Outdoor Corn Boiler questions?

[falcon428]

Hello, I am looking at a Central boiler Maxim Corn boiler to heat two of my buildings. The one is a 60'x140'x16' that I am getting ready to build this month, I am looking at in-floor radiant for this.

The other is an existing 60'x80'x16', in-floor is not an option for this one, but I am curious of your thoughts on other hot water radiant ideas (radiators or baseboard or other heat exchanger? I have seen hot water radiators with fans on them but, I really dont want a forced air system, noisey and like the feel of radiant.

Both buildings are extremely well insulated, closed cell spray urethane through out.

TIA!!

 

[Mattlt]

I am not familiar with Central Boiler's line of corn boilers, but I do own one of their wood boilers. Unless this is one of their BIG boilers, that seems like an awefully large area to heat. It might go through a lot of corn!

I would definately go in-floor heat for the big building. Wish I would have thought of this for my shop.

Baseboard heat is an option with the building that's already there. I've found some calculators online that will tell you what size/length of baseboards are needed given the size of the building, water temperature, etc. Google something like "baseboard heat calculations" and you should come up with something.

 

[falcon428]

I will check this out. It is a 250,000 btu boiler. I have to do calculations on both to see if boiler is enough, I may not be heating all of it at once, if I did it would be 50-55*.

I have looked at base board type, but I dont want it at the baseboard. It would be behind work benches, shelving and tools, worried about damage to it there. With 16' ceiling height wonder if I could run something like base , but higher say 7'-8' up on the wall?

Would this type of radiant have the same feel as floor or gas tube?

 

[Mattlt]

I have looked at base board type, but I dont want it at the baseboard. It would be behind work benches, shelving and tools, worried about damage to it there. With 16' ceiling height wonder if I could run something like base , but higher say 7'-8' up on the wall?

Would this type of radiant have the same feel as floor or gas tube?

They used to put the radiators/baseboards about half way up the wall in the old high school gyms. You may need some ceiling fans to push the heat back down, but I would guess it would work.

Personally, I like in-floor heat. Unfortunately, I don't have it in my shop. Hindsight's 20-20, you know!

Maybe you could do some baseboards (at whatever height) plus some hydronic unit heaters? We've got one in our basement that's plumbed into the boiler water. A small fan runs constantly to move the air. Worked wonders for us. It's a Myson brand. I think they are a bit overpriced, but so far, so good.

We have gas tube heat at our fire station. Never fails, they always kick in while you're on top of a truck packing hose! Gets pretty warm when you are close to the tubes. Probably not a factor in most shops.

 

[falcon428]

I have worked in a few shops with heat exchangers and fans, but my problem with this is the noise level of the fans. At least the ones i have been around were loud. Thats the reason I am looking at radiant, too late for in floor in one shop, so looking to learn more on a finned-tube style, or other design. Anyone with any experience with these systems?

 

[JeepHD]

Rodney,

Just saw your post on Radiant. I'm guess you talked to Kruckenberger in Greenville on the Corn Boiler. He set up the friend who installed radiant in a 38x48 with enough information to put his own radiant in. He heats his home and shop with a wood burner. I think he estimates around 8 cord he burns each year(not sure how that compares to the corn burner). He keeps the shop around 60. You may know him and I am sure he'd answer some questions if you needed.

I have a wood burner and heat our house and my current tiny 20x22 shop. I use the heat exchanger type to heat and it will run you out pretty quick, but the new shop will have radiant in the shop half. I plan on looking into how to incorporate it into a geothermal system.

 

[idunnosh#t]

I know radiant can be put in walls and ceilings,not as effective as in floor heat,but a viable option just the same.

 

[Carsonb]

Doing some quick math you're over 12,000 sq feet. Not sure what your heat loss is or even the design temp for Ohio but that boiler is going to have to work and be set up perfectly! We use a wood fired outdoor boiler that is supposed to heat 12,000 sq feet and it does but is working flat out in the real cold. Insulation is excellent though the windows leak baddly.
Anyhow you should be able to find flat wall radiators they just look like rippled metal pannels. They mount away from the wall and get as hot as the water on the back but only warm on the front. If you touch it you'll know its a radiator but you won't get burned. The idea is the air convects up the inside of the wall warming the wall and air radiating it into the room. You can use baseboards with finned tubing half way up the wall too, they get hot to touch though and they're meant to heat air through convection not supply radient heat like a gas tube. I'd suggest a couple of hot water fan coil unit heaters, but only have them set to run when its very cold out or your trying to heat up the shop after you bring in something from outside. Then use the radient to keep the shop warm. Ceiling fans might help get the warmest air back down to where you are working.