#Pole barn radiant floor heating cost install

I heat the shop to about 63 and the apartment to 72 all winter long and only have to fill-up my 500 gallon propane tank 1x per year. In the shop below, I have four overhead doors and other windows/doors. I have floor heat in my 38x44 shop and heat an apartment above it (about 1,000 square feet)with an 85% efficient boiler. In this case a tankless heater would be a disaster for heating water to provide building heat since I assume there would be a almost constant demand and therefore a constant operation of the tankless heater and subsequent efficiency loss.

It's kind of like the BTUS to heat a gallon of water is WAY higher for a on-demand heater vs a regular heater but then you have no BTUS needed to keep it hot so the turtle passes the hare and wins the race. To verify this you only need to look at the venting requirements for these units. However they are very ineffiecient when actually heating water. Over the whole year they are more efficient than regular tank heaters (they dont keep a reseviour of water hot). On demand water heaters are common in Africa. it's cool initially, but once you start working, it becomes almost hot. You should speak to a local plumber how has done this work before, has the (radiant) tools, and is comfortable in working w/ radiant. The basement slab is insulated w/ 2' blue-board beneath the radiant tubing and components are supplied by 'Wirsbo'. Īlthough we don't have a barn yet, our timber-framer provided a 1st floor radiant slab and a basement slab (for my workshop). It's dang hard to get that tubing into hard concrete!!. You can do two seperate zones so that you don't heat the whole bilding but you will still have the capability if you want it latter. If you do go with in floor I would urge you to do the whole building. The nice thing about radiant heat is that you can shut it off and it does not take long to warm up your building again. If you want to heat the shed all winter I think the in floor is the most economical. I went with a tankless heater that is designed for in floor heat because we do not have anything else that is gas and didn't want an LP tank sitting beside my shed. I think the problem has to do with recovery time and element longevity. Everyone that I have talked with says don't use an electric tank hot water heater. Yes you can use a regular gas hat water heater.

I assume with decent insulation that this radiant heat would help the entire shop stay 50-60 degrees. I am still leaning towards radiant floor heating in part of the shop's floor. Wouldn't a simple gas or electric water heater be better? What is the advantage? I do want to keep my utilities low. What about the on-demand electric water heater idea? Never heard of these for in-floor heat. I thought about outdoor wood furnaces, but work too many hours to be cutting firewood. Do you have access to wood for heating? I have a neighbor that built a 34圆0 barn and a 3,000 square foot house and is all heated off one of the outdoor wood burners, it could heat twice that with out any issues. I would stay away from the forced air gas units. It is on an off peak elctric meter ($.04/kw) and it costs about $300 to keep it at 50 deg. Our shed is 26x40 with in floor using an electric on demand hot water heater. If you just want to heat it when it is in use then radiant heat is the way to go. If you want to keep it heated all winter then in floor is the way to go. I'm sure ther are folks on the board who have them and perhaps they will share their experience. Liquid heated floors are getting popular and they may have some advantages over what I did, you should check it out. It seems to not cost a lot to keep it at about 50 degrees, and have had no matinence problems yet. of foam board then put radiant heaters just below the ceiling, (about 9 ft.). I don't remember the exact amounts, but under the slab we put 2-3 in. My heated shop is realitvly small 24 x 26, but if I were to do it over I'd probebly use the same system installed about 25 yrs. Would it be better to just use infrared as needed when occupied? Would I just buy a hot water heater to hook up to the in-floor heat with a thermostat? But am worried about the long term cost to keep that floor heated all winter.

#Pole barn radiant floor heating cost install

Should I install a propane infrared overhead tube heater, or insulate the slab and run radiant floor heating? I don't have to heat all 1500 sq ft, and thought about in-floor heat on just half, and use a thermal break to separate heated slab from unheated. I want to keep it about 50-60 degrees in the winter. I plan on using it for car storage, a work-shop, and the kids can play basketball there in the winter (vaulted trusses). We are building a 30'x50' insulated pole barn. Heating the shop-radiant floor vs infrared above