New House

RWoolley

I am in the process of building a new custom home of about 2700 ft2. Can't afford infloor radiant heat, and really hate forced air systems. Was thinking of basboard hot water heat. System has to be fired by propane or maybe oil either way they are both expensive here in northern Nevada. What about high efficency tankless heaters and such? Also need domestic hot water...

Any suggestions for a heating system?

Steamhead

How about

using cast-iron baseboard? It's more expensive than the usual fin-tube, but holds its heat much better. If you're out in the sticks where power failures can last a while, consider using steam rather than hot-water. A steam system won't freeze in a power failure like a hot-water system can.

If you compare cost per BTU you'll know whether to choose oil or propane. In most cases, propane is more expensive than oil.

Insulate the house well and use the most energy-efficient windows and doors you can get. This will reduce the amount of heat the house needs. Do a heat-loss calculation using various levels of insulation and you'll see what I mean. Spend the extra money here and you won't be buying nearly as much fuel year after year.

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Steve Ebels

Have had good results with this method

It's European in design, meaning it comes from the land where fuel is 3-4 times as costly as it is here.

First thing though is to insulate, insulate, insulate!! The best heating system in the world is only as good as the shell that it's heating. Get your walls above R-20 for an AVERAGE! The average part is the is what nearly everyone forgets. Builders will put up a house and tell you the walls are R-19. They are where there is insulation, BUT!, what about the areas where there are studs? About R-5 ususally. Add those all up and you will find 10-15% of your wall area is at about 1/4 of what it should be. Now factor in the windows. Now your R-19 walls are down to averaging maybe R-10 or less. Is this making sense? You have to use additional insulation on either the interior or the exterior of the wall. Also consider some of the blown foams for in your walls. There are some that are Bio-based on the market now.

The other side of your heat loss/gain is air infiltration. You want to seal your house up as tighly as you can. Shoot for an infiltration number or .2 cfm or less. When you get to that point, you are usually also going to be needing some mechanical ventilation so figure in a heat recovery ventilator to bring in fresh air.

Now for the heating part I would suggest using a boiler capable of directly handling (no mixing valve) water return temps of 100* or less. Use either a high mass (water content) boiler or one with low water content and a modulating burner. Either boiler needs to be set up to modulate the water temperature based on how cold it is outside. The system should be designed to heat your house with a maximum water temp of 160* or less. The same control that does the water temp modulation will also run your indirect water heater. This is a highly efficient way of heating your water. For getting the heat into each room, I highly recommend panel radiators. These can give you individual room temperature control, respond to temp changes quickly and are extremely comfortable as far as the "feel" of the warmth. The ambience of the heat if you will. E-mail me if you have more questions. Hope this helps.

Paul Pollets

I'd recommend the same

but use wall panel rads instead of CI BB. Easier to install, easier on the budget.

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Ted_5

Viessmann Vitodens is

the right match for that type of heating system! Very high efficiant 94.2% AFUE and in a low temp heating system it will get better then that. Check it out!

Ted

munchkin-man

Munchkin high eficiency gas fired heaters

Go to manufactures on this site select Heat Transfer Products Inc (in the red text) see Munckin heaters. Down load all the info available and e mail me if you need or call our Technical Support line at extention 25,42,or 57 and one of my technicians will help you select the products you need. We also make stainless steel indirects that are a perfect match the Munchkin. Every thing you need except the baseboard is on or page. The use of a tankless heater is not suggested. The boiler has to stay hot year round and is a wast of fuel. Using an indirect will have a pay back with the fuel savings over a period of time. Enjoy. jc

munchkin-man

Munchkin high eficiency gas fired heaters

Go to manufactures on this site select Heat Transfer Products Inc (in the red text) see Munckin heaters. Down load all the info available and e mail me if you need or call our Technical Support line at extention 25,42,or 57 and one of my technicians will help you select the products you need Mention my name and the wall. We also make stainless steel indirects that are a perfect match the Munchkin. Every thing you need except the baseboard is on or page. The use of a tankless heater is not suggested. The boiler has to stay hot year round and is a wast of fuel. Using an indirect will have a pay back with the fuel savings over a period of time. Enjoy. jc

munchkin-man

Munchkin high eficiency gas fired heaters

Go to manufactures on this site select Heat Transfer Products Inc (in the red text) see Munckin heaters. Down load all the info available and e mail me if you need or call our Technical Support line at extention 25,42,or 57 and one of my technicians will help you select the products you need mention my name and the wall. We also make stainless steel indirects that are a perfect match the Munchkin. Every thing you need except the baseboard valves and associated fittings is on or page. The use of a tankless heater is not suggested. The boiler has to stay hot year round to provide on demand hot water, and is a wast of fuel. Using an indirect will have a pay back with the fuel savings over a period of time. Enjoy. jc

munchkin-man

Munchkin high eficiency gas fired heaters

Go to manufactures on this site select Heat Transfer Products Inc (in the red text) see Munckin heaters. Down load all the info available and e mail me if you need or call our Technical Support line at extention 25,42,or 57 and one of my technicians will help you select the products you need mention my name and the wall. We also make stainless steel indirects that are a perfect match the Munchkin. Every thing you need except the baseboard valves and associated fittings is on or page. The use of a tankless heater is not suggested. The boiler has to stay hot year round to provide on demand hot water, and is a wast of fuel. Using an indirect will have a pay back with the fuel savings over a period of time. Enjoy. jc