hot water or hydroair/Which is better?

Frank_13

I am building a new home that will be 5800 square feet. My builder is telling me that hydroair is the way to go. I am not so sure. Out of hot water baseboard heat and hydroair which one do you think is the best? Keep in mind my entire family has allergies and we have hot air heat now and it is so dry we have skin problems.
Fuel efficiency costs are also a concern long term but the initial cost may be worth it. The hot air heat that I have now feels cold as soon as the furnace shuts off. You never feel warm.

What is your opinion?

Ed Wallace_2

hydroair vs hot water heat

hot water heat is much better than hydro air but hydro air is better than warm air heat from a furnace

hot_rod

a gentle mix

of radiant floors in bathing, and perhaps kitchen areas. Mix in some hydro air to filter, humidify, and generally "clear the air"

Certainly you will want AC or the ability to add that should you consider selling someday.

I guess the key would be to find a contractor that can show you all the options, including hybrid mix systems, and design and apply them in a comfortable package.
Good luck with your project.

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Bob Bona_4

you know

the answer already, Frank. Hydro-air is forced air heat too. It's just that the air is heated by hot water flowing through a coil and then a blower moves air across it to deliver that air to the rooms. Your typical furnasty has a fire under a metal chamber that gets hot and the a blower moves air across that. The general vote is that hydro-air is a little more even in feel due to the way air blows across a moderately hot water coil vs with a furnasty with a metal heat exchanger that can reach some prety high temps.
It's common to see humidifiers installed on both types of systems to combat dryness.

Builders like hydro-air because they can get the heating and cooling in one system. Quicker, less hassles, (for them, I mean) and cheaper for THEM to put in, and they can offer central air as a "selling feature". Seems that once they "discovered" hydro-air back in the late 80's-early 90's, they tout it as "the latest thing". But as you know, heating air and cooling air are two different animals, and to distribute either requires different sizes of ductwork and blower speeds. Doing this together with forced air is always a compromise.

Go ahead and cool with ductwork. For heat, it's hydronic hands down. Baseboard heat is a great starting point, from there you can look into options like panel radiators and floor heat. Hydronic heating is the most comfortable due to it's performance curve closely mimicing the bodies' heat loss. I wouldn't live in a house without it.

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Mark A. Custis

Best of both worlds

We designed a hydro/air system over some existing ductwork in a major home remodel here in Northern Ohio, We used the boiler to provide DHW, hot water to the airhandlers, and warm water to vaious areas with slab radiant and staple up radiant in tiled areas. We used expansion valve DX cooling with two air-handlers. We then added automatic tracking humidifiers to the sheet metal systems. About half way through the build it was desided that Zoning would be a good thing, so we added two Arzel "Air Boss" controllers and went about zoning without having to redo any sheet metal, and while we were at it we added make-up air to presurize the home and reduce indoor air quality issues, brought in combustion air to the mechanical room then added make-up air for all of the several woodburning fireplaces and the wood stove.

Works like a dream. My customer (same weater as mine) used less natural gas in this 5,000 sq ft plus home than I do in my 1500 sq ft home. In his case no one has any allergies, but I allowed for Air Cleaners and UVC lights if needed. We are just a full year up and running. It was well worth the trip said the pilgram.

Mark

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