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[Wi woodburner]

I am using a woodmaster 5500 to heat about 5,000 square feet new construction.  I have a forced air furnace but wish I would have done in floor.  My lines coming into the house run directly under my master bath and warms the tile nicely.  What would be the easiest and best way to use this warm water to heat more of my floors?  Can I loop the return lines into a few spots in the house to warm the floor above these lines?  The basement is unfinished so getting between the floor joists is no problem.  I looked at in floor heating systems but am unsure of everything I would need or if the indoor pex from the wood boiler is sufficient.  How long can your supply and return lines be?  The would boiler is about 175 feet from the house plus 75 feet from where it enters the house to the furnace. 

[merrellroofing]

Somebody has to have something for this guy! 

[hoardac]

I would say heat exchanger and manifold for your floor runs.

[Wi woodburner]

I am looking to only add supplemental heat from the in floor so my furnace will still be the primary.  Could I tee off of the 1.00 pex return line and run 2 separate 200 foot runs between my joist before returning to the boiler?  I like my house to be warm and I still have some cool areas.  I would keep the runs away from the thermostat so I would not interfere with the furnace kicking on.  My thought was tee into the return line 4 places -- creating 2 loops.  Is this even a possibility or do I need more pumps and a manifold of such?  Or could I tee into the supply and also the return?

[mlappin]

I think you'd want to do this in the more traditional manner. Get a few warm days and you could cook yourself out if you can't control the flow automatically.

If we get days close to sixty or a little better in fall or spring and our house gets to warm just from the heat coming off the lines and radiating off the HX.

[Wi woodburner]

To control the heat, I would then need to add the zones, thermostats, and mixing valves?  Any good sources for doing this the traditional way? 

[ITO]

 Try this as a resource: http://www.caleffi.com/usa/en-us/catalog#heating
 The return line method you describe would work to a certain degree but without control. In a very basic form each zone should have a dedicated pump with a check valve controlled by a thermostat, this method does not use a zone valve and the manifold is simply the tees off the line utilized by the pump.
 There are methods for using your joist space for heating also: http://www.uponor.co.uk/en-gb/solutions/radiant-heating-and-cooling/floor-installation.aspx
 Hope this helps, one thing you will want to keep in mind is return temps, depends on your system but in general you want return temps to the boiler to stay above 140F.
 

[idahohay]

How about closely spaced tees in the supply, another circulator, a supply and return manifold,  under floor loops using UltraFin as per manufacturer.  This would tolerate high temperature.  Then maybe operate the furnace (or the under floor) as a priority zone, so return temps would remain desirable.  Just an amateur so consider that.

[LittleJohn]

Since basement ceiling is open - best bet would be some kind of heat emission plate screwed to bottom of subfloor -> http://www.pexsupply.com/pex/control/search/~SEARCH_STRING=heat%20transfer

If you just tee into return line, you can not gaurentee flow thru the purposed supplimental loops in floor.  So it would probably be best to put a pump in to move the water, you will also probably need to add some klind of mixing device since heat emission plate do not necessarily require temps above 160f - (were OWB do not like temps below 160)

[NaturallyAspirated]

How about closely spaced tees in the supply, another circulator, a supply and return manifold,  under floor loops using UltraFin as per manufacturer.  This would tolerate high temperature.  Then maybe operate the furnace (or the under floor) as a priority zone, so return temps would remain desirable.  Just an amateur so consider that.

That's what I would suggest too.

Neal

[Wi woodburner]

Thank you all for the great information...this site has been more than helpful with all the great people on here.  Thanks again.

Is there a picture or install manual on any of this information?  If I gather what everyone is saying, this is possible, but will take a little extra money and work to make it right.   

If I need to add another circulator pump where would this be located in the run?  Also where do I install the return/supply manifold.  Running the loops off of the manifold seem fairly straight forward.  Also, as far as temperature sensors, are these used with the manifold for each loop?