What do you consider the best way to heat a house?

ChrisJ

Steam boiler and cast iron radiators

Does building close to the equator count?

waterishot

Water boiler with radiant floors

I voted for a water boiler and radiant. But the big question is, what constitutes best? The cheapest way to heat? The most comfortable? The most environmentally friendly?

If you're looking for the cheapest, it will be some form of a heat pump, that's just mathematical reality. If looking only at operating cost, geothermal is the cheapest. If looking at total costs, depending on the house, it would likely be minisplits.

If you're looking for the most comfortable, that's subjective. Constant circulation cast iron radiators with IDR or some sort of radiant floor system would be good contenders.

Most environmentally friendly is up for debate. Clearly oil is not it. Wood? Wood pellets? Geothermal heat pumps?

It also depends on the building. Old buildings, even when properly sealed and insulated are likely to need 20-30 BTU/hr/square foot in New England, houses shoddily built to current code are about 17 BTU/hr/square foot, while a new house built with modern good building practices, will, by definition, be under 5 BTU/hr/square foot, and likely under 3 BTU/hr/square foot, meaning that a mini split heat pump or two is all that they need, a combustion appliance would overheat the house, and geothermal would be a waste of money.

An option that's not on there, but I would consider to be the best for comfort and environmental impact in a retrofit, as well as cost if you ignore the high up-front cost would be a water-to-water heat pump with a large buffer, and indoor reset, micro-zoned radiant floor.

Jamie Hall

Steam boiler and cast iron radiators

I might comment on "environmentally friendly". A very common error in considering what is, or is not, environmentally friendly is to fail to look at the entire system/energy cycle. For example, @waterishot states that "oil is clearly not it". Oh? In some situations, it might well be -- depending on the source of one's other available energy choices. Wood might be -- or might not be; large scale clear cutting of timber for energy production is a somewhat dubious proposition, environmentally -- and transport to central Kansas, for example, doesn't help. Electric such as a heat pump? Maybe so, maybe no. What is the electricity source -- hydro (flooded valleys, displaced people)? coal (could be good or bad)? oil? nuclear? gas? solar? wind?

The point is -- if you are going to talk environmental, consider the complete picture, not just the sharp focus.

Big Ed_4

I don't know about hot springs , its like building on an uncontrolled boiler . ....Build in San Diego instead

jumper

SuperTech said:

Lol, no one is voting for electric baseboards?



We can add in panel rads and radiant walls with the radiant floors.

I prefer ceiling height electric radiant heaters to electric baseboards. A Canada2000 house doesn't need much heat. Electric is trouble free (except for ERV) and most home-owners are not into maintenance. Not even changing furnace filter each leap year!

And with individual electric heaters there's significant economies from keeping some rooms cooler.

GBart

The simple answer is IT DEPENDS.

the_donut

Steam boiler and cast iron radiators

Instead of drywall for walls and ceiling panels everywhere with heated/chilled floor. With walls perfectly matching body heat loss and IR cameras watching occupants to adjust panel temperature to comfort level. Also dehumidification and air change over. Perfect radiation and heat loss match. Of course that's dependent on the person, so cameras would have to adjust panel temps for people near them and their preferences. Think sleep number bed in infrared.

GBart

thermaltransfer said:

It's not radiant, but Mitsubishi has seeing "eyes" that makes the heat follow you around the room from a high wall cassette... that's probably about the most comfortable any type of forced air will be... intelligent tracking plus VRF.

In the real world, where money doesn't grow on trees, a Mitsubishi system would probably be my ideal system, as they are cheap and offer a lot of zone control. That way I could keep the living area at 65 and my bedroom at or below 60 in the winter, and have the bedroom A/C'ed and the living room not most of the summer.

If I had an unlimited amount of money.... maybe radiant downstairs and cast iron baseray upstairs (carpeted areas) with the MeSys Okofen boiler and Mitsubishi units for A/C or shoulder season when the radiant floors aren't running?

To be fair, for a small or moderate-sized apartment, electric baseboard isn't bad at all. It's very convenient, responds quickly, is relatively quiet, you get zone control, and you don't have to deal with multiple bills. In that type of situation, since you're sharing walls, most of the energy consumption is hot water anyway. It's horrible for a single family house though, houses in New England with electric can see $1000/mo electric bills in particularly cold months.

^^^ aye, electricity is 100% efficient but thanks to the powers that be and de regulation in Ct we have the highest electric rates in the nation so it's costly, funny how Wallingford Ct has the lowest rates in the nation in the center of all that because the town produces it's own power and has it's own crew....hmmmm

SuperTech

This has been a great poll and I'm not surprised at all that the majority of the votes have gone to cast iron radiators with steam and hot water heating. Also I expected many votes for radiant floors, walls etc. I really should have added geothermal as an option.

I hope Wallies continue to vote and discuss this topic, I find everyone's opinions fascinating.

the_donut

Steam boiler and cast iron radiators

Not a huge fan of Mr slim. The heat output is so so and you really need a lot of head units for even distribution or open concept flooring. It works though, and it is cheaper to run than resistance heating.

If it isn't infrared, it can't warm your bones after you have been out all day without raising the air temperature above what is comfortable for other occupants who have stayed indoors (this is my problem with gas forced air).

Voyager

I think there is no one answer. It depends on your climate and other needs such a humidity control and air filtration.

For heat alone, the comfort of in floor hydronic is hard to beat and if the heat source can be even partially solar, the economics can be great. The big issue is slow response in climates with wide daily temp variations, such as spring and fall.

I have a well designed forced air system with NG furnace and it works great. Very quiet when you have large number of registers to keep air velocity low and I can use hepa filters to get very clean air. And AC is integral and works well. I only wish I had put pex in my basement slab to have warm floors in my finished basement.

Modern forced air systems are nothing like what we think of from those in mobile homes and spec homes. When well designed, they are quiet, not drafty, responsive and very flexible allowing easy addition of AC, hepa filters and whole house humidity control.

And if my power goes out or I need to be away a few weeks in the winter, I don't have to worry about piping or boiler freeze and the subsequent damage.

brandonf

Steam boiler and cast iron radiators

Steam and cast iron. Possibly hot water radiant. But a UNICO system for cooling and circulation if needed.

ChrisJ

Steam boiler and cast iron radiators

> @Voyager said:
> I think there is no one answer. It depends on your climate and other needs such a humidity control and air filtration.
>
> For heat alone, the comfort of in floor hydronic is hard to beat and if the heat source can be even partially solar, the economics can be great. The big issue is slow response in climates with wide daily temp variations, such as spring and fall.
>
> I have a well designed forced air system with NG furnace and it works great. Very quiet when you have large number of registers to keep air velocity low and I can use hepa filters to get very clean air. And AC is integral and works well. I only wish I had put pex in my basement slab to have warm floors in my finished basement.
>
> Modern forced air systems are nothing like what we think of from those in mobile homes and spec homes. When well designed, they are quiet, not drafty, responsive and very flexible allowing easy addition of AC, hepa filters and whole house humidity control.
>
> And if my power goes out or I need to be away a few weeks in the winter, I don't have to worry about piping or boiler freeze and the subsequent damage.

I'd love to see a residential system use a "hepa filter" and not exceed it's rated static pressure because mine sure can't and most consider my duct work to be over sized.

Hell, most MERV 13 filters exceed the rated return side pressure for the typical residential ahu/furnace all on their own without any duct work.

Voyager

It should be designed in at the outset if you want an inline unit, but there are options for retrofit that will not disrupt the pressure balance or exceed pressure limits.

For example, https://www.lennox.com/lib/legacy-res/pdfs/installation_maintenance/lennox_hepa_iom.pdf

ChrisJ

Steam boiler and cast iron radiators

> @Voyager said:
> It should be designed in at the outset if you want an inline unit, but there are options for retrofit that will not disrupt the pressure balance or exceed pressure limits.
>
> For example, https://www.lennox.com/lib/legacy-res/pdfs/installation_maintenance/lennox_hepa_iom.pdf

Ah, so it's not the filter for the system. Interesting.

I stand corrected.