Forced air or floor heat

[baldwin074]

I am looking to add heat to a 2 year old 32' x 64' pole building w/ 14' side walls that is well insulated (previous owner built the building, so I can't quote R values). It is plumbed for in floor heat, but it was never completed. I'm debating if I want to finish the in floor heat or add a hanging natural gas heater. For infrequent use am I better off putting in a hanging 200k Btu heater or finishing the in floor heat?

BTW, I'm in Iowa so sub zero temps are not uncommon and -15 happens about once / winter.

 

[u2slow]

Infrequent use? Natural gas forced-air or radiant strips.

In floor heat is best for keeping the same temperature all the time. You won't be able to affect a temperature change quickly.

 

[PoorUB]

I agree, floor heat is great if you want to heat it all the time, but a poor choice for random usage. Keep in mind with floor heat if you shut down the heat it might take a week to get the slab heated up enough to heat the building. With a forced air heater it will take a few hours.

My preference would be floor heat, set low, maybe 45F air temp and an auxiliary heater to bump the temps to what ever temp you like while out there. You could use a floor 'stat set at 60F so the floor is always that temp, the air temp will run 40-50 F depending on the outside temp and boost the air temp with a gas heater.

If you are willing to heat it to air temp of 60-65 degrees all the time floor heat will do fine. Actually floor heat at 65F is quite comfortable. Floor heat at 60F reqires a light jacket wile you are out there, but is still quite comfortable as the floor is warm. Keep your feet warm and the rest of you feels warmer. Cold feet **** the life right out of you!

 

[Munch Heat]

I am looking to add heat to a 2 year old 32' x 64' pole building w/ 14' side walls that is well insulated (previous owner built the building, so I can't quote R values). It is plumbed for in floor heat, but it was never completed. I'm debating if I want to finish the in floor heat or add a hanging natural gas heater. For infrequent use am I better off putting in a hanging 200k Btu heater or finishing the in floor heat?

BTW, I'm in Iowa so sub zero temps are not uncommon and -15 happens about once / winter.

That's a large space to heat with air handlers.
You do not need heat above your head, even if you aren't there all the time, that's why in floor heat is so nice, it only heats what's touching it and being on it just feels comfortable.
hanging a 200K gas heater blowing in one direction, is quick gratification, but the drawback are "hot and cold spots", and it comes with a hefty price and a monthly and must be done right. Why not pay a water heater and a pump to store energy in the floor?

I have been working on "in floor" heating systems in Telluride Colorado since 1979, and I can say that having radiant floors will add the most value. Hot water heating can be a bit tricky, but if you keep it simple it is very user friendly.
You won't go wrong pumping hot water into your slab.
One heater, one circulator, one timer is basically all you need but you have to be patient because the slab will take a long time to get to 75 degrees or so, and you can figure the cost, but the advantage of a warm floor is that, if it takes say 72 hours to get 75 degrees heat into the slab, it will take exactly 72 hours for it to dissipate, which works pretty well in a blizzard with no power. If you use a thermostat control, find your setting and do not change it.

Now, here is a new air heated system out of Sweden called Legalett, which uses 4' tubes to circulate warm air through, and an 8" pour.
The slab doesn't know what heats it, water or air. Heating some water and circulating it or heating air and circulating it is far more efficient than anything else, and 100% simple, and user friendly.


http://www.legalett.ca/frost-protec...slab-on-grade-air-heated-radiant-systems.html

Using this Legalett system, once the concrete is dry it can be heated, and then a house built around it, and in the dead of winter it's nice to have a warm floor all during construction.
I've done some hot water jobs where the contractor let us build our mechanical room first, right after they had stripped the forms off the concrete. We got the slab warm before any wood went up, and it was snow melted all winter.
Because we had a toilet and electric power for the crews, and warm floors, we saved so much time in slogging to the power pole every time a breaker tripped, or messing with visqueen tents and salamanders, plus NO shoveling because the floor was dry.
Plumbing is a great trade.
We protect the health of the nation and with warm comfortable floors.
I hope this long winded helps, but you are 95% home just by having the tubes in your slab right along with the rebar. All floors should be poured this way.
good luck.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Radiant floor heating is the MOST COMFORTABLE form of heating !! Biggest problem is slow recovery, especially when it has been turned completely off. Flip side, even though it is not recmmended, many people use a water heater as the heat source.

A cold floor will always make you feel cold. You could use a torpedo to get the temp up quicker.

First, pressure test the system. If it leaks, you know the answer.

 

[Bert_]

I have a overhead tube heater at work. Keep the thermostat at 50* in the shop. I find that comfortable 90% of the time.

Never been a fan of forced air in a shop, always seem to have to set the thermostat much warmer to get the same comfort. Really like the tube heaters.

I've been in a couple shops with floor heat. It seemed nice but not really much better than the overhead tube heaters.

 

[finn]

Posted this multiple times, but I added a hanging propane heater to my shop. The building has in floor heat, set to about 45 and monitored with a Nest thermostat. I bump the temp to around 60-65 when I am working.

The building is expensive to heat. All the talk about radiant being cheap is BS. The savings with radiant come through good insulation of the slab, including the circumference, walls, and ceiling, as well as good door seals and efficient windows.

If the building is used every day, one can keep the temperature a little lower and still be comfortable, but, on the other hand, setback thermostats are ineffective because of the slow response time.

Adding pex to the floor is expensive both in material and labor, and the boiler itself is expensive, unless perhaps you go the cheap route with a water heater which will likely have a short lifespan.

It is comfortable heat, though.

For an infrequently or sporadically used building, it’s not a good way to go.

 

[kj_mustang]

I have my floor heat set to 58-59 F all the time. I work in only a long sleeve flannel shirt or coveralls most of the time and I am comfortable. Well insulated building so my heat runs very little.