temporary job site heat from boiler?

Royboy · November 2006

(along with plumbing and electricity) on a major remodel (read rebuild) of a small older house
this winter. the place currently has a Weil McLain CGa-series boiler in it.

during construction it's gonna be cold (it already is!) (N Wisconsin). my thought is to rig up heat in a couple rooms (total of maybe 200 sf) which aren't getting too torn up. otherwise the heating system is ripped out. I'm wondering if this will create any serious problems for the boiler. I expect it will certainly short cycle. I had thought I could plumb the old water heater into the loop to give it some more volume to heat and maybe lengthen the cycles. any thoughts on whether that would be worth the trouble or if there are any other things to do to get this to work better.

further into the project, the Weil-McLain boiler will be taken out and replaced with a Munchkin, which is exciting as it will be my first Munchkin install. the owner would like to sell or give-away the boiler, so we don't want to trash it unnecessarily.

thoughts - suggestions?

thanks - roy

Tombig_2 · October 2006

Job site heat

Since your scrapping the boiler anyway I'd go for it. Not much job heat from two rooms though. Don't waste time with the water heater..not worth it. Don't jury rig any gas, flue, or safeties or you might not have a job to come back to some morning.

toearly_2 · November 2006

> (along with plumbing and electricity) on a major

> remodel (read rebuild) of a small older house

> this winter. the place currently has a Weil

> McLain CGa-series boiler in it.

>

> during

> construction it's gonna be cold (it already is!)

> (N Wisconsin). my thought is to rig up heat in a

> couple rooms (total of maybe 200 sf) which aren't

> getting too torn up. otherwise the heating system

> is ripped out. I'm wondering if this will create

> any serious problems for the boiler. I expect it

> will certainly short cycle. I had thought I could

> plumb the old water heater into the loop to give

> it some more volume to heat and maybe lengthen

> the cycles. any thoughts on whether that would be

> worth the trouble or if there are any other

> things to do to get this to work

> better.

>

> further into the project, the

> Weil-McLain boiler will be taken out and replaced

> with a Munchkin, which is exciting as it will be

> my first Munchkin install. the owner would like

> to sell or give-away the boiler, so we don't want

> to trash it unnecessarily.

>

> thoughts -

> suggestions?

>

> thanks - roy

Royboy · November 2006

the heat

from the two rooms will give us a warm lunch room, some warm tools & caulk and a warm place for me to do mechanical work ;-)

and you remind me that one other detail I was not thinking about when I posted is that the boiler used to vent into an exterior block chimney that is no longer there. my thought was to bring a run of 5" vent pipe with a cap up 6' or so where the chimney used to be. I figured that though probably not ideal that would work. any thoughts on that detail??

Boilerpro_5 · November 2006

If you want alot of heat

Get yourself an old radiator and put a box fan in front of it and make sure to get lots of water flow through the rad. I also try to close up the top and sides using a towel so the air flow moves across the most surface area. I used a little 35 EDR rad to heat about 1000 sq ft that way during our renovation.

Boilerpro

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hr · November 2006

If you have a safe boiler installation

We would hook some Modine hydronic heaters to the boiler with 1" Watts Radiant Onix. They could be moved from room to room easily.

If the boiler is no longer vented and workable, just but some portable space heaters. Electric or LP are common here. Graingers has a good selection.

hot rod

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Ragu_5 · November 2006

One Idea...

A guy I used to work for had a couple of old radiators that came from big dump trucks. He used 1 1/2" rubber radiator hose with quick disconnect fittings. Made a plenum out of large cardboard boxes and ran cheap window fans through them. Worked great.

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Tombig_5 · November 2006

Awesome

I had the same truck radiator idea with a box fan but was reluctant to post. We are a maniacal bunch. Thanks for the affirmation.

Ed Lentz_2 · November 2006

OK since someone else fessed up I will to. I got a radiator of an old car and put a box fan on it, with a spare zone controller, pump and zone piping I had heat. Just make sure you use REAL radiator rubber hoses. I didn't and was to close when it failed under pressure. Once I got healed and the right rubber connections it works great to heat my shop.

Ragu_5 · November 2006

As With Any Experiment....

Sometimes, things don't go as planned. I guess the main thing is to keep raising the bar, and always have a first aid kit on hand. Don't I hate getting burned!!!!!

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Ed Lentz_2 · November 2006

Unfortunately an ER was needed, it was certainly a learning experience. One of my favorite shows is Mythbusters. Nuff said?

[Deleted User] · November 2006

Words of CAUTION....

In the process of construction, sheet rock dust is generated. As anyone who has worked in the home construciton field knows, sheetrock dust propogates. Personally, I've never seen it fornicate, but I am CERTAIN that it propogates, because I've seen it EVERYWHERE. Hence, the problem. If it gets to wherever their boiler is located, and gets ingested into the process of combustion, it WILL carbon up the boiler and make it a Carbon Monoxide generator.

If you MUST run the boiler, wrap it in cheap throw away fiberglass filters to avoid inducting gypsum in suspension which does not burn, and avoid generating carbon monoxide and causing a mass of employees to go home early thinking they have the flu. Been there, seen that.

This recommendation goes for ANY boiler or gas or oil fired appliance used in the process of construction. I know how the GC's are, "If we can use the owners fuel to pay for temporary heat, I make more money!!" They're always looking for loose change at the end of a project. Don't let it become deadly...

ME

Constantin · November 2006

If you go the space heater route...

... post someone to take care of the place at night. At least around here it's apparently required by insurance agencies to maintain coverage. Too many homes under construction have burned on account of space heaters.

For example, space heaters were allegedly responsible for the Land house on Brattle street to go up in flames last year. Think 13,000 ft², 1920's construction with all the bells and whistles money could buy back then (Mr. Kodak was a rich fellow). Irreplaceable. Now they're driving piles into the ground... should be interesting to see what they replace the home with.

So, I'd avoid space heaters even if they work most of the time and as Mark points out, whatever combustion air source there is, make it as clean as possible. Ideally, put the boiler in a small room that you can close and give it an outdoor air supply. Anyone use a small boiler in a shed on a trailer? Run some insulated hose, use a Kero or propane tank, keep the combustibles outside the house?

temporary job site heat from boiler?

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