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creeky
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 12:25
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ALDE In-floor Boiler Heating system
Anybody have experience with this? I want one. No two. No ...
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sparky30_06
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 13:45
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can't comment on that brand but I did two shops in northern Illinois with in-floor heat and a boiler and they were amazing!!!!
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Al Burton
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 14:18
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I bought one used off of ebay a number of years back. It didn't have the control panel but my reading showed it would work in limp mode. I bench tested it with a radiant baseboard unit. it worked great on the bench but when I installed it at my cabin I could not get it to function properly. It kept faulting but without a panel I couldn't get error messages. I contacted the distributor in Wa. state but they would never get back to me. I finally gave up and put it on a shelf in the shop. I think it may have been a circulation problem due to the pump being undersized for my application. i have been thinking of playing with it some more. it is a nice little unit that I thought had great promise. The mechanical room I was putting it in was only 12 x 16 so it should have worked good.
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Al Burton
Member
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 14:25
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Interesting timing! I just looked on ebay and someone has a used control panel for sale. I might have to resurrect the project!
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 14:34
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I have an Alde in my bus conversion. While driving we can use heat from the engine as well as propane. When available we can also use shore power. It is the nicest system for an RV IMO. The control system Alde has is a big part of how well it works.
I do have a hydronic system that heats my home mainly via radiant in-floor PEX loops. I love it too. It was installed in several zones. The heat sources switch between heat pump when there is sufficient solar electricity or propane.
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NorthRick
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 16:47 - Edited by: NorthRick
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Quoting: Al Burton I bought one used off of ebay a number of years back. It didn't have the control panel but my reading showed it would work in limp mode. I bench tested it with a radiant baseboard unit. it worked great on the bench but when I installed it at my cabin I could not get it to function properly. It kept faulting but without a panel I couldn't get error messages. I contacted the distributor in Wa. state but they would never get back to me. I finally gave up and put it on a shelf in the shop. I think it may have been a circulation problem due to the pump being undersized for my application. i have been thinking of playing with it some more. it is a nice little unit that I thought had great promise. The mechanical room I was putting it in was only 12 x 16 so it should have worked good.
Hot water baseboard head and in-floor radiant heat work at two different temperatures. Water for baseboard heaters needs to be hotter because it is a smaller surface area.
I don't think either are great for a cabin that is only heated part time. It takes longer for these systems to get the room up to temperature than other types of heat. However, for keeping a room at a constant temperature they can't be beat with the in-floor type being a bit better.
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Brettny
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 18:57
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Quoting: NorthRick I don't think either are great for a cabin that is only heated part time. It takes longer for these systems to get the room up to temperature than other types of heat
Radiant in floor/slab heat is known for long recovery times. I'm not sure how the radiant non in floor, just under the sub floor is. It's prob not great as it's still not heating the air your living in. It's heating the floor then the air.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 17 Dec 2019 19:01
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Yep. I would never recommend using radiant in floor for anything that is not occupied for long periods of time, like all winter pretty much.
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Al Burton
Member
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# Posted: 18 Dec 2019 01:00
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check out the alde units here.
https://www.alde.us/alde-heating-system/
they are kind of a unique unit. in my case I built a mechanical room with my water tank and all my solar gear, washer/dryer etc inside. I do keep it heated all winter with a Williams direct vent propane heater that I modified for intermittent pilot operation. In other words it only lights the pilot then the main when calling for heat. (standing pilots use a surprising amount of propane) I had figured that the Alde in such a small room might be more efficient when left at away temperature (40f). Maybe I will get a chance to try it again.
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Lorioffgrid
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# Posted: 31 Dec 2019 15:43 - Edited by: Lorioffgrid
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Here is my sitch. I'm happy with wood heat, however if I was to go away for a couple nights or a month in the Montana winter I have to store all freezables at a neighbor's house. I'd like to be more self sufficient. I've thought about in floor heating. I'm also thinking of a propane fireplace. The pilot light would probably keep the 77 square foot space above freezing. I am off the grid. I use propane on the two burner cook stove. I have a small solar panel with two deep cell battery back up. No running water. Please advise?
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Al Burton
Member
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# Posted: 31 Dec 2019 16:12
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Lorioffgrid that sounds very familiar as we are also in Montana. I would suggest an inexpensive direct vent propane heater with a thermostat and non electric. I use a couple of them and one keeps my mechanical room warm for weeks at a time while we are away. I keep water and pantry items in there also. What part of Montana? Maybe we are neighbors.
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Steve_S
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# Posted: 31 Dec 2019 17:57
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I have a separate powerhouse / pumphouse (one building) which I heat with a recovered RV Furnace that only uses 12V and LPG and no standing pilot (suburban NT20S) that I got from a 3yr old wrecked 20' RV for $300. works a charm for that building which is only kept at 10C / 50F. Uses a total of 40LB of LPG for the whole winter. My old one had a pilot an used 3x that amount of fuel. (Ontario Canada).
I would like to suggest this product for consideration as there is some special goodies this has. https://electrodacus.com/ NOTE that you can divert to a hot water tank for heating, this guy uses it in Calgary Alberta and it works !
BTW: I live I my place, near Algonquin Park Ontario, have a Frost Protected Slab foundation with Radiant heat, because of my locale, it does not use water but Cryo-Tek-100 Propylene Glycol in a closed loop system. Works wonderfully and keep everything toasty in winter and the slab is a temp balancer in summer. It takes 24 hours to drop 4 degrees Celsius in mid winter when it's -20C / -4F outside.
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creeky
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# Posted: 5 Jan 2020 10:58 - Edited by: creeky
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Lori: I also use a small propane heater to keep my "great room and kitchen" from freezing when I'm away. Along with the wood stove it works very well. The propane heater keeps things above freezing, the woodstove for heat. Beats coming back from a weekend away and waiting 8 hours while the room comes back up to temp and no worries about freezing the pipes!
Any good solar system will have a diversion controller. Its a relay, usually in the solar controller, so when your batteries are full, you can divert the sunshine to whatever. Most folks use a water heater.
The electrodacus fella, from Saskatchewan, has a real nice solar controller/bms for lifepo4 batteries. Great for small systems.
Personally, once your inverter gets to 3kw or your lithium battery bank gets to 10kwh. Go 48v. Easier, cheaper.
Thanks for the tips on finding the equipment. This looks like a great system for heat and hot water with quite simple implementation.
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