Scorched Homes

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

from nodding in agreement so much. One contractor I know has hydronic heat. but installed a separate air conditioning system, and turned it on for only 5 days the first year he had it. Thanks, Bob Gagnon

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Jim Erhardt_3

Rant

Since I now work in northern MA, my wife and I are planning on relocating from Long Island to southern NH. We have our home on LI on the market (with an interested buyer) and have been looking at homes in the southeast portion of NH.



I can't believe the number of otherwise nice homes - homes in our price range and that we otherwise like - are RUINED with scorched air heating systems! Our LI home has hydronics/baseboard/radiant with a separate central AC system and there is NO way I will ever settle for less, even though my "hydronics only" stand knocks many otherwise desireable homes out of contention. Just frustrating as heck...

I know I'm singing to the choir here, but just felt the need to vent.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

I could put radiant in for you

and add comfort. Then you would use the duct work for only AC. Home prices are falling, you could use that money for your new radiant system. Thanks, Bob Gagnon

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jackchips_2

I have

a warm air system in my home in Massachusetts after having had to convert from radiant too many years ago (slab on grade) during the middle of the winter. We wouldn't trade our home for anywhere else.

Jim, my wife and I have been visiting for years and you will love southern NH, especially as you become more familiar with Portsmouth-if you haven't already.

There is Prescott park for outdoor entertainment and plays during the summer, Strawberry Banke, many theaters, wonderful restaurants, boat rides up the river and out to the islands, outdoor cafes, the outlets 5 minutes away, friendly people and even a Dan Holohan seminar now and then.

Enjoy your new location and good luck finding the right home.

:-)

Jack

joel_19

Feel your pain

The demand here is for A/C so builders go with Furnasties. We have been very sucsesfull ripping them out and trading in a combo of hydronics and hydro air. I've got a couple big ones scheduled now. Plenty of houses to pick from find the one you love and then just throw the heat away,people do it with us all the time. It's just another aspect to remodling and making the place your own

Jeff Lawrence_25

dead on the money, Joel

We moved into our current house 3 years ago this month. Our son complained that we have to change 'everything' in a house, why do we do that?

I told him it's to make it ours.

We repainted virtually the entire inside, remodeled the kitchen and installed hardwood floors almost everywhere except the bedrooms, which got new carpet.

Our next project is to finish the boiler (for the HWBB and radiant) and remodel the master bathroom.

It's an ongoing thing.

mtfallsmikey

More and more

Of these "changeovers" occuring in my neck of Va. HO's get fed up with lack of service, high price of boiler swaps, etc. It is a travesty.

Supply House Rick

Hip Hip Hooray for FHA in New England

Sincerely,

Rick
Market Development Manager, NY & New England
Hart & Cooley, Inc.

p.s. I have oil fired hot water baseboard in my house.

Jim Erhardt_3

Making it yours...

We built our home on LI 23 years. Being in the P&H biz at the time, we did well on building costs hiring trades people I knew and doing the P&H work myself. Over 23 years, other improvements/upgrades have been done making it truly "our home."

Our other course of action is to build again, and this time the outer walls will go to 2X6 with Icynene foam, more radiant/less baseboard and a LPG mod-con. Mighty tempted just to take those 23 year old blueprints and make it even better this time. It would certainly feel like home too!

kevin coppinger_16

I'm in Dover, NH

and have owed two home...both bought w/ SHA...ripped it out and added hydronic.... People ask me if I install funaces and or SHA...my responce is always... " I don't belive in it." ...but we want the AC...seems wacked to choose your coling system over the heat w/ a HUGE amount of heating days over the cooling. Tail wagging the dog....kpc

Toddid Goldsmith's

EVERY HOME BUT NOT MINE

WE INSTALL CENTRAL AIR, EVERY PLACE BUT MY HOUSE. GOT LOW WATER VOLUME, HOT WATER BASEBOARD, AND WHEN I NEED AIR CONDITIONING, I OPEN THE WINDOW, SET THE WINDOW A.C. UNIT IN, "DON'T LET GO" TIL YOU PULL THE WINDOW BACK DOWN. SLIDE THOSE TWO LITTLE PLASTIC THINGS.ONE TO THE RIGHT, ONE TO THE LEFT. PLUG THE THING IN, USE IT PROBABLY TEN TIMES.TAKE IT BACK OUT AND GET READY FOR WINTER.

Gordy

HEY

YOU MUST BE YELLING OVER THE SOUND YOUR WINDOW SHAKER IS THROWING. Seriously its all about the convienience of walking over to the wall, and throwing the switch to cool.

Technology can create lazyness.

Gordy

Harry C. Bellangy

When I upgraded I had my plumber install zoned baseboard with an W/M Ultra boiler. AC is SANYO mini split systems. The best of both worlds. I only have to cool the rooms I need cooled and the W/M does a great job of keeping the entire house at a nice even temperature. Highly efficient in both cases and the utility bills prove it.

Bob Bona_4

feelin' ya

Bought my house in 2003. Had steam in old part and hydro air in new. A couple of sawzall blades later, the hydro became straight air with bb heat, and the steam zone became radiant floor.

More to come. It's a money thing.:)

Jim Erhardt_3

Window units...

...are no longer my cup of tea. We lived with them for 21 years and had central installed early last year. We are now seriously spoiled and would never go back to the window noise makers. Mini-splits are apparently a good way to go too and what we'll no doubt end up with if we buy a home instead of building one.

BTW, the HVAC contractor recommended 2.5 tons for our system. I said "great, give me 1.5." At least on Long Island, it's the humidity that causes the most discomfort and the longer the system runs, the more it dehumidifies. Even on the hottest day last summer, we held 72 degrees inside with blissful dryness.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Most comfortable and most efficient AC

I switch my thermostat to cooling mode and 56 degree well water flows through a large fan coil unit dehumidifying and cooling the air, then the slightly cooler water flows through all my radaint panels- floors, walls, ceilings. It is much more comfortable than conventional air conditioning. Water is the best way to supply and remove heat. It's all about the water. Thanks, Bob Gagnon

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Jim Erhardt_3

Bob, any condensation problems with the panels, floor or walls?

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

No condensation at all

I'm removing humidity and lowering the dewpoint in my house with a fan coil unit, just like a conventional air conditioning system does. But because the well water, at 56 degrees, is not as cold as refrigerant would be in a standard air conditioner, the fan coil unit simply has to be larger to get the job done. It's been workng for 7 cooling seasons now, with on sign of mold.
Thanks, Bob Gagnon

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Jim Erhardt_3

OK, that makes sense. In Europe where radiant cooling is popular I understand that they use desiccant wheels for removal of humidity.

Is the water supply through your fan coil open loop (just pumping ground water through and then into drainage)?

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Well Water

I'm not running the well water directly through the radiant or fan coil. I run the well water through a heat exchanger located in my primary heating loop, when the cooling is needed, well water runs through the heat exchanger making my heating loop a cooling loop. I piped the fan coil into my primary heating loop just like you would pipe a kickspace heater, with closely spaced tee's. The coldest water goes through the fan coil first. After the water goes through the heat exchanger I send it out to a 12 zone sprinkler system, I get all my cooling and all the ground water I can use for lawn watering, all for the price of running one pump and one circulator. Thanks, Bob Gagnon

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Harry C. Bellangy

Well Water for cooling

I know of a movie theatre in Pitman New Jersey that used well water for its first AC system. It was not uncommon to use well water in early theatre AC systems. The pump and coils used for the water system are still in the theatre.

Gordy

So the way you are set up you are watering the lawn while cooling the house. What do you do when the lawn does not need watering send it down the drain?

Gordy

mtfallsmikey

Played with

Some old Worthington evap's in my youth (pre-Climatrol)that were on municipal water, mostly retail apps...real water wasters!..dumped down the sewer.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Too much water

When it is hot enough to run the air conditioning, that's when you need to water a lot more. I water for hours when the radiant cooling is running. The water sinks deep into the ground encouraging the plants roots to go deeper, I don't water the rest of the year. I have 12 zones on the sprinkler system- lawns, vegtable and flower gardens, and blueberry bushes, plus I let my neighbors use it. I set up a dump into the same pipe that my sump pump goes into, it drains out back, but I never use it, I like to do two things at once. City water is too expensive here to use for cooling and the water from the Merrimack River gets warm by the end of the summer. One of the old mills in town uses canal water to cool. I thought I was being innovative when I installed the fan coils with the radiant cooling, but then I saw on TV the 100th anniversary of air conditioning, where Carrier just ran cool water through a fan coil unit to cool a printing shop, what's old is new again. Geothermal cooling is easier than solar because of the constant underground temperatures, sometimes the sun won't shine for two weeks, but with geothermal cooling, it's like the sun is shining all the time. Thanks, Bob Gagnon

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