Northeast Heating Options

wjmst · Nov 13, 2007

Sigarms said:
One thought, duel fuel.

When we built our 2000 sqft house + 1000 sqft above ground basement, we went with a forced air oil furnace and a/c unit. We also have a propane fireplace (more for "romance" than function, but comes in handy when the power is out). We do use electric heaters throughout the house for those cold spots.

I wish now, instead of the a/c unit, I bought a heat pump. This way I could use the heat pump down to 20-30 degrees and let the oil furnace take over when needed. I would of course still have the cooling capability during the summer.

Many people have mentioned they love their in floor radiant heating system. So that might be something to look at too.

Just my thoughts.
Wes

Sigarms · Nov 13, 2007

wjmst said:
Many people have mentioned they love their in floor radiant heating system. So that might be something to look at too.

Just my thoughts.
Wes

Agreed that in floor radiant is probably the best for heat. Can't beat it. When I worked in the North East, a lot of "upscale custom new construction homes" I dealt with went with radiant floor heat and a high velocity system for A/C. However, it gets EXPENSIVE. Problem with infloor heat is if you need A/C. You then are paying for two seperate systems, and ductwork for the a/c that you don't need for infloor heat.

Honestly, if you get a guy who knows and does geothermal (along with the trench work needed), the cost won't be as bad as you think for a geothermal system. Problem is most contractors are not to familiar with them, and you then have a pretty big "fudge factor" in the cost (particularly with the trench work, because they don't do it on a regular basis).

That said, I changed one of three systems in my house to duel fuel (LP gas furnace/heat pump) with the two others still being LP gas-a/c, and from last year, already saved well over $200 on my LP bill in the first year, even with the price of LP going up (and that was just the upstairs system). Next system will also be a duel fuel on the main floor, or I may go with a heat pump with a pellet/corn/wood stove for back up heat on the first floor.

mahlers · Nov 13, 2007

If you can swing it, definitely look at geothermal heat pump systems. At least with them, you can be somewhat confident that you'll be able to keep your house heated even if fossil fuels start to get harder to come by. The electrical utilities can always switch over to things like nuclear power plants or coal if our friends in the Middle East decide to stop playing nice with us... Also, you have the option of going solar later on and telling the utility company to take a hike. Best of all, if you own a backhoe and can dig deep enough to get into the soil that stays at a constant temp, you can cut out a big cost of the installation by doing all the trenching yourself.

Diesel-ME · Nov 13, 2007

While geothermal sounds like a good method to read up on and consider, you may want to also read up on gas/propane fired Wall-Mounted Condensing Boilers. (i.e. Viessmann or Buderus brands) They are REAL quiet, need no masonary chimney and are very efficient. If you need to use propane definately purchase your own tank (500 or 1000 gallon) and then you can simply seek bids for the best price and never have to deal with changing out the tank.

You can heat your domestic hot water, run your dryer, gas fireplace, generator, range, etc. Consider radiant heat and no matter what heat source build an energy efficient house!!

Bill Barrett · Nov 13, 2007

Hazmat touched on the most important thing, insulation and energy efficient house . Research all the options like ICF construction, hold your window to wall ratio down. Then a small heating system is all you need. Geothermal is a good way to go.

SnowRidge · Nov 14, 2007

Bill Barrett said:
Hazmat touched on the most important thing, insulation and energy efficient house . Research all the options like ICF construction, hold your window to wall ratio down. Then a small heating system is all you need. Geothermal is a good way to go.

I think geothermal technically refers to ground sources of hot water or steam heat, such as hot springs or geysers. They use the term ground source heat pump to refer to systems that extract heat from ground that isn't thermally active.

JDGREEN4ME · Nov 14, 2007

Bedrock on our property ranges from ground level to about 6', would this create a problem for a Geothermal set up?

SnowRidge · Nov 14, 2007

JDGREEN4ME said:
Bedrock on our property ranges from ground level to about 6', would this create a problem for a Geothermal set up?

Good question. It would probably best be answered by a company specializing in ground source heat pumps. Google is your friend.

charlz · Nov 14, 2007

My house has a propane furnace.... propane is expensive stuff. I was needed a fill a month on my 500 gallon tank in the winter months. I installed a pellet stove a couple years ago and haven't filled the propane tank since.

There are a lot of energy calculators out there on the net that will help you determine the operating costs for various fuels.

One note the on the geothermal, do you have a pond? I didn't know till after I put in my pellet stove that you can do a 'pond loop geothermal' Similar to ground loop except you drop coils of pipe in your pond. This would have been perfect for me, cheap to put in and my pond never freezes.

Charles

charlz · Nov 14, 2007

I was in a hurry this morning and didn't get to finish my thoughts. BTW I just re-read your post and noticed you said lake property.... guess you do have a 'pond'

Not sure if you could use it... might be worth researching.

One thing with a 'central' heating source like a pellet stove is getting the air to other rooms. My house has a 'great room' type living room, it goes up two stories.. this is where the pellet stove is so very helpful getting the heat upstairs. We have ceiling fans in every room and run a few other fans downstairs to push the warm air into back rooms.

Since you are building I would definitley look at radiant floors.... at least in the rooms where your wife spends time.... I never hear the end of how cold the bathroom floor is

Energy prices are only going to go up so the more efficient your home/systems can be the better, using solar etc. Choice of fuel is always nice... oil boiler with a wood backup etc. Keep in mind that some are more work than others. A wood fired boiler is going to be a lot more work than natural gas furnace.