cost effective radiant heat

Larry Weingarten

... feel like going a bit higher tech, there is the Phoenix solar by HTP. http://www.htproducts.com/phoenixsolar.html

Yours, Larry

kurt_6

Heat source for new home

I'm building a passive solar assisted 1500sf house in CT. My estimated heat loads are around 16000 btu per floor. I'm installing myson radiators with a total rating of about 22,000 btu at 180 degree.per My hope is to run the water at 140. I've got a wood stove for those really cold nights. I plan on adding a solar dhw system in the next year. My question is what would be the would be cost effective options for heating this system. Would a water heater work in a closed system layout. tank or tankless? Thanks for any help

ALH_4

Combination Water Heater

You might look at the Bradford White Combi2. Hook a typical DHW pre-heat system to it, and you have a decent system that will use solar for dhw and some space heating as well. The Combi2 is quite a bit more expensive than a simple gas water heater, but I think it is a more appropriate solution that uses less electricity and has the ability to use your solar dhw pre-heat to provide some space heating when needed.

kurt_6

Hey Andrew Thanks for the info.

[Deleted User]

Define...

"Cost effective"...

When someone says that to me, I have to wonder, do they want it to be cheap initially, and expensive to operate? Or do they want it to be cheap to purchase AND cheap to operate...

Cause. truth of the matter is, you can't get both.

I guess I'll never understand the use of that term...

ME

ALH_4

Simple System

Re-reading what I wrote, I'm not sure it was very clear. I would use the Combi2 as your domestic water heater and pull the space heating off the coil, which is how the Combi2 is designed to be used. Then to integrate the solar, I would install an indirect water heater next to the Combi2 as the dhw pre-heat. Pipe the potable cold into the pre-heat and the hot from the pre-heat to the cold inlet of the Combi2. That way your entire heating/solar system would require only two circulators. One for the space heating system and one for the solar collectors. Both circs could be quite small and require very little electricity.

I like this setup because it is dead simple with very few parts to fail or use extra energy. The efficiency of the Combi2 is in the low 80's, but with your exceptionally low heat load and having solar to supplement, it definitely makes the most financial sense.

ttekushan_3

talk about cost effective radiant heat-

I couldn't resist:

extreme radiant heat