[QUOTE=NancyM;8986359]
Our house has in floor heat from an outside wood burning boiler. It works well. A farm further north than us has their barn floor heated in the same way (they are very rich people). It works for them, I hear. I think they built it from scratch, so not a make over project. They order in logs to run their barn heat system, the wood has to be in 4’ sections. So this system is a possibility, if you are sure you need it. Yes, it has antifreeze in the pipes, it’s expensive. But less than having the pipes freeze and break. The outdoor wood burning boiler has NO fire risk for buildings. I can’t imagine the cost of running this system with electricity, scary. Especially in a barn that is not insulated with thick insulation. Fresh air is necessary for health in a barn, one can’t shut it up to be airtight. Running heat with electricity in the barn is always going to have a fire risk, more so in a barn than other buildings due to dust. Personally, it is NOT something that I would recommend for a barn. I have foaled out some early babies here, one VERY early (a mistake foal), and she went through a very cold winter, -15 C when born, and -30 C for weeks a few days later. She was simply wrapped up in GOOD foal blankets, a wool one first, and hollowfill insulated on top of that. And she was FINE, no problems, happy and warm. It was months before I actually go to SEE her body, just her fuzzy face and legs, and everything else covered with her ski jacket/s. Foal blankets are cheap. In floor heat in the barns is expensive, and labour intensive, IMO. And not necessary.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for the info on the wood burning stove. I had always wondered about those when I hear people reference them.
I have occasional winters like what you describe; negative teens (for a high) for weeks on end. I had one born during a nasty spell like that and we could not get him warm enough. We eventually put up a corral panel stall in the garage, set up a radiant heater above, and would rotate blankets for him and his dam through the dryer to warm them up. I’ve had foals in the cab of a truck for short term emergency situations but that’s obviously not a good long term solution. Even scarier than that colt (my early babies are always born extra fluffy) in that bitter of cold was his dam. As she approached foaling, she would shed out completely. I’m talking show slick. She was also in a bad way during that cold snap. So even that’s where the concern comes from.
Since then I generally foal out in April, but would love to have the flexibility to foal out sooner to better appeal to futurity prospect buyers.
I would probably be better off going with just a hanging radiant heater for spot-heating purposes for the short term only when it’s needed… but I’m terrified of the fire hazard. After 20+ years, I’ve had some really odd and horrific freak accidents in the last couple years. I firmly believe that statistics will eventually catch up if you own enough horses for long enough (as morbid as that sounds). So essentially I’m not wanting to give fire even a remote chance.
Obviously cost will greatly dictate which direction I go; And I’m pretty sure I’ve decided on electric, then hydronic, then nothing, then radiant about 3 or 4 times throughout the course of this thread (see my signature line). So better to talk the kinks out now, rather than drop the money on it to find out it was a horrible idea :winkgrin: Thank you for the input!
Question specifically is regarding drilling through current concrete and if anyone has done that before.
