Hello All! Looking for advice/pointers.

[turbopwr68]

So I've been heating my 30 x 40 attached garage for around 7 years now with a hot air furnace running a beckett burner that I converted using CK's parts. I recently did a 1500 sq.ft. second story addition to my house and added a heat pump system. Previously I heated solely with a wood pellet stove. I'm highly disappointed with the heat pump and also the temp differences between the upstairs addition and the lower level. After an almost $400 electric bill last month from running the heat pump I have been racking my brain as to what I can do to make things better. Thinking I came up with a new idea of using a heat exchanger in the heat pump I started looking for more info and ran across this site and figured id ask for advice. I just purchased a really nice burnham boiler that I am planning on swapping my current waste oil burner onto and putting the boiler in place of the hot air furnace in my garage. I'll need a heat exchanger in the plenum of my heat pump, another heat exchanger with a fan for the garage and I would also like to heat my hot water with it. I have ALOT of questions but I'll start with just a few. This boiler has a domestic hot water coil in it but the boiler will be almost 50' from where my hot water heater is. Should I use a sidearm heat exchanger and tie it into the rest of the heating system or use the domestic hot water coil and a circulator pump that's good for potable water to keep the electric hot water heater up to temp?  Also what kind of insulated piping makes the most sense to use to go from the boiler to the heat pump which unfortunately is in my attic and about 75 feet away? Im planning on making it a closed system and possibly running antifreeze in it but I am open to suggestion on that also. Thanks in advance for any input you guys have for me.

[superduty_59]

First off welcome to the Forums! Second it looks like you have been doing this for a while and have some experience. I am still learning myself so some of the others may chime in to help also. I am basically planning to do kinda what you are doing. Depending on what part of the country you live in may determine what kind of insulated pipe you need. From what you have told us a sidearm exchanger would be a good fit with it's own zone. Maybe 3 zones. One for house. One for garage. One for water tank. OWB (outdoor wood boiler) insulated pipe would probably work (don't know if any will be buried or not) or just regular insulated pex for running through a heated space. Good luck!

[turbopwr68]

Well I think what I've decided to do to heat my electric hot water heater is to utilize the domestic hot water coil in the boiler. The more I think about using a sidearm or plate heat exchanger just doesn't make sense when the boiler already has one built into it. I'll add a basic high voltage thermostat to the hot water heater to control a circulator pump. If I plumb it properly and insulate it well enough hopefully it will have thermal circulation and only need to use the pump under high demand. As for the type of piping I use...I guess i'll finally give in to the fad of using pex and give I a try. I'd prefer copper but just cant see spending the extra money on it. Also someone on here recommended spacing their boiler up off the floor to make it easier to work on when needed and I think its a great idea. Making a stand to sit the boiler on will be one of the first things I need to get started on. Another challenge ahead of me is fitting a large enough water to air heat exchanger in the plenum of my air handler. The plenum measures 11" wide x 19" tall. My plan is to get one that will fit the 19" height and then fabricate transition pieces for each side to accept at least a 20" long heat exchanger. I'm sure I will go through several sheets of cardboard before I get those pieces layed out properly.

[Russ]

Greetings turbopwr68!  Glad you stopped by.  Like you, I started out with a forced air system in my garage, soon to find out that I had way more heat than I needed in the garage.  Next, it was off to find a way to get some of that great heat into the house.  So on with the boiler project.  You may have seen it, but if not, you can find it here:
http://wasteoilheaterforum.com/index.php?topic=208.0

I think your use of the built in domestic hot water heater is a good choice.  Like you said, its already there, might as well use it.

Pex?  Even a non plumber like me was able to work with this stuff.  Bought me a crimper on ebay and went to work.  A guy I work with calls PVC tinker toys for big boys.  I'd probably say the same for this stuff.

Getting the boiler up off of the floor is a great idea.  I have mine on a row of cement blocks.  I cant imagine having it right on the floor.

Good luck on your project.  Keep us updated.  We love pictures!  Give us a holler if you have questions.