Extra Heat Idea???

Don't know if I am crazy but tell me what you think.
On those really cold days when my radiant floor heat, powered by the KAA-2, just doesn't do it. I have to kick on the propane furnace. My "newest" thought is this. What if I had a water to air heat exchanger in the plenum and supplied it with a loop from the boiler? No propane use.
What do you think?
Thanks!

as long as the KAA-2 has enough capacity to do the job

Make a boot warmer. You can use a valve to turn it on and off.
This one keeps shoes warm and keeps the chill away from the
entrance way.

tsb wrote:Make a boot warmer

You heard it here first, folks! Probably the one and only coal-powered boot warmer in the country, and it belongs to one of our own!

Kungur wrote:What if I had a water to air heat exchanger in the plenum and supplied it with a loop from the boiler?

I'm guessing the plenum heat exchanger would need much hotter water than the radiant floor. Is there an easy way to have high temperature water through one and low temperature through the other?

Why isn't the radiant floor heat sufficient in and of itself?

lsayre wrote:Why isn't the radiant floor heat sufficient in and of itself?

My thoughts exactly. Oliver

Why? I guess I cannot answer that. I install as much radiant tubing & transfer plates as possible. I even used advice from a radiant heating engineer. But all Icn say is when the temp gets down to tho single digits the house cools down. even though the water temp going out through the loops is up, I tweak it with the mixing valve, it just seems like it is not enough.

Kungur wrote:Why? I guess I cannot answer that. I install as much radiant tubing & transfer plates as possible. I even used advice from a radiant heating engineer. But all Icn say is when the temp gets down to tho single digits the house cools down. even though the water temp going out through the loops is up, I tweak it with the mixing valve, it just seems like it is not enough.

Some pic's of the radiant tubes and installation would be helpful and his is why. How did you insulate the tubing, fiberglass under tubes, air space between tubes and subfloor, heat transfer plates attached to the tubes, etc. Insulating where the floor joists meet the rim joist are critical, closed cell sprayfoam insulation is excellent for his. Carpeting is an insulator, this will hinder heat transfer.....radiant floor heating is one of the best heating options if done properly.

Kungur wrote:Why? I guess I cannot answer that. I install as much radiant tubing & transfer plates as possible. I even used advice from a radiant heating engineer. But all Icn say is when the temp gets down to tho single digits the house cools down. even though the water temp going out through the loops is up, I tweak it with the mixing valve, it just seems like it is not enough.

First question - When it is cold outside and the house is not maintaining the temperature you want...what is the KAA-2 temperature?

Second question - What temperature water are you running through the radiant system?

lsayre wrote:Why isn't the radiant floor heat sufficient in and of itself?

Larry, up here it isn't uncommon for a radiant floor to not be sufficient if the room has a lot of glass, or a lot of wind exposure. A few feet of baseboard and a two-stage thermostat go a long way to maintain temperature in frigid weather.

My infloor heat lags a bit when it get's colder than 5 below zero. I have radiant in 1/3 of the house & baseboard in the rest. The kitchen, dining room & entry way are radiant and open to the living room that is baseboard. I purposely put extra baseboard in the living room and on those half dozen days a year when we need extra heat, the living room base board easily makes up the difference.

So, any way you want, add some fins someplace. It'll make the difference on those extra cold days. Perhaps a "kick toe" heater under a cupboard? They are a bit expensive and a pain in the butt ton install, but do a good job.

What temp do you run the infloor tubing at? If it's low temp water might you bump it up a bit during the cold spells? I can mine, but it's a delicate thing for me to do so I prefer to leave it where it is. Mine is not digital & I can not turn it up one or two degrees. I have to turn a knob & it's a crapshoot as to if it's one degree increase or five. A few years back I found it's happy place & I plan to never touch it again!

Love the boot warmer!