Home Builder's Heating With Hot Air

ed wallace

hot air is drafty but cheap to install go with baseboard heat

gman_5

New Home Construction

My husband and I are looking at new homes. Some have hot air for heat most have baseboard. What are the plusses and minuses of both??

Joannie_15

Look Here

Lots of good information here about comparing heating types, my queen.

http://www.healthyheating.com/

Mark Custis

Why re-live the past?

Geothermal/radiant is what we do.

No more.

No less, unless we add solar thermal.

Erich_3

Hot Air Heat Is Used To Save Money

If you see hot air heat in a new house it was done to save money. My experience has been that there will be many other places in the house where the builder is saving money and none of them will be to your benefit. You might also want to ask if the walls and roof are made of Oriented Strand Board (OSB). They emit very low levels of formaldehyde. In addition, when OSB is cut and left exposed to the elements without being covered, it becomes degraded and looses its waterproof quality. When OSB is manufactured the cut edges are sealed with a special waterproof paint. Carpenters destroy the watertight integrity of OSB each time they make a cut that exposes wood fiber edges. These cut edges are prone to swelling after they get wet. It is possible to seal these edges after they are cut, but it may be tough to find a carpenter willing to take the time to perform this extra step.

S Ebels_2

In my humble opinion

Both are outmoded and certainly not the best you can do from an efficiency standpoint. If you have a choice, request a radiant heating system that uses low temperature water. (<120*) This allows the use of geothermal and/or solar input and in the event the system is driven by a boiler, will maximize the efficiency the unit is capable of. Using a system such as that will protect the investment you are making in your home from the next oil price shocks which are inevitable. You, and everyone else for that matter, should allow about 8-10% of the total price of the home for your heating system. Typically builders shoot for a lowest installation cost type system that is in the 3-4% range. It keeps the up front costs down but paying for heating costs a few years from now will leave you saying "I should have......."

Gordy

Home Construction Practices

Queen, Bravo for asking questions about mechanical components as a potential home buyer of new home construction!

Take it an extra step. Ask about R values of walls, roof, and foundation (if even insulated). Ask about types of insulation. Fiberglass, spray foam, cellouse, ect.

Ask about the r-value/ u-value of windows, and doors.

Ask about framing technique, and the materials used. Was floor joists trusses, TJIs, BCIs,or dimensional lumber used.


To many builders mask crap construction with the eye candy.

The above mentioned hidden things will be with you the full length of ownership of the home. With the future of energy costs. The mechanics of a home are far more important then the visual effect.


While some of these questions may seem over your head. Ask them, and write down the answers. Pay attention to the builders reactions. Bring your answers back here to desipher. There are people here that can help in those areas. Most pros here are "comfort specialists", and know the mechanics of construction practices needed to provide that comfort, and efficency.


Gordy

Jackchips_4

There is

nothing wrong with a well designed and installed forced air heating and cooling system.

There are better systems just as there are good, better and best builders.

Doing your homework on the entire purchase is the right way to go.

Jack

Leo G_103

I agree with Jack

have been in some very comfortable warm air homes. Again, design is utmost. Also baseboard, if installed correctly can be very comfortable and energy efficient.

Seem to be having more complaints about infloor then any other system lately. Unfortunately, infloor is marketed adnausem, about having warm feet. Well with the insulation factors of new homes, guess what? House heats up, stat is satisfied, stat stays satisfied for much longer now. The air temp is groovy, but the only thing that owners want are WARM FEET!!!

Went to a customers home yesterday, with the cool floor complaint, t-stat set to *68, temp registering at 70*, boot the stat up, go into the boiler room, and the return water was coming back at 70*, 10 minutes later, whilst the supply water was exiting at 115*. Geez, ya think that maybe the system hadn't run for a few hours?

Still think that panel radiators with individual controls are the best system out there! Don't forget, if after a few years of living in your home with radiant floors, you want to do a remodel, don't even think about moving those walls!

Leo G

Mark Custis

Leo

Try lowering the output temperature to the floors. that will give her longer run times on the loops. I think a return temp of 115* on start up is way high. What does the temp of the floor read?

We find lost tubes with an infra-red point and shoot. Move the walls just don't nail in the tubing.

Leo G_103

thanx Mark

most of our systems have outdoor reset, this one doesn't. So the water was leaving at 115, and returning at 75.

But even with ODR, we sometimes get the "floors not warm enough" complaint. I think this is from the houses being much tighter now a days, and THE MARKETING of infloor heat being so strong on the "warm feet" experience. As I said to a customer recently, "you may have to wear slippers, but your home is comfortable, and just think of all the money your saving by burning less gas!"

She was quite pleased looking at it this way!

Leo G