Re: Need shop heat advice
- From: "J. Clarke" <jclarke.usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 30 Dec 2005 12:50:04 -0500
Ivan Vegvary wrote:
> Installed radiant floor (concrete) in a walled off 21'x60' section of the
> shop. Works wonderful. (Northwest, Oregon). Have used it for two
> winters.
>
> My propane supplier said that I should have gone with a "tankless" heater
> instead of the ordinary (heavy duty) tank type water heater.
My first reaction is "what's in it for him".
> Claims the
> savings would be tremendous by not keeping 50 gallons hot, on tap 24/7.
Does he know you're using it for heat and not just hot water? Estimates
I've seen range from 10% to 30% savings when used only for hot water and
not for heat, and the higher estimates are making a lot of assumptions
about infrequent usage and flow controlled fixtures and the like. When you
use it for heat the thermal loss from water circulating through the heating
coils vastly outweighs any loss through the insulated tank so I would
expect the savings to be even less.
If you were using it only for the occasional shower or handwash then an
on-demand unit would make a lot more sense.
> I'm trying to do the math and need some advice. Logic tells me that I
> would have to sit in the shop for 24 hours and add up all the RUN times,
> while the water is circulating through the floor, in order to calculate
> the OFF time
> within 24 hours. Then I would have to figure out the cost of keeping
> water
> hot during all of the OFF times. This would be a factor of heater
> insulation etc. and might be available from manufacturers etc.
> BTW, in addition to floor heat I will be adding one bathroom (maybe three
> handwashings a day?) with shower (maybe two three showers a month, if I am
> too dirty to be allowed into the house).
>
> Any simpler advice from any of you out there? These on demand units are
> not
> cheap. My supplier tells me that he runs a four bathroom house (4 family
> members) with a single "on demand" unit.
One can run a four bathroom house on a total loss system passing long pipes
over an open fire too--this doesn't address efficiency at all.
> Thanks, Ivan Vegvary
--
--John
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(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)
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