hey fellas, I have a 1000sq ft garage that needs heat. I have a trunk line in. I was going to use forced air oil fired. I have the oil tank right beside the garge. (just seems pricey, (the unit and the tripple wall throught the roof). I have a oil furnace in my house about 30ft from where the heating unit would go. My question is can I run a zone to a hot water fired forced air unit? do they have such an apparatis. will it be too long of a run to the unit. Can you guys please help me.
Thanks, Lou
Any other options would be appreciated
Replies
Yes, yes, no.
Elaborate!
I thought it was fairly simple. Elegant, perhaps.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
HA
30 feet is an easy run for a hydronic system, especially if pipes are well-insulated. There are "industrial" hydronic space heaters available that are well-suited for a garage situation. They're designed to be hung from the ceiling. Search for hydronic "unit heater".
The only issue would be whether your current boiler is large enough to handle the additonal load.
You say an oil fired furnace but later mention running a zone to a hot water fired forced air unit? I'm hoping you mean that you have an oil fired boiler and you want to run a zone to a hydronic fan-coil. But you also mention a trunk line which is generally a hot air duct around here. So I'm kinda confused but heres my two cents not-withstanding.
If your trunk is hot air then no, you do not want to mix shop/garage air with your indoor air.
If you have a boiler then yes you can buy a fan coil, feed it with hot water from your boiler, and hang it in one of those big shop air cleaners that hang from the ceiling and use the air cleaner to blow dust free air over your coil and kill two birds with one stone. On really cold days you may pull more than your boiler can handle and need to wear long undies in your shop. Not a big deal IMHO.
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"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
Edited 8/20/2007 1:21 pm ET by ShelterNerd
Shelternerd, I have a boiler in the house, the garage is 30 ft from the boiler (detached garage). What I was thinking is: Do they have a forced air unit that hot water from the boiler can feed a hot water coil in that unit which will heat the garage shop through the trunk line that I installed myself. I was planning on using oil fired forced air unit.
-Lou
There are probably fancy ways of doing this.But the basic heater is called a Unit Heater.http://www.airthermhvac.com/steamhot.asp
http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/products.asp?dept=1056.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Yes, just what Bill sent, we call it a fan coil, but you need to protect it from dust in a workshop environment so some kind of extended media filter like a shop air cleaner or "Air Bear" should be used to keep the heat exchanger from getting all covered in sawdust.------------------
"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
I have no idea where you are located or what you plan to use the garage for, but if it's woodworking have you thought of a wood stove? In my last house (in an urban location) I found that trim scrap and other assorted wood waste produced plenty enough heat for winter garage time. The cost of the stove and chimney was less than $200.
Scott.
Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.”
Scott, I'm in NJ I do have a wood stove, But I need heat all the time. (adhesives,solvents,lumber, etc). I love the wood stove. My brother owns a tree service so I have an abundent amount of wood to burn. The garage is two story so I will place the unit on the second floor.
thanx for the input,
Lou
If it's for a woodshop, or really any shop, I think I would put some pex on the walls. you can use your wall as a radient heat source. If you use reflectors and insulation. This way you don't have to worry about dust etc. getting in the fins of your radiator. I would also be nervouse about a wood stove. Open flames and sawdust aren't a good idea, unless you are real good about keeping clean. Another problem with wood is that if you only use the shop part time you will need to get the fire going a few hours ahead of time, to get the tools up to temp.