Heating and Cooling Options for 1850s Greek Revival New York

Dan_Btek

Hi Ichamb,best option to heated all house is radiant floor with separate thermostat installed for every room 9but this is most expensive one0 , next one - forced hot air wit hot water coil installed in HVAC units, next-hot water radiators, but all this system must be have PROPERLY CALCULATED for your area .

Adk1guy

Especially since you have allergies avoid forced hot air. As many have said hydronic heat is premium providing radiant and on and convective heat. The oversized radiation you hopefully hope have play right into a constant circulation modulated temperature system in which the water temperature in the radiators varies relative to the outdoor temperature. I live in the location that is coldest in the country many times per winter. The heating source of choice here is modulating condensing gas boilers. Since we don't have natural gas we use propane.

Bill_44

Your friend's father-in-law is correct, except for one thing. Go with ESP (hi-velocity.com) rather than SpacePak. Better equipment and support. They also have an excellent indoor air quality/filter (HE PS) for your allergies. Viessmann is top of the line and surprisingly affordable in the residential sector. There are many reputable Viessmann contractors in NY.

hot_rod

my vote, keep radiators, add TRV, mod con boiler. Indirect with electric element (solar tank) for back up

AC would depend on the layout and ease of ducting, so maybe a hi-velocity, maybe mini splits.

CTB

Great insights here! If you decide to go mod-con, consider having the installer use primary/secondary pumping scheme WITH at least one MAGNETIC hydraulic separator. Although there is only one true water loop, flow through the boiler is ensured and you can capture lots of entrained corrosion material (rust) with the magnetic devices. You will have to understand and maintain the system, but if you are taking the time to think ahead, I am sure you would anyway. Most ModCon boilers have a way to adjust outdoor reset temp based on the house's characteristics - x10 on everyone who noted that warm water constantly circulated through <oversized> radiators provides excellent heat.

It's perfectly fine to use another cast iron boiler and have outdoor air reset for water, however, as long as you have a lower limit on temp so there won't be any condensation. I operated a system for 25 years that way, and had low fuel costs ant great comfort until renovations that called for eliminating the chimney led us to install Viessmann ModCon. We added indirect DHW at the same time (not a combi boiler) and the results have been fantastic.

Take some time to create an as-built of the current conditions to identify future zoning opportunities that match how you plan to use the house.