west central Iowa | KDD - 3/25/2011 17:28
It seems to me it would not really accomplish much for heating. A well insulated and sealed shop would already have much of the benfit of ground temperature beneath the shop floor in the winter, and would seldom get below 35-40 degrees or so if the building is tight. After all, a 60 x60 building (with an insulated perimeter foundation or footer) would already be equal in earth exposure to 1200' of tile, if you assume a tile can get heat from a 3' wide area. And the heat from that tile is never going to be much above 40 degrees itself. I think you would be spinning your wheels.
Cooling might have more of a temperature differential, but it would be very moist air if coming from a tile drain, and i don't think you could keep water out of a solid tile anyway.
I've been in plenty of well insulated, tight buildings that were well below freezing without any additional heat, such as a 20x50 concrete floor farrowing house that was very well insulated. The ground temperature 10 feet down is higher than 40 degrees so the air from the tile should warmer than 40,especially since he was recirculating air form the building not pulling in fresh air. |
Earth heat for shop - anyone do this
