Let's chat Boilers.

sumx54

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How are you guys heating your slabs? What type of boilers are you using. The good, the bad and the ugly. I'm looking for a system that will heat a 1700sq/ft floor. I'd also want a fan coil for my furnace and possibly a Domestic Hot Water coil tank? I won't have a chimney so a Condensing system it is. Seems to be so many different opinions from the plumbing shops. I'm on a budget too :( Also has anyone ever heard of the furnace/boiler harming the concrete septic system because of the acidity of the condensation dumping into your system? Thanks for any help.
 

sledderdoc

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How are you guys heating your slabs? What type of boilers are you using. The good, the bad and the ugly. I'm looking for a system that will heat a 1700sq/ft floor. I'd also want a fan coil for my furnace and possibly a Domestic Hot Water coil tank? I won't have a chimney so a Condensing system it is. Seems to be so many different opinions from the plumbing shops. I'm on a budget too :( Also has anyone ever heard of the furnace/boiler harming the concrete septic system because of the acidity of the condensation dumping into your system? Thanks for any help.

I heated an 800 sq ft pad using a oversized hot water tank which also supplied the hot water for the house. Used a closed glycol system no issues. Water heater was biggest expense.
 

kidder17

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Budget- Lochinvar Cadet Boiler
otherwise look at the Lochinvar Knight boiler.

100,000 Btu's would be all you need.

I always recommend using a neutralizer for the Condensate. Check out Axiom Industries in Saskatoon for their Neutrapal.
 
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gforce

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my company sell boilers...just let me know what yer looking for and i can hook you up!..we are frontier plumbing and heating supplies
 

Caper11

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100000btu for a 1700 sq ft pad?? Seems a bit overkill. Mine is only a 50000 and heats more sq footage than that.


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bhowes

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depending your your construction and floor coverings you will need approx 20 btu/sq ft 20x1700 = 34,000 btu stand alone for the slab plus your domestic hot water and fan coil 100,000 way to big and a condensing boiler will never condense at that load waste of money
 

sumx54

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depending your your construction and floor coverings you will need approx 20 btu/sq ft 20x1700 = 34,000 btu stand alone for the slab plus your domestic hot water and fan coil 100,000 way to big and a condensing boiler will never condense at that load waste of money

Please explain further.... I want an 80 gallon indirect hot water tank, and two zones in my basement. I think I've decided to not go with the fan coin in the furnace rather than just a stand alone HE furnace for backup. (Upstairs) 80'000 btu. The hot water tank I want to go with is a HE 80 gallon (indirect). I'm looking for a quality boiler that will meet my needs. I also want the option to tie in Solar as needed.
 

kidder17

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20,000-100,000btu modulating is perfect because of your domestic requirement. 80 gal indirect tank. Is 100,000 way to much for your slab.......yup, but that's the beauty of being able to modulate down to 20,000, or anywhere in between.

Would I look at or consider down sizing to a 70 or 80,000 btu model.......maybe, but only after calculating an actual heat load calculation based off actual plans. I certainly would not throw out a estimated load based upon a guestimated BTU/ft2. Any qualified radiant design tech should be able to do this for you. The domestic requirement also needs to be considered. If you are looking at doing Any type of custom shower configuration I would being going to the 100,000 btu model if using the 80 gal tank.

As for condensing the boiler......... Any properly designed infloor system that is returning 85f or 90f degree water to the boiler, it is going to condense lots. Any return water that is below dewpoint( approx 120f depending on your location) will cause any appliance to condense.



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rsaint

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Go with a Navien combo boiler does domesic hot water and infloor with its own circ pump in it put one in the kids garage no problem with showering and washing clothes it was 2200 for the unit. Im sure there are other combo units that could be cheaper. It was a 240model i think.
 

Caper11

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Isn't it now against code to use a hot water tank for infloor heating?. If yah had a tank before I was told it needed to be upgraded to a boiler.


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08arcticcat

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I believe a tank may still be used if its tied to a bathroom. a hwt for a slab only is against code.
 

Teth-Air

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How are you guys heating your slabs? What type of boilers are you using. The good, the bad and the ugly. I'm looking for a system that will heat a 1700sq/ft floor. I'd also want a fan coil for my furnace and possibly a Domestic Hot Water coil tank? I won't have a chimney so a Condensing system it is. Seems to be so many different opinions from the plumbing shops. I'm on a budget too :( Also has anyone ever heard of the furnace/boiler harming the concrete septic system because of the acidity of the condensation dumping into your system? Thanks for any help.

We sell the condensate neutralizing tanks if you need one. That said there is very little condensate and I can't see it harming the concrete. I will say though that you should properly degrease the hydronic heating system and use a good corrosion inhibitor to protect your boiler and other metal components. Even if you are using glycol (antifreeze) This is my main line of work so if you have questions please ask.
 

raceu4it

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I have a 200000 btu trinity boiler system heating a 5000 sq ft slab with snowmobiles as a insulating cover on the concrete surface.
 

bhowes

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have been teaching hydronic radiant design for 13 yrs now at sait and 20 btus per sq was a guestimate bassed on info supplied in thread send me a pm and i will give you a break down on how to size correctly am also a former director of the alberta hydronics advissory commitee and a current canadian hydronics council member preety sure im qualified
 
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kidder17

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have been teaching hydronic radiant design for 13 yrs now at sait and 20 btus per sq was a guestimate bassed on info supplied in thread send me a pm and i will give you a break down on how to size correctly am also a former director of the alberta hydronics advissory commitee and a current canadian hydronics council member preety sure im qualified

Not doubting your qualifications, but what size boiler would you go with if the domestic load required an 80 gal indirect storage tank? Just curious.
 

bhowes

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I actually would go with a vido dense ( viesssman)or an maybe an ICB if you had modulating technology say from 30,000 to 85/ 100,000 btu it would only ramp up on design days and on domestic demand but like I said pm me I enjoy the design work and I never charge for advice
 

bhowes

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I have a 200000 btu trinity boiler system heating a 5000 sq ft slab with snowmobiles as a insulating cover on the concrete surface.
Polaris has way to high of an r value you need to fill that shop with doos then you could run that slab cooler wasn't really watching the threads much since the last time we talked are you the new prez....?..?
 

renegade x

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Contact Nortec Plumbing and Heating in Edmonton they just upgraded my system to a ICB it was that or a Viesman pros and Cons to each. There all junk nowadays, the days of getting 25 years out of your heating system are long gone.
 

S.W.A.T.

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Just bought a empyre/pro-fab pro series 400. Shop, house and garage will be heating 10000 sq/ft. Hopefully it all goes according to plan.
 
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