radiant w/ 10' ceilings

Ed Carr_2

In building a stick frame house w/ 2x6 walls insulated with icyrene (sp?) what would the increase be in heating req'd if the house is designed with 10 ft ceilings throughout the house vs. 8 ft ceilings. I'm planning to put in radiant, and one contractor told me the additional 2 feet of ceiling height would most likely double my annual heating bills. Does this make sense???

Weezbo

Why? you dont walk around on the ceilings........

so i dont see how cooler temps there would be any problem.

Tim Doran

25%

Thats only a 25% increase in surface area so it can not double the load. Have a heat loss calculation with both sets of figures to get the facts.

Tim D.

Tim Doran

Cooler at ceiling

This could actually help decrease the load a bit as the cooler temps decrease the differential to the outside and therefore decrease the loss.

Tim D.

Mark Eatherton1

I don't think so...

All things being relevant, maybe 20%, but definately not 100%. If you have a real good heating contractor, he should have done a heat loss calc on it and should be able to bring it back up on his PC and modify his input data and tell you EXACTLY what impact it will have. That is, IF he did an actual heat loss calculation. Otherwise, he'll jump at the excuse of "Oh, the wholesaler I use did it for me, and they don't usually save thier information..."


There is a free heat loss calculation program available right here on this web site. Run your own numbers and see what you come up with...

ME

Ed Carr_2

height

I was aware that the increase in cu-ft was 25%, however, since some of the radiant heat is probably converted to convective heat and heat rises (or to be more specific from one of Dan's books "hot air" rises) I just wasn't sure if the exceptional height of the ceilings would create a themocline or air band around the house.

Weezbo

When you install your HRV that might \"waste\" 20 percent..

although it will provide "fresh air" to the living space.