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Author Topic: will this work???  (Read 2575 times)

12valve

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will this work???
« on: January 23, 2013, 09:01:14 AM »

So I have an old farmhouse (1850) 2750 sq feet.  Some of this is new construction and the windows are all new.  Not great insulation in the old part of the house but not bad either.  The house has a boiler with baseboard heat as well as a new forced air furnace.  The previous owner told me he put the forced air in for 2 reasons.  1 for ac and 2 that during really cold spells the baseboard heat just was not enough.

I decided to hook up my owb via the boiler for a couple reasons one was the hot water and the other was the fact that we liked the idea of the baseboard instead of the furnace blowing air around the house.

Up until this recent cold spell I could keep the whole house pinned at 75.  With the super cold weather and the wind finally the baseboard lost the battle.  The house dropped to like 65.  No biggie unless you ask my wife and kids. 

So here is my question I have plenty of btu's stored in my owb I just cant get enough of them into the house.  Could I set up a new zone valve (off of the boiler) and run a hx to my forced air furnace, set the thermostat for the furnace 5 degrees under the base board heat and on the rare occasion that the baseboard could not keep up it would open the zone valve and turn on the blower?

This is just a though I had, but I think it may work.

What do the experts think???
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woodman

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Re: will this work???
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2013, 09:20:16 AM »

Are you wanting to run the forced air after the baseboard or or you going to only use the forced air (no baseboard) when outside temps dictate? Your problem sounds similar to the one the guys in the other thread are having. Not sure how you can have lots of btu's stored in the boiler and not get them to the house. I know with these temps and my heat load, I am pulling my owb for about every thing its got. What pump are you using, and what is your water temp after your plate ex at the inside boiler?
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fryedaddy

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Re: will this work???
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2013, 09:35:23 AM »

I have in floor heat and use my HVAC (forced air) to heat my house as a supplement.

My entire system is (1) large loop plumbed through the HVAC first then to the floor.
The actual controlling thermostat controlling the boilers pump measures the floor heat.
If the floor heat cant keep up the HVAC kicks on and blows the hot air until its up to
temp then shuts off.

I have the same sqft but my house is block.
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Scott7m

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Re: will this work???
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2013, 09:41:44 AM »

Yes you can... 

Your pump may be undersized too, the small diameter of baseboard restrict flow quickly..

But you could use a 24volt 3 way valve to slow heat in the coil, when the house hit it's desired temp, it would close back and bypass the coil.

It's kinda technical but I can help if you want
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12valve

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Re: will this work???
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2013, 12:27:42 PM »

Woodman, Yes i have plenty of BTu's the problem is the efficiency of the house and the amount of heat that the baseboard heat can deliver.

Scott thanks for taking the time to reply,  I was hoping you would.  If i just did a zone valve and did used my boiler pump with 3/4 line you think that the pump could not push it?  would there be a way to wire this so that if the furnace did need to kick on it would shut the 3 heat valves in my house(for baseboard) and only let the valve to the furnace and the hot water work???  Or is what you are suggesting a better way. I do not understand what the 3 way valve would do for me.
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Scott7m

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Re: will this work???
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2013, 12:36:10 PM »

3/4" lines are part of your problem

1" lines carry nearly double the btu


I was just thinking that the 3 way could allow water into the coil only when needed as to not add even more restrictions to the system...  There are several different ways it could be done though.

The rate at which the water flows through radiant boards has a lot to do with btu output though, if you have 3/4" lines with a taco 007 ur going to be moving water pretty slowly
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willieG

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Re: will this work???
« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2013, 03:43:28 PM »

it is likeley that your baseboard system can in fact deliver enough btu but you dont have enough basebaord to heat the house in the  extreeme cold ,you need to figure out how many btu you need on those cold nights and then see if you have enough linear feet of basebaord. i am not at home to look at my charts but i think a finned basebaord with a 3/4 pipe in it with water at 180 can deliver somewhere(i am guessing right now) around 5 to 600 btu per foot of baseboard..now for your poorly insulated room you might figure 50 btu per square foot of the room...so find the square feet of the room x 50 = btu per hour you need to heat the room in the extreme cold..now divide the btu by 500 and you should have the linear  feet of baseboard you need

lets say the room is 12 x 15 that would be 180  square feet ..so in the extreme cold we think you need 50 btu per square foot ,that would equate to 9000 btu per hour needed, deivide this number by 500 (number of btu per foot of baseboard)  equates to 18 this would be the linear feet of baseboard you need to heat that area in the extreme cold (using 50 btu per hour per square foot)
« Last Edit: January 24, 2013, 10:19:25 AM by willieG »
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