Jackmartin Member Posts: 196
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    Excellent advise if it aint broke do not reinvent the wheel it will only wind up rolling over you. All the best Jack
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,286
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    The great cathedral of Durham, England (well worth a visit, if you are ever in those parts) has hot air heated floors which were installed by the monks when it was built -- starting around 1093 or so. Which really works and is really needed, the climate in Durham being English Lamentable at its worst...
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • Henry
    Henry Member Posts: 998
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    The other secret is NOT to use thermostat setback. Once the mass is heated, you only heat your heat loss. In some large churches they have to start to reheat 6 hours before mass with the boiler or boilers running non stop.
  • ratio
    ratio Member Posts: 3,626
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    Ha! It takes a week to bring the floor up to temp at my church, and another week for it to cool down. <–Ask me how I know that.
  • jumper
    jumper Member Posts: 2,248
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    What about people heat? Early on people don't like to come into a freezing hall. But then when it's full cooling can be the problem.
  • ratio
    ratio Member Posts: 3,626
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    We economize with the air handlers. They're capable of 100% outside air. Originally, it was discharge air control via Series 90 controlled diverting valve on the water coil & a manual pot on the outside air damper (no A/C!), but over the years air conditioning was added & a diverting valve was replaced with straight pipe. :anguished:

    I'm still working on it, but kneeling during Mass is a joy.

  • HotanCool
    HotanCool Member Posts: 55
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    Good Read. Thanks!
  • TAG
    TAG Member Posts: 755
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    My first wacky project was converting an old firehouse in Philadelphia. It had been used for storage ..no heat. This was back in the early 90's ... 35 foot ceilings. I found an old guy who worked on the main line who told me to do radiant. Dan's book came out about the time I was ready for heat ... radiant and panel heaters went in. You don't have to live in a large space very long to understand you want low constant heat .... most my bids had 200k boilers. One was 250K ... the old guy helped me and we did a 115k Buderus.

    I'm currently converting a church into my home .... the upper level is mostly 228' with one part 38' .

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