“The boiler uses about 2,000 gallons of oil in a heating season to heat the entire facility. It runs non-stop from September through early May,” Hibbert said. “I’d planned to burn waste oil years before building this shop, so I never figured out exactly how much it would cost to heat with gas for space heat and domestic water. But we calculated it recently at around $600 a month. Conservatively, we’re saving $5,400 a year to heat the place and to provide hot water.”

To make room for the two vehicle lifts, the garage ceilings had to be high. Coupled with the large bay doors, the heat load for the building is substantial, though with radiant heat there’s very little stratification, and also quick recovery when the big bay doors open.

“I keep the shop and break room at 64 degrees. But the ladies in the office like it at 70,” Hibbert said. The radiant- heated slab was by far the best heating option for the shop. Unlike a forced air system, the thermal mass of the shop’s floor and its 6,500 square feet of PEX tubing keep all the BTUs from rising to the ceilings.

The fluid for five of the building’s six zones are circulated by Taco 008 three-speed pumps. Taco 0011’s are used to pressurize the domestic water lines, and the largest hydronic zone.

Traditional residential work

Homeowner Brad Hibberd lives on the other side of Soldotna. His new, 2,900 square-foot home also incorporates a hydronic heating system, along with some of the bells and whistles that help make life on the Last Frontier more comfortable and economical.

The home’s hydronic equipment drive a finely-crafted in- floor heating system. The main mechanical area, assembled along one of the garage walls, is also home to Brad’s meticulously restored Oldsmobile 442, looking like a beast at rest just six feet from the boiler. “That was my very first car,” said Hibberd. “But my brother wrecked it shortly after I bought it. I’ve taken better care of it since then. Now it’s as good as new.”

Also drawing heat from the modulating-condensing boiler is a 56-gallon indirect water heater and snowmelt system. The domestic water system is equipped with a hot water recirculation system.

The concrete front walk was poured over PEX tubing, providing a slip-free surface during the winter months. “Since the area was so small,” Jason said, “I simply used a Taco X-Pump block to circulate glycol to the snow melt system. The heat exchanger easily handles the call for BTUs. “”It’s an off-the-shelf solution for exchanging heat while separating source heat—in this case, water—from the snow melt’s glycol mix.”

Luxury in a big way

Half an hour’s ride from the M+J headquarters is one of many beautiful glacier-sculpted lakes in the area. On the bank rests a newly-constructed 10,000 square foot house, complete with a driveway with parking for several RVs and a temperature-con- trolled green-house. Just down from that, a dock lined with small boats and personal watercraft.

Step inside the home and it’s apparent that power toys weren’t the only purchases where no expense was spared. The open architectural plan avails space for large crowds, while leather furnishings and modern art, tile and stone floors and two kitchens reveal an appetite for many of life’s good things.

The plumbing and heating systems are no exception. The home is entirely heated by in-floor radiant. In addition to the home’s two powder rooms on the first floor, all four children have their own bathrooms, each complete with jetted tubs. Two more full bath- rooms are found within the home, one of which features a 12-head, walk in shower.

The mechanical room is comparatively small, needing to house manifolds for 14 hydronic zones and associated circulators, the boiler and an 84-gallon indirect fired water heater. Because of the space constraints some of the manifolds were placed on the ceil- ing of the room. “I got a little creative here,” Jason said. “I knew it would look different running all that tubing across the ceiling, but it turned out really cool.”