high mass heating system

im remodeling my house and have the opportunity to add a sand high mass floor as described by bob ramlow in his book solar water heating. i was wondering how this system would work with a wood fired boiler. they often suggest to have a large water storage tank to make these boilers more efficient and as i am very limited in my space (1000 sq. ft. divided between two floors) i thought storing the energy in the floor would make more sense. then in time when a giant fir tree in front of my house feels the need to come down i could add some solar panels.

i have 500 sq. ft. of interior floor space for the high mass storage at 210 pounds per sq,ft. = 52.5 tons of mass.

my questions are:
would a 100,000 btu wood boiler heat this up and how long would it take?
once its up to temp. how long would it stay warm? could i fire up the boiler get it warm and not burn wood for a few days?
would a mass this size be able to warm the second floor (bath and bed rooms)
does this sound like a possibility or is it way out there?

any feed back would be much appreciated

chris

First, I think that sand is a better insulator then conductor (From "safe House" "- sand has as much insulating ability as fiberglass and walls are much more bullet proof") so I don't know if heat will "radiate" enough to offset the heat lost in the cold boiler. In fact if I remember my camping lore "covering baked potatoes in sand by the fire will help to keep the heat in".

Second, You might be better off building a small "out house" for a tank (and boiler) with all the wood you will need to brace a floor against 52 tons of sand. I'm glad you will be the one to "move" all that sand.

I would insulate the floor with fiberglass and run Pex plastic pipe as a radiator. Get a batch solar water heater with it's own tank mounted horizontally so as not to interfere with you window view outside. Tie the boiler to the tank (plumbing). Add a DC pump so it can be powered by solar later. Add 2 ball valves to regulate the heat going to the first and second floors.

You should have heated floors by solar (tree will not compromise solar hot water much) or by boiler. If you do build a "power house" then consider stuffing your batteries and inverter in there when you get them.

high mass heating system

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