replacing hot air heat

Bill_45

I recently purchased a 42 yr old split in Valley Forge, PA. It has gas forced hot air heat with on zone. The system was replaced in 2002, so it relatively new.

The thermostat is in the dining room with one vent. During the real cold snap we just had, my system ran constantly. We had to set back the thermostat to 64 and in our masterbedroom our thermometer went up to 74 at one point.

I grew up with baseboard zoned heat.

How hard and how much cost would it it entail to retrofit the house with a gas fired boiler and 2-3 zones for baseboard heat? The living room, dining room, kitchen, and entry are all above a crawl space. Family room in on a slab below grade. Bedrooms are above the garage and family with 4th bdroom over the living room area. Home is about @ 2300 sq ft.

Thanks in advance...I would really like to get a warm home that is not going to gauge my wallet.

Empire_2

Zone the system.

On Zone or 1 Zone? if paragraph 1?

Weezbo

Bill,it would be less hassel right now to add a zone and

some extra tin in to the thermo pride or what have you than remodel the whole place....as you say it ran constantly tells me something else that might be of interest to you, it may be set on summer mode a switch at the burner that takes advantage of the fan to deliver moving air in the summer. normally a forced air furnace operates on a heafty differential and the fan would likely shut off and on controlled by a fan limit switch...

Bill_45

Sorry -just 1 zone with the thermostat in the coldest part of the house - the dining room. I think that the one small vent isn't enough to heat that location -so it cooks the rest of the house to reach the temperature set in the dining room. I have a large 3-window and a side door to our patio - lots of cold air issues. I wrapped the window in plastic - helped some.

How would you put a seperate zone in? I would really only need one for upstairs and one for the lower level. I have closed vents in some rooms I don't use right now hoping to up the force of the air in dining room.

Would a regular HVAC person be able to help me figure this out?

I really want to go with baseboard heat, we plan on being in this home for a long time. It just seems more comfortable heating to me.

Constantin

Some of the things you could consider...

... you could keep the hot air as a supplement in case the boiler doesn't quite kick in fast enough. Simply go for a two-stage thermostat where the second stage (i.e. the hot air) kicks in whenever the baseboard cannot keep up.

A condensing gas boiler like the Munchkin T50 should be able to heat your home if it's well insulated or you are in a warm part of the country. Otherwise, opt for the T80 or larger. To be sure, either use a free heat loss program like the Slant-Fin hydronic explorer (see toolbar at left) or use your previous gas bill to figure it out (I have a excel spreadsheet I can send you).

At the time of install for the boiler, I would also consider going with a indirect water heater, that way you can save at least 30% on your water heater bill as well.

Next, size the baseboard so that you can heat the rooms with 140°F hot water on a design day (i.e. when it's really cold out). There are some attractive baseboards out there, I like the Hydronic Alternatives variety, for example. However, Slant Fin, Buderus, and others also make attractive and effective baseboards that are unobstrusive and work great.

Realize however, that the most cost effective route for you at this point is probably to retrofit AC zoning into your home.

Steve_35

You need

to have your system balanced. You can check at www.nationalcomfortinstitute.com to see if there is a certified contractor in your area.

It may be the suppy air runs and/or return air runs are inadequate or just out of balance.

Frankly, I think you cna make a FA home just as comfortable as a home with HW baseboard. It takes more engineering and just isn't done on the cheap. Unfortunately that's how most FA systems are installed.

tom_49

Bill, You can try to change the location of the t-stat for now and also close the registers in your rooms that are getting overheated. Also, check to see if theres any drafts coming from behind the tstat that can cause under/overheating ( ive seen this many times )I think for you to convert over to BB its going to cost some $$. Hot air gets a bad rap mostly because of poor installs. With a nice variable speed furnace, up to 96.9% efficient by the way (sized CORRECTLY), humidifier, air cleaner, you can get a very comfortable house. Too bad most hvac contractors dont inform there customers about these options, they just want the quick sale. Anyway Good Luck.

Weezbo

Hello, did you go check to see if the fans operations on the

auto mode ? like i suggested yesterday? you asked about the ease of adding another zone, when you do an install it is there and then Ease of determining zoning may be used in a sentence,having said that it is relative .. i spent alot of time working on tin and still balance out systems and turn a hand from time to time on Large blower motors or mixing boxes or what have you, reallyadding a zone is not that big a deal....quuite often a tap into the plenums and abit of pipe and a zone valve and t stat wire is about all that takes, furnaces can be being under fired or have no returns and thelike which doesnt help much either,a "regular Heating guy" who installs hvac knows this stuff from the gate, balancing by pipe sizing is only a real rudimentary "control stradgey". fine tuning it to a whisper ,...that takes some g2. adding an extra zone over the internet or phone is little bit too much to d...call some one who installs hrv's or forced air and they can deal with it pretty quick.

Steamhead

It's probably easier than you think

to switch to hydronics. Since this house is a keeper, you want to have as much comfort as you can. Scorched-air just won't cut it.

It's relatively easy to plan a baseboard system with multiple zones. Getting the pipe in the places it needs to go can take some creativity, but it can be done. The starting point is an accurate heat-loss calculation, so you know just how much heat each room needs.

If the system is designed for lower-than-usual water temperatures, you can take advantage of highly efficient condensing boiler technology. This will decrease the system's operating cost, especially in milder weather.

If I were doing this type of system, I'd use cast-iron baseboard rather than fin-tube. Cast-iron will give a more even heat. But it does cost more to buy.

Talk to Jamie Pompetti, he's located in Media. You will find his contact info on the Find a Professional page of this site.



To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

lchmb

.02 cents

I think since you are already into the heating season it would be easier at this point to install some damper's on your main trunk and control the flow of air. Close down the room's that overheat and leave other area's open further. Are you sure the vent in the dining room is not a return line? Is the t-stat directly over this vent? As to going with a hydronic system, I would start planning now and be ready to start with it in the spring. It of course depend's on the layout of your house as to how difficult it will be, is the cellar finished, are there large area's where baseboard could not be run, ect ect ect. You would need a company (look under "find a pro") and have them come in and do a complete heat loss and look at all of the possibilities!!