Home Building Questions - Propane - All electric - Fireplace

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

What are you going to be using for air conditioning as I would thinking it maybe a larger portion of your utility bill? I've hear that some of the new mini-split AC units can also provide heat and are quite efficient even down to much lower temperatures than when they first came out many years ago.

Around here if you have a buried propane tank you own it, if its above ground you rent it.

For the main level it will just be a normal AC. We will have a finished "bonus" occasional use room above the garage. It will have a mini split.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I mix mine 50-50 with free corn. You have to clean them, no big deal and I keep all my pellets and corn in the barn anyway. Cleaning is about a 10 minute job with a good shop vac and drywall bag. I keep 6 plastic trash cans by the deck. 3 with pellets, 3 with corn.

We stayed at a VRBO a couple weeks ago that had a freestanding pellet stove. I liked it. I don't think the maintenance required would be a deal breaker.

Can you burn corn in any of them? Whole corn or cracked?

 

[Hughman]

Look for a multi-fuel unit. I installed an Enviro M55 cast which is multi-fuel, even though I only evey burn pellets.

 

[Egon]

In the OP’s location it would sound like a heat pump and pellet stove would be a perfect fit. Heat pumps air condition or heat and are quite easy on the electrical bill.
The pellet stoves heat very well and require a minimum of electricity to run. A small standby generator ( 2000 watts ) should be all that is needed. Flue can be horizontal out the wall.
In our area, Southern Nova Scotia,many people have converted to to heat pumps and pellet stoves.

It is an area to check out.

 

[ponytug]

@LittleBittyBigJohn Congratulations on the new home!

Only some pellet stoves burn corn, and those that do require stainless steel chimney pipe.

I would think about swapping the AC for a heat pump unit; you get much more heat for your kWh. Around here, that makes them cheaper than propane on a per BTU basis. I think if you try out an induction stove, you will like it and the costs of come way down.

I think predicting long term future energy costs is a losing game; there are so many variables that aren't probable that have huge impacts (e.g. Ukraine, Renmbi denominated oil...). What you can do now is to heavily insulate the house that you are building, e.g. R-80 roof/attic, R-40 walls and floor. That makes any future heating/cooling much less costly. Yes, it costs a little more upfront, but it makes a big difference in comfort and costs in the future. I would also think about having a roof overhang large enough to keep summer sun from coming in through the windows, but still allowing winter sun.

All the best,

Peter

 

[treefarmerguy]

Over 40 years ago while building, we installed a steel fire box that was inside another steel box and used outside air. There are two blowers that direct air into the living room and two other rooms if needed. It is similar to the old "Heatilators". After 40+ years it is still providing much heat that is comfortable and nice to look at. The glass doors keep the inside air from going up the chimney. There may still be similar units available.

 

[dodge man]

I’d check on this but I‘m pretty sure the tax credit for geothermal is 22% this year, I just checked. It used to be more. What this means is you tack that directly off your tax bill. Say your system cost $20,000. 22% of that is $4400 and if you would normally pay $10,000 that reduces the amount to $5600. We installed one a little over 10 years ago. Rough numbers a $20,000 system cost us $13,000 and payback was less than 5 years compared to LP. We needed a new system is why we installed it.

The advantages are cheap to operate. During normal operation it is heating our house with a little more electricity than a toaster uses, roughly 1800 watts. Our geo also provides some hot water for free. The colder it is or the hotter it is the more free hot water you get. Ours has two water heaters, one with the desuperheater from the geothermal (the “free” part) and a second with regular heating elements. Geothermal is something to look at a HVAC place can print out a comparison with an LP system. I think you will find geothermal is a no brainer on new construction. They will know.

A modern fireplace with sealed doors and drawing in outside air is decent for efficiency. A stove is better. Fireplaces do look pretty. You could get a small propane tank for the fireplace too. I have a wood burner that gets used a lot more now that I retired.

 

[ericm979]

I agree about the heat pump or mini splits vs electric resistance heat. Not only will they provide A/C in the summer but they're 3-8x more efficient. The one drawback is that they take a while to get the space up to temp. You need to leave it at a relative constant setting. We stayed at a place recently that heated a 1000sq ft house with a single 1.5 ton mini split, though it was cold enough outside to be snowing.

I'm not a fan of open fireplaces. Most of the heat goes up the chimney and worse, it sucks a lot of air up the chimney which means that there's cold replacement air leaking in. The cheap prefab wood fireplace we had would make the house colder. Even with the glass doors closed it still drafted a lot of air. It didn't have outside air. Maybe new ones, or propane, suck less so to speak.

If you can, when the house is sheathed but before its insulated, go around with a case of spray foam and seal everything that looks like it might leak. I think modern building standards make a tighter building than my 33 year old house but you can spend time that the construction crew can't.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I agree about the heat pump or mini splits vs electric resistance heat. Not only will they provide A/C in the summer but they're 3-8x more efficient. The one drawback is that they take a while to get the space up to temp. You need to leave it at a relative constant setting. We stayed at a place recently that heated a 1000sq ft house with a single 1.5 ton mini split, though it was cold enough outside to be snowing.

I'm not a fan of open fireplaces. Most of the heat goes up the chimney and worse, it sucks a lot of air up the chimney which means that there's cold replacement air leaking in. The cheap prefab wood fireplace we had would make the house colder. Even with the glass doors closed it still drafted a lot of air. It didn't have outside air. Maybe new ones, or propane, suck less so to speak.

If you can, when the house is sheathed but before its insulated, go around with a case of spray foam and seal everything that looks like it might leak. I think modern building standards make a tighter building than my 33 year old house but you can spend time that the construction crew can't.

We are using spray foam insulation in the walls. I'm expecting that to be pretty efficient and keep the drafts way down.

 

[duffer]

I've had all 3 types of units: grew up with propane, had nat gas, and had 100% elec. Since you can't get nat gas, I would suggest to go with a heat pump (high efficientcy, 17 seer or more) and a fireplace stove insert. I've never had a pellet stove, so I can't speak to that, but I have had a fireplace insert stove. Sealed unit, drawing outside air for combustion, thermostat controlled fan for the firebox to turn it off when the fire goes down, so it's not blowing cold air. We had one, and I could get the entire house up to 80° in under an hour after starting the fire. And it would burn all night, keeping us toasty.

We also plumbed the ash chute to the outside, so that the ashes fell to a chamber inside the bottom of the fireplace, with outside door access to easily clean out the ashes, and keep the house clean.

My 2¢