Question on Modines

[dogwood]

John, thank you for posting your pictures. It's surprising such a small sized unit could dheat the amount of basement space you have. But I suppose its about the same size of a water to air heat exchanger I've over my furnace that heats 3000 sq, feet. Coincidentally, I found a calculator on the Modine site that figured out for my application that I'd need the same sized Modine as yours to heat my shop when the outdoor temperature is at zero degrees F. It rarely gets that cold here in the western part of Virginia. I'll have to fine tune the calculations to allow for a worst case scenario of water temps in the 140 degree range, but this looks promising. Supply House (formerly Pex Supply) carries that unit so ordering would be simple too.

Do you have a separate pump supplying it's hot water? I don't imagine a hydronic Modine comes with its own pump. If so, would you mind sharing what size or kind pump you have supplying hot water to your Modine? I promise no more questions. You've already been very helpful John. I think this might be a lot simpler installation than a separate w/a hx and air handler. Thanks again,

Mike

 

[JohnDolz]

John, thank you for posting your pictures. It's surprising such a small sized unit could dheat the amount of basement space you have. But I suppose its about the same size of a water to air heat exchanger I've over my furnace that heats 3000 sq, feet. Coincidentally, I found a calculator on the Modine site that figured out for my application that I'd need the same sized Modine as yours to heat my shop when the outdoor temperature is at zero degrees F. It rarely gets that cold here in the western part of Virginia. I'll have to fine tune the calculations to allow for a worst case scenario of water temps in the 140 degree range, but this looks promising. Supply House (formerly Pex Supply) carries that unit so ordering would be simple too.

Do you have a separate pump supplying it's hot water? I don't imagine a hydronic Modine comes with its own pump. If so, would you mind sharing what size or kind pump you have supplying hot water to your Modine? I promise no more questions. You've already been very helpful John. I think this might be a lot simpler installation than a separate w/a hx and air handler. Thanks again,

Mike

Happy to help and I don't mind the questions at all - you just need to be OK with my non-technical answers. I have the original Grundfos Alpha 1 Circulator on each of my zones, including the Modine. If I had to do it over again I would attempt 1 circulator with electric check valves. My guess is that the Modine is about 75' of pipe away from the circulator with 4 or 5 90 degree elbows. One thing to keep in mind if you haven't given it thought - they are a bit noisy. Good luck and feel free to ask anything else but you may already have everything I know.

 

[dogwood]

I have read about the noise issue with Modines, but could probably live with it as it's only a shop, which can be noisy anyway. My Modine should be closer to the hot water storage than yours, so maybe I can use a smaller pump. I'll have to find out the needed gpm etc. to calculate that. I've forgotten how to do the figuring on this type of thing, but it will come back to me. Those Grundfos Alphas you have are nice pumps. I've only the older Grundfos three speed models. They do work quietly and like a charm though. Thanks again.

Mike

 

[salecker]

I used one for heating my basement space.I ended up removing the 3 bladed fan and putting a squirrel cage fan on it so we could live with it.It's still being used that way.
There is nothing as permanent as a temporary fix

 

[dogwood]

Salecker, maybe they make more noise than I'm expecting them to. I'll have to find one to listen to. There is a two car garage in between the house and where the shop is going to be, so hopefully the noise won't carry that far. If I've got the Ingersoll Rand air compressor going at the same time, along with the dust collection system in the wood shop, that ought to wake up the dead though. If it doesn't I'll turn on the table saw.

How many BTU's does your Modine in the basement put out? Maybe living here in the South I'll be able to use a smaller, quieter unit than you might need in the North of Canada.

Mike

 

[JohnDolz]

Salecker, maybe they make more noise than I'm expecting them to. I'll have to find one to listen to. There is a two car garage in between the house and where the shop is going in so hopefully the noise won't carry that far. If I've got the Ingersoll-Rand compressor going at the same time, along with the dust collection system in the wood shop, that ought to wake up the dead though. If it doesnt I'll turn on the table saw.

How big a unit do you have in your basement in BTU's?

Mike

It doesn't make that level of noise, I think you would only hear it in the shop if your other stuff isn't running. The photo I shared shows the heater sitting right under the floor of my Livingroom. If it is running you can pretty much only hear it in the Livingroom and barely noticeable when the TV is on. I had it installed when we replaced the oil boiler with a propane boiler (before we had the wood boiler) and would run it regularly to keep the basement warm for the kids. With the wood boiler and storage in the basement I really don't need to run and if I run it with the low temp water that I use it runs for longer periods of time. Basically it became an annoying noise/vibration to pick up 2 or 3 degrees in the basement. I often think of the hard life my parents had and shake my head thinking that this noise issue is the biggest thing I have to complain about - its a good life.

 

[dogwood]

You're so right John. We really do have it easy compared to what our folks had to deal with.

 

[E Yoder]

If you look around on ebay and such you can find those type of unit heaters with either variable speed fans or multispeed fans.
Then run on low speed to cut down on noise unless it's really cold. Buy one size larger than you need to compensate.

 

[Bad LP]

I’ve got 8 Modine units total between work and the house. 6 hot water units and 2 gas burners. None of them is quiet but also not obnoxious. One was already a back up heat in my basement up north and we turned it into the powered dump zone.

 

[dogwood]

Yoder, That's a good idea. I'll get right back on Ebay to look into multispeed fan units as you suggest. I was just on there anyway a moment ago looking for a couple of old Delta lathe accessories.

Bad LP, that's also a clever idea to use one of your Modines as a powered dump zone.

Mike

 

[salecker]

Salecker, maybe they make more noise than I'm expecting them to. I'll have to find one to listen to. There is a two car garage in between the house and where the shop is going to be, so hopefully the noise won't carry that far. If I've got the Ingersoll Rand air compressor going at the same time, along with the dust collection system in the wood shop, that ought to wake up the dead though. If it doesn't I'll turn on the table saw.

How many BTU's does your Modine in the basement put out? Maybe living here in the South I'll be able to use a smaller, quieter unit than you might need in the North of Canada.

Mike

I have no idea on BTU's
A friend had it in his yard and we did some trading for it.No lables or identifying plates on it.I ran 3,1/2" lines to it and have only turned on 2, keeps the basement warm at -40C.
I may replace it at some point.

 

[dogwood]

At -40C, which oddly enough equals -40F, it's a wonder you're able to survive long enough to turn your Modine on.

 

[cumminstinkerer]

@dogwood surprisingly about a month ago we were darn close to that here in central Iowa, we hit -26F, one of the guys from work was in the northwest part of Iowa and he saw -38F

 

[dogwood]

Cummingstinkerer, my sister on the other hand, called me about a week ago and asked if I'd send her a sweater as they were having a cold wave and it was down to 68F in Orlando. I'd no idea your temps in Iowa could get so low there.

 

[cumminstinkerer]

Yeah we get like that every couple of years for a week or two, we went two full weeks and a little more without getting above zero, my little econoburn 100 struggled there to keep up and heat storage, I have a drafty 1930's single story farm house with poor insulation, needless to say storage did not get fully charged during that time, 1500 gallons is a lot for that boiler. The house stayed warm at least.

 

[salecker]

At -40C, which oddly enough equals -40F, it's a wonder you're able to survive long enough to turn your Modine on.

6 weeks of it last year...
a couple of avalanches and the Yukon was facing heating oil shortages.It took 2 weeks for me to get oil to deliver to my customers after i ordered it.
Only about 12 days of it this year.
-40 makes the woodpile dissapear.I wood cart load a day. -20C i will go through 2 carts in 3 days