wood fired boiler to heat 40x70 shop

[Mike Kees]

Hi I am just wondering if anyone has experience with a wood fired boiler for infloor heat in a shop. I am looking at one of the stand alone outdoor units that looks like a small shed. How well do they work ? I live in southern Alberta and my shop has sixteen foot high walls. Insulation is R-28 walls, R-40 cieling. I built on a ICF frostwall and insulated under my slab with cutouts from a door factory. Please fell free to chime in with any advice-thoughts. Thanks,mike.

[Jesse Busenitz]

Not real knowledgeable on the subject, but I do know a guy in my area that uses one to heat his shop floor, and I think he can also supplement it with used motor oil as well.... which happens to be quite handy as he's a mechanic... but I think he's been happy with it.

[Tim Offutt]

Hello, a good source of info for wood boilers is the forums at www.hearth.com (http://www.hearth.com)/talk/

They have forums for conventional outdoor wood boilers (OWB) along with gasifiers, pellet burners and others. I have a Garn which is a gasifier wood boiler. I use it to heat several buildings including my home. With a Garn you burn a quick and very hot fire to heat a couple thousand gallons of water surrounding the firebox. Once hot it is stored in the insulated tank and used as needed. In the coldest weather I burn one 2-3 hour fire a day, every couple days in normal winter weather.

I have radiant in floor heating. It works very well and is extremely efficient which is something many OWBs are not.

Spend some time on the web researching which boiler is right for you. There is a ton of info available online.