New home heat source help

cjohnsen

I’m currently building a new house for myself. It’s 1 story with a full basement. The basement has radiant floor heat. I’m trying to figure out what source of heat to use on the main floor. It’s only 700sqft. There is a bedroom which I’m using a mini split to heat and a bathroom which I’m using radiant floor heat to heat. My question is how to heat the main room. The rest of the house is a 380 sqft open kitchen/living room with vaulted ceilings. There is a spiral staircase going down to the basement so I’m hoping some of the basement heat will come upstairs to the main floor to help with heat. But what should I do for the rest of it. I will have a mini split installed for ac use in the summer but I’m trying to figure out if this will be sufficient to heat the house in the winter. I’ve read that temps can be sporadic with them. I live on the coast in New England so it’s windy and bitter but usually temps don’t get lower than high 20’s at night and low 30’s during the day. Will I need another source of heat for the main area other than the mini split?

SuperTech

I would absolutely utilise another source of heating, preferably a hydronic boiler with panel radiators or radiant flooring.

pecmsg

With a Mini you will need another source of heat so consider a standard Heat Pump with Hydro coil!

GBart

You need to hire a professional, your building inspector is probably(hopefully) going to want to see a load calculation, you don't just put in heat and air, you size it.

Most mini split heat pumps work to well below 0F now, with that sq ft and sized correctly with a well built well insulated structure you should be fine, this is not a DIY thing, EVER,

John Mills_5

Mini will heat you fine, especially if you get something like a Mitsubishi Hyper Heat or the like. BUT, no backup so if it fails, you are cold. Of course, same with a furnace or boiler.