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How to heat a standalone office / bathroom
onobed
Member Posts: 1
Hi
I am building a standalone office with a bathroom. The bathroom is 85 squarefeet.
I live in Santa Cruz California. I plan to use electric radiant with a toekick heater for those times I need extra heat.
I have read that hydronic is better - but for such a small space, I don't feel the extra space and complexity of hyrdronic is unwarranted.
The rest of the office will be heated by a minisplit.
I do have hydronic in the main house - but I feel I will lose a lot of heat running the hot water the 15 feet to the office.
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
I am building a standalone office with a bathroom. The bathroom is 85 squarefeet.
I live in Santa Cruz California. I plan to use electric radiant with a toekick heater for those times I need extra heat.
I have read that hydronic is better - but for such a small space, I don't feel the extra space and complexity of hyrdronic is unwarranted.
The rest of the office will be heated by a minisplit.
I do have hydronic in the main house - but I feel I will lose a lot of heat running the hot water the 15 feet to the office.
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
0
Comments
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Santa Cruz? The minisplit will be ample for the office, and do you even really need additional heat for the bathroom?Br. Jamie, osb
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England0 -
There are mini splits that can use ductwork for distribution, maybe use that type to serve both rooms. AC likely is more of an issue than heat.0
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California just put some electric baseboards or an electric wall cabinet heater.0
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Look into a correctly sized Mini-Split system. You should be very happy with that considering your building size.0
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I think the bigger question to ask is do you plan on AC in this space?
If not, cost wise, I would go hydronic. its already there, a little pipe and element, a zone valve and a little wiring, not too shabby!
If you are using a mini-split for the AC, well then that's a done deal cost-wise...Dave H0 -
Dear Dave, I have done many of these before. For such a small space I recommend electric radiant for three reasons. 1) Independent zone and control 2) low expense installation. 3) Low cost in operation as usually a new space has superior insulation and a low heat load. 4) All my customers who did this were very happy with the results. Even if you choose a Heat pump for the office space, electric for the bath area is best where we size for 115% of the load. After all, this is a clothing optional room. and can also have its own control.0
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Mini split without hesitation. I'd never install resistive electric anywhere, but especially not in sunny California.NJ Steam Homeowner. See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el0
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how large is the office portion? If you want cooling and some dehumidification, a mini split may be the best option and small sizes are available. Heat only for that size bath I would look at electric radiant from an install and cost of operation. Depending on boiler type and size, possibly run a hydronic loop.Bob "hot rod" Rohr
trainer for Caleffi NA
Living the hydronic dream0 -
I have read that hydronic is better - but for such a small space, I don't feel the extra space and complexity of hyrdronic is unwarranted.
Double negative is unclear. is this what you meant to say?
I have read that hydronic is better - but for such a small space, I do feel the extra space and complexity of hyrdronic is warranted.
and 15 feet is nothing! Unless you forgot to place a zero at the end... 150 ft is still just fine. that is what they make pipe insulation for.Edward F Young. Retired HVAC ContractorSpecialized in Residential Oil Burner and Hydronics0 -
when i built my house, hydronic radiant was a must. but...... even in the summer there are days when the
bathrooms needed a bit of heat. for this reason, i chose electric radiant. not only for cost upfront, but to
eliminate the need to fire my boiler for such small heat loads (60,75sqft.) i suppose i could have gone the
wall heater route, but i didn't want to listen to the fan noise. the floor-sensing stats were a bit pricey but
worth it.
the turn-down of my boiler, plus it firing a 40gal. buffer tank would not cause short-cycling. but there it is. i'm happy with my design.
BTW: firing the boiler into a buffer tank (rather than the heating zones) may seem unconventional. but
in high demand cycles it keeps the on/off cycling to much longer periods. a positive scenario.0
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