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[jackel440]

Willie ,the more I think about this the more I am convinced that this might be the way to go for me.I have thought of just putting the anti freeze in my shop floor,and then use a plate exchanger at the point my water feed comes in from the boiler.Just incase for some reason I was to have say a pump go bad.I could shut down the shop and not worry about the floor freezing.
I think the piece of mind in the situation is more of a benefit than the little loss in efficiancy.I can always throw another log in to make up for the loss. 

[willieG]

Willie ,the more I think about this the more I am convinced that this might be the way to go for me.I have thought of just putting the anti freeze in my shop floor,and then use a plate exchanger at the point my water feed comes in from the boiler.Just incase for some reason I was to have say a pump go bad.I could shut down the shop and not worry about the floor freezing.
I think the piece of mind in the situation is more of a benefit than the little loss in efficiancy.I can always throw another log in to make up for the loss. 

Exactly jackel and what i did was put an exchanger at the rear of my OWB on my return line from my house and use the return water from the house to heat the shop. it requires another pump to run this seperate closed system but you have that good feeling that freezing is not gonna get your floor and the added benifit is if your house pump goes out in the middle of the night...you can shut the shop down and steal the pump for the house!

[Mrplow]

Hey guys, thanks for all the input about the antifreeze.  However, my system is now fully complete and up and running without one drop of the stuff. 
I understand what you are saying about having a exchanger and only putting the antifreeze in the floor and being able to shut it down and let it be for periods of time without worry.  BUT, isn't there some concern about letting the concrete get real cold if not freeze and then blasting it with hot water when you want to heat the building? 
I will be using the building on a nearly daily basis and it also is used to park daily drivers so the benifits of just keeping it a constant 50 degrees or so and then bumping it up when I will be out there working seems fitting to me, also I have supplies to store out there that should not freeze or go through many changes in temp. 
My main take on the antifreeze is to prevent, or protect the entire system including the OWB from freezing if say, just like what happened last weekend out east and I am without power for many days when I and not home to run the generator.

[willieG]

im not sure if you would damage the floor blasting it with hot a water antifreeze mix if the floor was freezing but i do know a chap who blasted a freezing floor with just hot water late in the fall.....his water froze less than halfway through his loops. he was lucky enough to know a fellow who did hot water dewaxing on oil wells and brought him a huge truck load of hot water and they dumped on the shed floor and were able to thaw it out before andy splitting occured.

if your floor was freezing you could just circulate the antifreeze water mix without adding heat to it and then add heat to the mixture slowly by controlling the amount of water you let into the exchanger from your OWB

i know you say you plan on heating this floor to a 50 degree min all the time...and you may never have a problem, but "all the time" may not be in your control "some time"

anyway, these are just my thoughts and i threw them out there for consideration. there will be some agree and some disagree and that is what these forums are for.

good luck with your project

[Mrplow]

Oh I do agree with you and appreciate your suggestions.
If I am trying to protect from damage, don't I want to protect my investment of the boiler from worst case senerio in addition to the plumbing and the concrete?
This means spending the big bucks and buying a couple hundred gallons of the stuff and swapping it out in the next couple years along with looking into alternative power...

[jackel440]

Yes back up power is a good thing to have.
I have a couple generators and my Miller Trailblazer for those times when mother nature deems it necassary to turn off the power.
Another thing about using an OWB for heat you have chosen to inadvertantly be married to it.It's not just throw the wood in and forget about it.I mean you do to a point,but there is also times when you have to be prepared for the worse.Like a pump dying at 3am on a sunday morning.A blower motor dying,etc...
Oh look its past my bed time and Im rambling....Later