in floor heat

[kenduhr]

Hi I was thinking about in floor heat in my new post frame shop I live in northern wi it gets cold in winter.Shop will be 30x56 well insulated some say you should insulate under the slab and some say only on the sides just dont know if its woth it to do with all the cost of the insulation board and pex tubing made for under slab use isnt that cheap woundering if anyone had a shop around this size if it would be worth it or not and how mutch would it cost to do just matterials only? Or what would be best to heat a shop like this size with? thanks

 

[koditten]

Well, you came to the right place.

The tubing in the floor is cheap. The 2" foam board is a bit more expensive. The boiler/controls are the most expensive part.

A few questions you need to ask yourself. Are you going to be in the shop more than 4 days a week? Then yes. Less than that it depends on how much you like heating unused space.

Can you do plumbing? Yes. You will save a boat load of money.

Can you partition the building so that you only heat the area you work in? This saves lots on money. No sense heating areas that need no heat.

Are you willing to consult with the pros and get an energy balance? These numbers are needed.

Do you have nat gas? This is a big one in our area. Propane is all over the place, electricity is just the wrong way to go around here.

My place is 1400 sq ft I use it 3-4 days a week and it costs me between 105-130 per month to keep it at 50*. I'm willing to pay that because this style of heat is so nice. 50* feels like 65* to me.

I saved a **** load of money by picking up a used boiler on CL for 250 bucks. It is not a "hi efficiency unit", but I figured I would be dead and gone before I got my money back. Spend 3k for new or 250 for used. The difference between 84% eff and 96%eff is not that great, especially sience I only heat 4 months out of the year. I wanted a standing pilot boiler for the second reason of simplicity. There really is only 3 or 4 things that can go bad on SP units. Bad gas valve, bad thermocoupler, bad relay and bad safety switches, all cheap things. The newer, hi eff units have some more detailed controls that are a bit more spendy when they fail. If you are here on tne GJ, you already have a desire to know how things work so you understand.

These are things off the top of my head, I'm sure others will point out the benefits and disadvantages of this type of heat.

Got to head for bed.

Later

Kirk

 

[Amazzen]

I personally went with in floor heating (oil fired burners) and you are correct, its expensive compared to other heating choices. But I also installed 2 wood burning stoves so I could keep the place at around 45 to 50 degrees minimum and burn wood when we want to bring the temp up.... works great for us. (Remember that glycol must be added for cold climates at a premium $ of course)

The in floor is very efficient (it doesn't heat the air) and if you work on a concrete floor all day, is worth every penny in terms of how you will feel at the end of those days! We can open doors on a cold day and within seconds of closing them the place feels back to normal.

The only down side I found was installing "unplanned" equipment that needs to be anchored to the concrete....you don't want to drill into a pipe! Its a real PITA to repair.

If you go this route, it unlikely that you will regret it unless you do not plan your anchoring needs precisely.

Hope this helps.

 

[koditten]

Insulate the whole thing. It will cost you an extra 600 bucks for the foam board to do the whole shop. Regardless, if you do the floor system now, you will have it ready if you want to do it later.

I think a perfect system would be a floor system set at minimal temp and a unit heater hanging in the corner to quickly bring it to the temp you are comfortable with.

Putting the foam thruout, you will never wonder if you could have saved money if you did the whole floor or not.

I love my floor system. My previous shop had unit heaters. The only thing good about that was I had time to drink my coffee befor the shop was warm enough to work in.

I can't remember the last time I wore insulated socks to work in the shop. I about ****, realizing my feet were sweating and the room temp was only 50* Yes, it is that good!

I can't comment on your building. you need to think about this in depth. If I had this much single level floor space, I would have to think seriously about partitioning off areas that are for storage only.

You asked, I rambled.

Later

Kirk

 

[Garys Garage]

I was broke when I did mine and did not insulate under the floor. Wish I would have. That being said. I love mine. It has been 15 years and also found a used boiler. I use propane and use my shop 5 to 7 days a week. My tools never rust or get cold. Would do it again if I were to build again. Shops stays at 55 degrees and no annoying heated kicking on blowing dirt all over.

 

[caddyman72]

this was my first winter with my floor heat. i love it. put the most insulation in you can afford. it will deff pay off in the long run

 

[macdabs]

I have in floor heat in my new 40 x 80 shop and would do it over in a heart beat. The pex tubing was in-expensive. The insulation and boiler was the most expensive. My system is a little more complex cause I added a large 250 BTU stoker boiler with pumps feeding heat to my house 245 ft from the shop.

I have a mix of 2'' insulation and 1 1/2" under the slab and 2" on the outside walls. The floor will hold heat for a week with no problem and you can wear sneakers all winter long, sometimes I just sit with cause the temp in the garage is so nice.

 

[Aaron Franck]

Nothing is cheap, relatively speaking. I agree with caddyman, the most insulation you can afford. I have not used it yet, but let me tell you what I have. (after a lot of research) 50' x 70' w/16.5' side walls, 8.5' concrete poured walls on three sides, buried 8' into the side of a hill. (natural A/C & heat) I used 1 1/2" 25psi white bead board under the floor, about $1700. 3500' of oxygenated 1/2" pex tubing, about $1000. All under 6" of concrete, I don't worry about drilling into the floor. Built my own manifolds from copper fittings, about $250. Nothing more to the system, yet. Planning on a wood burning boiler for the heat source. Just had the stick built portion of the walls and the roof spray foamed with 2" and 3" respectively, 1# foam, $9700. No partitions, no interior walls, no rooms, (well a bathroom 5' x 8') no ceiling, and I'm sure no problem heating and cooling efficently. To answer your original question, in floor heat is the only way to go. Research and compare costs and talk to people you know that have it, I've never heard anyone that has in floor heat say anything but how much they love it.


Aaron

 

[50cal]

No one mentioned a vapor barrier. I used 15 mil, with taped seams. 2inch foam all the way around and under.