Heating Questions

[s1120]

I have a few heating for all of you guys. I will split them into separate posts to make them less confusing for me.[I am a little slow sometimes]/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I will be building a new house and am wondering what to chouse for heat. I would like to know what would be best, oil, or gas? I do not have city gas, so if I chose gas, I would have to go propane. Most people in are area use oil, and that is what we always had as a kid. But with gas, we can hook up a gas stove, and a gas hot water heater. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[MikePA]

We have oil, forced hot air as well as LP for a stove. So, having one, doesn't preclude use of the other. The nice thing about having an LP stove is that even when the power is out we can at least cook.

 

[Thomas]

When I built my home I went total electric,for it was cheaper at the time and somewhat still is.
I do have back up tho,like most New Englanders who live outside of the city or town limits..wood heat.

I kinda look at this way..if mother nature decide to throw a real nasty storm, in which causes damage or the roads are ice etc.. everybody in the same boat..no fuel,but having wood for back up your still warm,and don't forget to have extra candles.

When do you plan on moving in.

Have a safe and Happy New Years.

 

[JJT]

Around here propane is the most expensive fuel to use for heating. Fuel oil is the route I went, with forced warm air for heat. I also added an oil fired hot water heater, (~1000). They say these pay for themselves in a year when compared to an electric water heater. They also produce unlimited hot water.

 

[s1120]

Thomas,
I have beed told to stay away from electric, too pricy. We are planing to have some form of wood heat. Eather a wood, or pellet insert for a fireplace, or we LOVE the soap stone woodstoves. A lot of money, but easier to put in now then 10 years down the road.

We are hopeing to start digging in march, or april. As soon as the weather breaks. Hope to be in by sept./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Thats to long, I want to be in NOW!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[TerryinMD]

Paul,

The choice of heating is totally dependent upon your location. A simple choice of economics. Since you're building a new home and have some time, you could research and plan for the optimum system.

In our case, we decided on a heat pump with propane auxilliary for our main unit and a second heat pump unit for the second floor with no propane. We chose the propane unit because we didn't want to put in a 40kva auxilliary unit to heat the house during the coldest periods. When the temperature gets about 25 degrees, the heating system switches over to the propane unit. You can really tell the difference. The house heats up much faster.

My suggestion to you is to review your house plans with various heating contractors to get the optimum system for your house. We THOUGHT we did this when we built our house and found out the hard way. After 6 years, we had to totally replace our heating system. The original installation of the ducting system was not thought out very well and the first heat pump died. We brought in another contractor and he redid the duct work and now the system works very well.

Terry

 

[GlueGuy]

Paul,

As Terry mentions, which fuel to use depends on the area you live in. Around here, propane is the choice. Our place is mostly propane. Stove, heat, hot water, dryer. The main part of the house is forced air, but we have a couple of auxilary heaters on the north side that don't require power. They are nice when the winter storm knocks out the A/C for a couple of days.

 

[genelp]

I see from your profile that you have a few acres, have you considered geothermal? We have an open loop system and have had no trouble with it at all. While expensive to install, it is very economical to run.

Gene

 

[BWa]

Well I grow up with forced hot water on oil ,with wood stove back up . I have city gas and hot air now,,,,,,, I hate forced hot air , may be easier to put in AC and all but to me it is not worth it ,the hot water system may take longer to heat up but it stays warmer longer and I don't have the job of changing filters every 3 or 4 weeks or have the colds and dust blown around ....... just my 2 cents worth ,

 

[billboe]

I'm in the same boat as BWa! Unless you need/want central air, personally, I'd pass on the forced hot air. When I get to choose my heating system it will be radiant!