Outdoor Wood Furnace Info

All-Purpose OWF Discussions => General Outdoor Furnace Discussion => Topic started by: rick w on January 11, 2012, 11:02:23 AM

Title: SHOP HEAT
Post by: rick w on January 11, 2012, 11:02:23 AM
I havent read anything or any of you guys using roof top air conditioning condensers for heat ex changers for your garage or shop. a friend and neighbor stoped by on the saturday of my install of my ml36 portage&main boiler and asked what i was going to use for a heat exchanger for my 28x40 polebarn and i said i was thinking of using a roof top a/c condenser he thought it might work. he has a friend that is in the heatand a/c buisness so he called me mid week and said he has 2 units. by this time all i had to hook up was the shop so sat morning he shows up with 2 roof units fans in complete. so we flushed out the condenser plumed in the feed and return lines.another friend thats a electrican wired in a 220 volt thermostat (using one side  thermostat to make iT 110 volt) turned on the breaker powered the pump up and have been heating the shed for the second season now for about 125.00 instead of 750.00 for a heat exchanger.as of now we have 2 of these in opporation. we just put one in my friend carls shop. a warm electrician is a happy electrician. so watch you heating and a/c scrap piles they do show up for little or nothing.also hot roofing companys replace condencers on re roof jobs. keep your eyes open. thanks just my 2 cents worth. rick wierstad spooner wisconsin
Title: Re: SHOP HEAT
Post by: BoilerHouse on January 11, 2012, 01:03:54 PM
Very industrious solution.   What is the tubing size?  I am guessing it is less than 3/4 inch.  The condenser is designed for very hot gases as opposed to somewhat hot water, so I would have been skeptical.  Great work coming up with the idea and thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: SHOP HEAT
Post by: rick w on January 11, 2012, 02:28:21 PM
the inlet is 3/4 and the return is 1/2 inchit seems to work very good rick
Title: Re: SHOP HEAT
Post by: chuck_brown14 on January 11, 2012, 04:42:23 PM
I too have gotten 2 of these units . I haven't put them in yet but its good to know they will work when i do. I got these for $50.00 for the pair so i figured i couldn't go wrong.
Title: Re: SHOP HEAT
Post by: gspren on January 11, 2012, 05:25:46 PM
I have a friend that uses an old truck radiator hooked to his OWB and an electric fan to push the air in his garage.
Title: Re: SHOP HEAT
Post by: Bull on January 11, 2012, 06:18:43 PM
For my garage I bought a water to air heat exc. and gutted an old gas furnace (free) for the air handler and used an electric base board heater thermostat for the blower. Works great
Title: Re: SHOP HEAT
Post by: tulenutn2o on January 11, 2012, 06:30:06 PM
I have a friend that uses an old truck radiator hooked to his OWB and an electric fan to push the air in his garage.
Thats what I'm using. Actually a radiator from a small tractor with a 12v rad. fan from a wrecked car, and run that off solar and battery.
Title: Re: SHOP HEAT
Post by: d conover on January 12, 2012, 01:18:24 PM
It sounds like you all are as bad as me when it comes to rigging  stuff up to save a dollar.

The guy that is putting in my hvac system said he had a one year old Nutone electric furnace that he had replaced and I could have it for $100.00. It was a lemon from the start evidently and the a-coil is no good. so I will have to find something cheap for that.
Title: Re: SHOP HEAT
Post by: rick w on January 12, 2012, 01:40:06 PM
see if he has any roof a/c condencers and see how much he wants they work good