Boiler system for radiant heat and hot water

[Duster_80]

Looking at building a house within the next 1-2 years, so I am just starting to do some research on boilers, radiant heating and cooling options.

Any feedback, recommendations, or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated

[2011laramie]

Start saving. It gets expensive quick.

[alpineguy]

I have had 2 blower coil systems where the boiler also generated domestic hot water. This past house I was talked into a high efficiency furnace with a boiler for infloor and hydronic garage heat along with my domestic hot water. I can honestly say I prefer the blower coil with a variable or at least 2 speed motor over the stand alone furnace. The sales pitch they gave me was the furnace was a backup if the boiler went down but after thinking about it I would never do it again. i have never had boiler issues that can't be dealt with quickly and have a wood stove if needed for heat.

[HeavyD111]

All I can say on this is that we have a 3 year old boiler system in our house. It was supposed to drop bills, be more efficient, but the monthly is every bit as high or more than forced air..and adding a/c is a pita.

Just giving my 2c, ask a lot of questions before deciding.

[elkhunter1234]

I run a boiler system in my 10 year old ICF house and love it. Runs my house and attached garage.

[CaberTosser]

Boiler systems are my specialty, I do a few a year and have just such a set-up in my own home. My favorite boilers are IBC's which are made in the Vancouver area, they've been fantastic for both myself and my clients. Alpineguy also has an IBC though I didn't put his in. Another former AO regular has one that I did some service on near Sundre, though I don't know if he's back on here with a new name these days (and his service call was a noise complaint which was traced to the PVC exhaust tubing rubbing against framing, nothing wrong with the boiler)

Boiler systems are very comfortable and are infinitely flexible, I love heated floors as the warmth is where you need it rather than convecting up to the ceiling. Combined with an indirect water heater (stainless steel heat exchanger tank) they provide a colossal amount of hot water with no drawbacks (high volume flow and high efficiency together, no volume restriction like with a tankless). You're already aware of how they can be tied to a fan-coil so I won't beat that drum. When designing be sure to have good foam insulation under the concrete slab, and its also a good idea to put in a sheet-foam thermal break where the slab meets the basement wall (these will have to be planned beforehand in order to set the subgrade at the correct level. Had I the opportunity to build my house again I would also probably do a thin pour (1 1/2 to 2") on the main floor with tubing in that and heat the slab rather than the 'staple-up' system that I did, but only because my system has some expansion noises on initial warm-up, other than that brief bit of nose its great.












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[Artist]

Not fancy, but she'll work for a few things!

[CaberTosser]

That's neat Artist . I'm always thinking of ways to incorporate a wood burning boiler into the scheme of things at my house. If my 'garage mahal' ever comes to fruition I'll be setting aside some space for such an arrangement, I'll utilize a lot of thermal mass in storage tanks to buffer the btu's present in each stoke of the firebox.

[Artist]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

That's neat Artist . I'm always thinking of ways to incorporate a wood burning boiler into the scheme of things at my house. If my 'garage mahal' ever comes to fruition I'll be setting aside some space for such an arrangement, I'll utilize a lot of thermal mass in storage tanks to buffer the btu in each stoke of the firebox.

Having to pay electric bills certainly sparks ideas.

[Dewey Cox]

Here's another vote for IBC boilers.
I put a handful of them in each year.
Lots of people rave about the viessmann's, but I think the IBC is superior in most ways, and it's built closer to home.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Just wondering how is the cost of boiler system compared to a forced air system for a 2000 sg ft home. Also what is the energy efficiency relative to a 95% efficient furnace.

[alpineguy]

I forgot to mention that with certain blower coils they have a pre-installed AC coil so to add central cooling is a lot easier.

My monthly bills in the winter for my 1400 sq ft house which includes heating the garage and hot wayer are around $80. Last year they were more in the $50 range but with the Carbon tax added and burning less wood in the stove they have increased. I truly believe at least 40% of that goes to heating the garage.

[CaberTosser]

Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf

Just wondering how is the cost of boiler system compared to a forced air system for a 2000 sg ft home. Also what is the energy efficiency relative to a 95% efficient furnace.

They'll cost substantially more than furnaces as there is a lot more labor and components to install. Their efficiency depends on the heat loads it serving as they are the most efficient (98%+) when the lowest possible supply water temps are being used, the best example of this is heated slabs where the boiler output will be in 90 degree F range. The lower the output temp, the less heat is discharged out the appliances exhaust and that's the essence of achieving peak efficiency. You simply can't achieve that kind of exhaust output temp when heating air with a furnace. These systems have a much more substantial installation cost and while they offer superior domestic hot water supply, and (generally) better gas efficiency they're certainly not going to be the most cost-effective means of heating a home as that additional cost will take a long time to materialize in a 2% efficiency savings scenario. People install them because they're simply way more comfortable and because they offer resale value benefits to the home. People who have lived with heated floors don't want to go back to other means of heat. Another factor is that the stainless steel exchanger tanks (at least the ones I use) have a limited lifetime warranty, try getting that with a tankless or power vented water heater!

Above all else when building, go nuts with insulation. Excellent insulation offers the biggest payback. Our place is spray foamed everywhere, attic included. That and on the exterior we have EIFS acrylic stucco which has 1.5" sheet foam underneath, so even our 2" x 6" framing has insulation to cover 'thermal bridging' effect of the structural elements.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Caber thanks for good explanation on heating system efficiency. I agree with you insulate the hell out of your home especially the ceiling/attic. Good well installed vapor barrier is very critical.