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Heating

Heating for the homestead becomes a choice of what is available. The choices depend on your location. For many years in the prairies homesteaders used oil, gas, propane and electrical heat. Rising fuel costs however may have altered the choices.

Today one can buy stoves that burn wood, corn, grain, or wood pellets.

Wood Heating

For many homesteaders they may be fortunate enough to have a woodlot nearby. Using fallen dead and down wood is best. A nice and dry wood lot will last for years if properly taken care of. Although wood heat is labor intensive it provides a nice dry heat and nothing seems to replace its simplicity.

Another alternative is outdoor wood or coal stoves which are common in areas with plenty of wood or coal. These stoves use wood or coal to heat water that is circulated back into the home by means of in floor heating or radiators.

Solar Heating

If one can afford it, a solar water heater is a nice way to go. The water heats up from the sun, goes into a tank by means of a heat manifold and then is circulated with a pump into water lines in or under the floor, or through radiators of some type.

Combination Heating

This type of heating requires a good knowledge of plumbing and how water heats up.

The idea is to have a normal hot water tank that uses any form of heating element such as propane, natural gas, wood, or electricity.

* Make sure cold comes innear the bottom and the heated water comes out at a higher elevation.*
*This way no pumps are needed and no caviatation or air locks occur.*

In the first phase the home owner makes or purchases a solar unit for the roof of the house. If you live in warm climates you can plumb it directly which is called an open circuit using normal pressurized water.

If in colder climates alcohol is added to prevent freezing and an expansion tank is used in what is called a closed circuit. This type also requires the use of a manifold to keep alcohol/water from entering the drinking supply. A manifold is simply a peice of copper that inserts into the tank. They can be purchased from many solar water dealers. If you build your own tank you can use a coil of copper. Hot water enters the top and cold comes out close to the bottom. Tanks can be square or round!

In either method the first stage is to prewarm the water on the roof. Shower or wash clothes later in the day to save energy. This water can be used as is for many months of the year. It will save on energy costs all year long.

This first phase requires its own tank and should be well insulated.

The second phase is through your heating appliance. A copper tube or solid threaded black iron water pipe is placed into the firebox on the side, or on top under a baffle, or even copper wrapped in a circular fashion around the chimney pipe. If you have an oil or gas furnace you can also preheat water every time the furnace cycles by placing copper within or above the heating chamber.

This phase can circulate water from the secondary tank. This tank is usually operated by gas, oil, propane, or electricity. If your using an on-demand tank you must use the same first or primary tank as the solar unit. The difference is that you use a normal plumbing line drawing water from the tank and returning it to the same tank. No alcohol needed.

The third phase is through your hot water tank or an on-demand water heater. All preheated water flows into or through the final system and depending upon the temperature setting will reduce the amount of energy required. This means the third phase is really just touching up the water for final use.

Although, this may seem complicated it really is simple and since we are talking about conserving energy especially if you live off the grid is the one that I reccommend.

You will find that in the winter if you use the wood stove you will have plenty of hot water in short order and will not need to preheat it any further. Most shower valves can now be preset to lower temperatures to prevent burning.

If your solar and secondary heating source is working well, you may be able to bypass the third phase in warmer seasons by using bypass valves. These valves close off the water from the secondary heating tanks and bypass straight to the plumbing into kitchen or bathrooms.

The whopper Heating system

The whopper is making use of one more type of home heating and that is 'in floor heating'. This works best in solid concrete floors but also can be done if you have a crawl space.

In this system you circulate your hot water within the floor in the winter using a timer to push the water every fifteen minutes to one half hour for a fifteen minute interval. This will make use of the hot water to prevent the saftey valve from pouring water down the drain and will help all the rooms be of equal temeratures during those blustery cold months.