Harold Pomeroy
New Member
I have a 1000 square foot shop, with radiant heat tubing for water in the concrete floor. I have been heating the water with gas, but I want to switch to electricity. The reason for the change is that I had 33 solar panels installed on the roof this year, and make more electricity than I can use in the house and shop machinery.
My goal is to get the concrete floor up to 60 degrees. I have a gas hot air furnace in the shop, and I run that at 60 degrees. My thinking is to warm the floor up slowly, and heat the air with the gas heater. When the floor and cast iron machines are warmer, the gas furnace will run less. In other words, neither system will heat the whole shop, they will each do what they do efficiently.
I the past I have heated the floor water with a heat exchanger in the gas furnace. The sending water would be 70 degrees, the return could get up to 50 degrees.
I would like ideas of how to heat the water to warm up the floor. I was planning on using a 40 gallon electric hot water heater, but it looks like constant circualtion at low temperature doesn't work.
Thank you
Harold Pomeroy
My goal is to get the concrete floor up to 60 degrees. I have a gas hot air furnace in the shop, and I run that at 60 degrees. My thinking is to warm the floor up slowly, and heat the air with the gas heater. When the floor and cast iron machines are warmer, the gas furnace will run less. In other words, neither system will heat the whole shop, they will each do what they do efficiently.
I the past I have heated the floor water with a heat exchanger in the gas furnace. The sending water would be 70 degrees, the return could get up to 50 degrees.
I would like ideas of how to heat the water to warm up the floor. I was planning on using a 40 gallon electric hot water heater, but it looks like constant circualtion at low temperature doesn't work.
Thank you
Harold Pomeroy