Hydronic Heaters & Ground Thaw Rental
DirtWright has a fleet of hydronic heating units which are available for rent in Central Alberta. Our hydronic heaters are sturdy trailer mounted boiler units which circulate coolant through lines to provide heat. These are sometimes called glycol heaters or ground thaw heaters and are used with insulating tarps to thaw frost to allow excavation in ground, but are also used for curing concrete and remote heating. Thermostat monitoring of the non-toxic propylene glycol based fluid allows efficient thermal control of the project. The coolant’s high heat capacity and direct contact of the glycol lines allows efficient heat transfer which means that your fuel dollars go the furthest. It depends on site conditions and insulation, but in the Red Deer area, our ground thaw trailers typically thaw the ground in around a week (give or take a bit). An air based heat system cannot cover the same area that ours can, and will require hoarding and a fair bit more fuel. The air heater will still take much longer to thaw the ground in addition to requiring extra fuel and labour. An hydronic ground heater is the fastest and most efficient way to thaw frozen ground, and saves the trouble of setting up hoarding to use an air heater.
Heat Air reliably and Efficiently
Hydronic heaters can also heat interior space by circulating heat transfer fluid through a thermostat controlled heat exchanger placed inside the area to be warmed. This allows already warmed air to be maintained at temperature and recirculated, instead of blowing out warm air by pushing new exterior air into the building as is done with indirect fired units. This increases efficiency and lowers the fuel bill. The heat exchangers only need line in and out, which allows the heating trailer to be parked a distance away from the area to be heated to remove a source of ignition further from the site. A single heat trailer can often service an entire site this way, which increases safety and efficiency.
Cold weather concrete curing
Curing concrete slabs and foundations is simpler with a hydronic system as well. The lines are laid out on the area to be cured and insulated tarps are placed overtop to cover the concrete. As with any concrete cure, care must be taken to avoid overheating the concrete and to ensure uniform heating. Gas phases (Air) are a better insulator than conductor of heat, so as with ground thaw, the direct line contact and no requirement for hoarding setup can make renting a glycol heater a more efficient system than using an indirect fired heater. This setup is most commonly used to protect grade beams, walls, and footings, but can be used to cure structural slabs & slabs on grade.
Construction Heater Rentals
We provide units in propane and diesel fired options to suit your site conditions, and can convert heaters to gas if required for longer term use. We provide delivery, setup, and takedown of our heater rentals, and rent accessories such as insulated tarps and heat exchangers. All equipment breaks with time. We maintain what we rent and strive to provide excellent local service to protect your project. Our heaters are self contained and come with automatic hose reels with hose included and serve residential, commercial, and industrial heater rental needs. Extra fueling capacity can be plumbed in so heaters can run longer without refueling, which can save labour. Our heat trailers are available up to 860 kBTU (Wacker Neuson, ZipThaw, and others). Up to 4 of our 200 kBTU heat exchangers can be run from one trailer, or duties can be split between space heating and ground thaw/concrete curing with the hydronic lines. One trailer can thaw up to about 15000+ square feet of area with the appropriate accessories (additional hose reels and pump packs/manifolds), which we also rent out.