Another heating question

Cork · 12-13-02, 08:12

I have a 20x30 well insulated garage. I had radiant heating pipes put into the concrete floor. What would be the least expensive way to heat the floor? I cannot easily connect the floor to my home furnace because we have an electric heat pump. Im thinking I could use a gas fired hot water heater? This is only a temporary heat source until I install a oil furnance.

detailbarn · 12-13-02, 08:42

I think you first idea of a gas fired hot water heater is a good one. Why would you want to use an oil furance , they are messy and smell bad and are more expensive to run than a natural gas heater. Do you not have NG in your area?

bme107 · 12-13-02, 09:40

The "water" heaters used for these applications are far smaller than those used for potable house water. They come in various sizes and shapes, some are floor mounted and others can be hung on the wall and powered by electirc. I believe that their tank capacity is relatively small too, 1-3gal. The system piping in total may use 20-30 gal., so there is no need to have a large home unit available to dump 130 degree water into the system all at once. The concrete won't heat up that fast anyway and the reheat time of a large unit is far greater.

Run a search for the user "ultgar", he has pictures of his system and is a garage outfitting/building (for lack of a better term) consultant.

Jimmy Buffit · 12-13-02, 09:20

Ultgar - you crack me up!

Jim