Pool heater as radiant heat source?

[trythis]

I have access to a swimming pool gas water heater.

Has anyone used one of these for heating a radiant floor? I am guessing it would have to be installed outdoors, because they don't seem to have vents. It comes with a big fiberglass tank, and lots of plumbing.

I have radiant in my house that runs on geothermal, but the shop still has an old floor that needs replacing. I am certain I will put the tubing in regardless of the heater.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

It would be way oversized, which screams "inefficient" to me.

The pool heaters I've seen are in the 200,000 BTU range, and often require a service upgrade to the house.

Phil

 

[trythis]

capacity is not a problem, I have a 400,000 BTU capacity gas regulator and can just swap regulators for higher. Our gas line to our building is 2" diameter and is a medium pressure line, so upgrading is easy and free actually, just call the gas co. and they are happy to swap it out.

I will look at the furnace for BTU. My floor is 2000 sq feet and the ceilings are nearly 18 feet up. It might not be too big at 200K.

 

[jklingel]

do a heat loss analysis on the building. there are several free online. it may not be exact, but if you put in accurate info you'll get a good nuff answer. check on hearth.com for the size of water storage tanks those guys are using w/ their gasification boilers. insulate the tank, heat it up, let the boiler go off, and heat your place. 200K but does not sound too big to me, if the building is of fair size, etc. again; heat loss analysis first. good luck, and nice score on the heater.