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newbie know-nothing wants to make his floors warm with a detached wood burning stove
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hatlandous
Member Posts: 1
hello everyone!
this is my first post here in a earnest attempt to learn about and deploy my own in floor radiant hydronic heating system. i would very much appreciate any and all input as well as any suggestions or links to resources with even more information. i do not know much about these systems (in fact, very little), but am very confident in my ability to learn and execute, once well-informed.
so what am i trying to do? ok. i’ve got a large, home-made wood burner in the shop/garage next to (not attached) my house. this thing is built like a brick and has literally taken everything we’ve ever thrown at it. we use it to heat the shop, so it’s always going and i think it would be nice to take some of this heat and pump it into the floors of my house. in my house, i’ve got three loops (with intentions of adding a fourth, once the master bedroom is done) that i’ve run whilst remodeling the floors. it’s a single story, no basement ranch and the loops run in the concrete floor. each loop is roughly 200 to 300 ft of oxygen barrier pex. so i’ve got a stove in a separate building and tubing in my floors.
now here’s the questions:
what’s the best way to capture the heat from the stove? my first thought was just wrapping it in 1/2 copper tubing? would it be better for a copper loop to live inside the stove? or is there another way i’m unaware of?
generally, what else do i need? i’m sure i’ll need a tank or reservoir next to the stove to hold the hot water and help with temperature flucuations. a pump to send the water from the stove to the house. manifolds for the loops. a pump inside the house to pump through the loops. a thermostat to call the pump(s?). expansion tank? heat exchanger? mixing valves?
as i’m sure is obvious, i’m quite green to the whole process. again, i would be ecstatic to get some feedback as to if this is possible and to be set in the direction of any links, guides, examples of people attempting similar setups. even some basic guides/books of understanding a system like this would be helpful (forum searches on multiple sites yield very specific questions with similarly specific answers).
cheers and thanks,
seth
this is my first post here in a earnest attempt to learn about and deploy my own in floor radiant hydronic heating system. i would very much appreciate any and all input as well as any suggestions or links to resources with even more information. i do not know much about these systems (in fact, very little), but am very confident in my ability to learn and execute, once well-informed.
so what am i trying to do? ok. i’ve got a large, home-made wood burner in the shop/garage next to (not attached) my house. this thing is built like a brick and has literally taken everything we’ve ever thrown at it. we use it to heat the shop, so it’s always going and i think it would be nice to take some of this heat and pump it into the floors of my house. in my house, i’ve got three loops (with intentions of adding a fourth, once the master bedroom is done) that i’ve run whilst remodeling the floors. it’s a single story, no basement ranch and the loops run in the concrete floor. each loop is roughly 200 to 300 ft of oxygen barrier pex. so i’ve got a stove in a separate building and tubing in my floors.
now here’s the questions:
what’s the best way to capture the heat from the stove? my first thought was just wrapping it in 1/2 copper tubing? would it be better for a copper loop to live inside the stove? or is there another way i’m unaware of?
generally, what else do i need? i’m sure i’ll need a tank or reservoir next to the stove to hold the hot water and help with temperature flucuations. a pump to send the water from the stove to the house. manifolds for the loops. a pump inside the house to pump through the loops. a thermostat to call the pump(s?). expansion tank? heat exchanger? mixing valves?
as i’m sure is obvious, i’m quite green to the whole process. again, i would be ecstatic to get some feedback as to if this is possible and to be set in the direction of any links, guides, examples of people attempting similar setups. even some basic guides/books of understanding a system like this would be helpful (forum searches on multiple sites yield very specific questions with similarly specific answers).
cheers and thanks,
seth
0
Comments
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IDK of a safe, reliable, and reasonable method to transfer heat from the stove to a hydronic system. Someone else might.
Three of the biggest issues are:
1. Causing flue gas condensation
2. Safely regulating the water temp
3. Having a control/safety scheme that would prevent the water from over-heating and over-pressurizing which would make it a potential bomb that could destroy you and your house.
The problem when someone seeks to make something experimental, is that they seldom realize all the risks and ramifications of what’s involved. They tend to only see the potential positive benefits.Bob Boan
You can choose to do what you want, but you cannot choose the consequences.
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GOOD LORD, NO AND I MEAN NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It will not work, nor will it be safe to use as the wrapped pipe will blow and the water will go to steam.
Are you in the United States? If your going to do anything purchase an ASHLEY BCAC console coal heater to heat your home with a through the wall chimney thimble and stove pipe.
You can purchase the BCAC wood and coal heater from Tractor Supply or Northern Tool.
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I'm not quite as pessimistic as the folks just above, but... you've got a long way to go. As you have already figured, I think, your big problem is going to be extracting the heat from the stove -- and that's a big deal. There are, however, wood burning boilers which are engineered to do just that. While I admire your enthusiasm for adding this on to your fire eater, designing and engineering and installing a heat exchanger which will work, and avoid some of the potential problems, is no mean feat.
The rest of the project is pretty straightforward, once you have a more or less controllable boiler. You would need a large buffer tank, which might also serve as your dump zone (you have to have one). Two pumps -- one for circulation in the floor, and one for circulation from the buffer to the boiler. A mixing valve to get the proper floor water temperature from the buffer tank, since the floor wants constant circulation at a relatively low temperature, and the buffer tank temperature will be widely variable.
I'd much rather see you buy an appropriately sized commercially produced wood burning boiler...Br. Jamie, osb
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
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Tell me more about this wood burner. Can it be done, yes and rather easily. Would take a storage tank to park the btu/hr. A boiler, solar, geo or any other form of a heat source's job is just that. It's job is to make energy and to make it safely. What one does with that energy is another question."The bitter taste of a poor installation remains much longer than the sweet taste of the lowest price."0
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I think that that's the first time I've seen someone describe a do-it-yourself combustion to hot water heat exchanger for upwards of 100,000 BTUh described as "rather easy".Br. Jamie, osb
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England1 -
Easy and safe are two distinctly different animals.Bob Boan
You can choose to do what you want, but you cannot choose the consequences.1 -
Never said it was easy for a DIY. The question posed was can it be done. Yes it can and easily.Jamie Hall said:I think that that's the first time I've seen someone describe a do-it-yourself combustion to hot water heat exchanger for upwards of 100,000 BTUh described as "rather easy".
"The bitter taste of a poor installation remains much longer than the sweet taste of the lowest price."0 -
If it's so easy, how do the folks how make their living designing boilers justify their existence? Please...CMadatMe said:
Never said it was easy for a DIY. The question posed was can it be done. Yes it can and easily.Jamie Hall said:I think that that's the first time I've seen someone describe a do-it-yourself combustion to hot water heat exchanger for upwards of 100,000 BTUh described as "rather easy".
Br. Jamie, osb
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
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@hatlandous I have been looking around the forum to see if anyone else has tried to build a system like mine and came across your post. I know your post is a year old but I believe this will have the information you were originally looking for.
https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/170960/homemade-wood-stove-hydronic-radiant-heat-setup#latest0 -
Everything you would want to know is here: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiR2-z-v4v7AhXfl4kEHdm-AfUQFnoECCoQAQ&url=https://www.caleffi.com/sites/default/files/coll_attach_file/idronics_10_0.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0wcu5MaD4n7jTw99PNCAjM
And NO, soldering a bunch of copper pipe and fittings together to create a coil, and attaching that to your WB stove WILL NOT BE WORTH THE EFFORT. And if for some reason you lose the water, all the fittings desolder themselves. Ask me how I know....0
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