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[ms1780]

Hello all, I have been busy planning out my OWB and the plumbing/electrical components for it.  I am heating a house and a shop and in the shop I have an office that I work out of every day.  I wanted to run my plan by you pros and get your opinions.

I need to be able to keep my 10' x 10' office at 70 deg. all the time and the rest of the 30 x 40 shop 50 deg. except when I am in there then I will kick up the thermostat.  I plan to use a 6' baseboard heater in the office and regular water to air exchanger with a blower fan behind it in the rest of the shop.  The lines coming off my stove are 1" but the only reasonable 3-way valve I can find is only 3/4" so I was wondering if you believe that will cause any issues. 

I intend to run the line in from the stove outlet to a 24 volt 3-way zone valve that will be normally open to allow the water to bypass to the water/air heat exchanger in the main shop that will be wired to a thermostat.  When the second thermostat in the office calls for heat it will close the normally open and allow hot water into the baseboard heat then out of the baseboard heater and on to the water/air exchanger in the shop.  I can buy a heat only thermostat that runs on batteries but since it will be supplying the power to the valve quite often I think I will buy a 120 volt transformer like this one.http://www.supplyhouse.com/Honeywell-AT72D1683-Foot-Mounted-Plate-Mounted-or-Clamp-Mounted-120-Vac-Transformer-w-9-in-Lead-Wires-40VA-1740000-p
I think this set up will work but wanted to get other opinions first.

Thank You,
Mike

[ms1780]

I wanted to add a little to the detail.  Almost all of the baseboard heaters I can find are a 3/4" inch element and the water/air exchangers have 1" fittings.  Should I buy a 1" three way valve so I can have the higher capacity running to the water/air exchanger when the baseboard heat is not calling for heat?  My stove is about 30' from the shop and I ran 1" into the building but my understanding of water flow is that if I go down to 3/4" anywhere in the system that is all the flow I will ever get, even if I go back to 1" after it goes through the baseboard heater.

[slimjim]

  ms1780, How about this thought, if you run your primary loop all the way to the air handler in 1 inch and the loop to your office in 3/4 inch from tees placed on the supply and return of the primary loop there will be enough restriction going through the air handler to force some flow to the baseboard, a normally closed zone valve can be installed in the baseboard loop to control it and a separate TT can be used, either line voltage or 24 volt will operate the fan motor. PM me your E-Mail and I will draw it out for you if you don't understand. Welcome aboard!

[idahohay]

ms1780, You mention heating the house and shop but didn't say much about the house. Is it a separate building? If so, will you be running separate lines from the OWB ?

[RSI]

I would do as Slim mentioned above but but both tees in the supply pipe right together and use a pump instead of a zone valve. It will be more simple than your original post suggested be cheaper and work better.
The size difference in the plumbing won't matter either this way.

[slimjim]

   Agreed RSI, I think he was trying to eliminate the second circ though.

[ms1780]

Thanks for the advice. The shop is separate from the house. I only ran one set of 1" lines to the shop so I need to do this in one loop.

[ms1780]

I understand what you are saying slimjim.  I hadn't really thought about doing it that way.  Do you think the restriction from the heat exchanger will force enough flow to my baseboard heater?  The office heat is the most important part of this because I will spend 10 hours a day in there working.  Also when the baseboard valve is open do you think I will get enough flow to my heat exchanger?

I also had another question.  I plan to keep the shop at around 50 degrees all the time.  It will have a ceiling in it and blown in insulation. Do you think I am safe to run my water lines in the attic?  The pump on the system I am buying runs all the time but I am wondering how much heat loss I will have from the cold temperatures in the attic.  I could lay them close to the bottom of the trusses and blow the insulation in over them.

[slimjim]

ms1780, I'm not sure you understand what it is that RSI and I are saying, either way it will work, if you PM me your E-Mail I will send you a drawing, as far as going into the attic, I try to put my heat low in the shop, this allows you to keep the heat lines below the boiler as well as the heat, I never could understand why we would be heating up high and trying to blow the heat down. Would you like an idea on how to build your own heater for the shop for about $300 that is less noisy than a typical Modine style heater

[almostplumb]

slim, I would like to know how to build that heater (for future garage use) even if ms1780 doesn't.  Thanks.

[slimjim]

I use old mobile home furnaces, gut the oil portion, save the squirrel cage blower, 4 1/2 inch grinder with a cut off wheel will do a nice job on the cabinet, mount a 16x18 rad into the cabinet, bend and cut as needed, 1/2 inch metal conduit for a handle and lawn mower wheels to roll on, rubber heater hoses for feed lines from the main manifold, easy to use, quiet, and build it yourself