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Renovating my house, need input on heating options.

B

Beau

Lifer
I have a turn-of-the century brick house that I am renovating. It is not very big, aprox. 1800 sqft. I have replaced all of the original glass with double-pane insulated glass, and am adding 3" of insulation on all of the walls. I need to make a choice of heating options. I live in utah, so the winters get pretty cold. I have thought about radiator heating, but I don't know how efficient/economical this solution is. It would be the easiest to implement cuz I wouldn't have to run any heating ducts, just some piping to radiators. Any input?
 
I've got something a lot of people dont have, so i'll share it... its called a Kerosene Furnace... (no, not the ones you pour Kerosene in and they can fall over and burn you up) they apparently are popular in Japan where space is limited for different options. They sit in your living room or basement or whatever, and are fueled with ... guess.... you got it, Kerosene! heh. Stored in a normal tank outside the house and pumped to the furnace using an outside fuel pump. They are quiet, and quite efficient. No odor, as it exhausts directly outside.

For the season, a fillup of kerosene cost about 500 bucks, but compare that to electric heating costs that are also in my condo, and wow. its a BIG difference.

edit: heres a link to a similar product to what i have: LINK
 
Thanks, Intake, but I'd like to get something that is natural-gas-powered. I don't have room to put a kerosene tank in.
 
you might consider a fireplace with blower. They are pricey ($4kish) but very efficient... then again, you might not have much firewood in UTah.

 


<< Thanks, Intake, but I'd like to get something that is natural-gas-powered. I don't have room to put a kerosene tank in. >>


no problem. my tank is outside if you thought it was inside. 😀 but just offering the option. WEEEEE!
 
hot-water heating works "okay" but not stellar. Given your situation and lack of desire to run heating ducts though, it sounds viable. major concerns with water heat, is that the heat exchange unit can be high maintainence, and if you don't keep the unit purged of air bubbles, it can sound like someone is rolling marbles down the pipes. Hot water heat is good radiant heat, but not suitable in situations where you need lots of heat "now". hope this helps
 
Personally, I would trade my radiators for forced air in a heartbeat.

Don't get me wrong...they work really well, but take up too much room and dry the house out like nobody's business. The one in my living room is about 3 feet high, 7 feet long and at least a foot deep and renders that wall pretty much usless for furniture in the winter.

We're constantly running humidifiers and/or boiling pots of water just to keep some humidity in the air.


With forced air you can add a humidifier to the furnace and humidify the enitre house.

Another benefit of forced air....you can add Air Conditioning easily.

Just my $0.02

- TK
 
What about operational costs? Are forced air heaters cheaper or more expensive than radiators? BTW, I'm planning on (at least if I go with radiated heat) making my own radiators. My grandparents did it and they look very nice.
 
I dont own a house(my parents do), but their system is a dual system. Its a aircondition + Heater system. It works great since its one peice. The advantage is that you got central air too. There is also a newer version that also has a water heater in it, during the summer it heats up with the help of the aircon, in the winter it heats up with the help of the heater.

THey are pricey but they are worth it. By the way for us the heater is gas operated the aircon is electricity operated, but they are in teh same unit.

 


<< What about operational costs? Are forced air heaters cheaper or more expensive than radiators? BTW, I'm planning on (at least if I go with radiated heat) making my own radiators. My grandparents did it and they look very nice. >>



If you have a lot of sun exposure, you could do this:
Take 55-gallon drums and paint them black. Put water in them. Put them by the windows.
They will absorb heat from the sunlight throughout the day and radiate heat through the night.

 
I don't think that'd work in Utah. First, there aren't enough sunny days in the winter. Second, we acutally have winter here so they'd freeze and burst.
 


<< I don't think that'd work in Utah. First, there aren't enough sunny days in the winter. >>


Yeh...it's not the most feasible plan in the world. It really only works well if you live in a very 70s-style contemporary struct with lots of windows...


<< Second, we acutally have winter here so they'd freeze and burst. >>


Well you don't fill them up all the way ththilly! Not to mention 55 gal of water weighs 500lbs...you'd never be able to move them!
But theoretically, inside your house, which is now fairly well-insulated, the barrells should be able to absorb enough solar energy to stay liquid.

Just throwing out ideas, really.
🙂
 
Don't have any info on this right now. (Saw it on This Old House) High velocity forced air. At least I think that's what it was called. The ducts are only about 3-4 inches in diameter, so you can run them inside walls fairly easily. The This Old House people used it in a restore of an old farm house.

This leads to my heating mode of choice, ground source heat pump. My Mom installed one about 10 years ago in central PA. It is still working like a charm. It is electric, but very efficient. Her monthly electric bills are rarely over $100 for a 1600 sq.ft. house. Granted it is very well insulated. She has a small wood stove for a backup.

Ground source heat pumps cost more to install than conventional heating systems, but they pay off in the long run. There is also a new design that makes the outside installation much simpler, but I can remember off hand if it is being produced yet. The most important thing is a well recommended installer. A side benefit with a heat pump, is it also gives you A/C in the summer.
 
That might work, as there are a lot of thermal outlets in the area that I live in, but I think you have to have a permit to tap into them. Not sure though.
 
I used to have hot forced air heat, now I how radiators and I love them! The hot forced air used to bother my allerigies really bad, and I always hated how hot my house got when the blowers were on. With the radiators it's always so nice and warm!
 
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