So, it's the dead of winter, and the power goes out.

[MaineShark]

polyanarch is spot-on.

Radiant heating is by far more efficient and more comfortable than any other heating method.

So Joe what do you think was wrong with the house I was in that was always cold. Not insulated properly? Or have they just improved on this?

I'd have to examine the system.  There might not have been enough linear feet of radiant tubing under the floors (ie, completely-incorrect design), or it could be something as simple as a valve that needed a tweak to adjust the flow.  I've seen both, and everything in-between.  Radiant heating requires a very solid understanding of heat transfer, fuild dynamics, electronic controls, computer logic, plumbing, construction, and a healthy dose of artistry.  I've literally seen systems where turning a bypass valve 1/4-turn was enough to go from "this house is so cold that we got a hotel room" to "this is the best place we've ever lived." (I promptly removed the handle from that valve, so it wouldn't get moved again)

Frank: There are people in northern Canada with 4000-square-foot houses that heat for that kind of expense, with radiant fired by condensing gas boilers.

I repeat - you can't justify the expense in a really, really low energy house.

how can you compare the cost of a small heat exchanger enclosed in a fresh air system (air-to-air heat exchanger which is a given in a super-insulated, low energy house) with making a heat exchanger out of all of your floors in the house?

Because it isn't all that expensive, in reality.  And it will still be more efficient than your heat exchanger, in addition to being more comfortable.  And it can even be used for cooling, in the summer, with proper system design.  How does a ground loop and a pump strike you, versus cooling equipmen?  Don't even need a heat pump for geothermal cooling.

Joe

[polyanarch]

Justifying an expense on a pure penny-pinching bean-counting level is often impossible.  An emergency generator is rarely a justifyable expense.  Most of the time it will never be needed or even used.  The same goes with a hybrid car.  Hell, someone with a paid-off car that gets 10MPG can't justify the expense of purchasing a new car and paying payments even on a 40MPG conventional car as $10-20K buys a LOT Of gas!

My future house will have underfloor radiant heat as well as forced-air back-up as I WANT to have a backup as well as be able to air-condition the place even if it only needed a couple of days a year.

Of course I'm handy and can do all the work myself.  I'll consult with experts on design but then I plan to do most of the work on my future home myself from digging the foundation to framing and pouring concrete to the inside walls, roof, and finish work.  EVerything I can do myself I will do myself.  The cost of the radiant underfloor heat tubing is negligable.  It's going in with many redundant zones.  That's just the way I do things.  Yes, the house is going to be energy efficient for survival reasons.  It AIN'T gonna be cheap even though I do all the work because I am not going to spare any expense on good quality components and BACKUPS to those components. I'm going to have more than one heat source and heating system JUST IN CASE  -I read Heinlein's "Farmer in the Sky" -I'm not ever going to be caught with my pants down in the figurative sense when it comes to preparedness.  (although if any of you cute ladies want to catch me literally with my pants down you can visit my OK Cupid page...)

[polyanarch]

MaineShark,

I am so going to hire you when I build my house to do consulting work if you are available.  I think you have experience in doing exactly what I want to do.  We are kind of on the same sheet of music on many things.  I've got to get working on talking my GF into moving to NH. 

[CNHT]

I have another question. I have FHW-Oil. On my burner, my engineer husband used to always change the 'gun' to a larger one when he did the tune up.

Now that I have to rely on commercial people to do it, (I'm a widow) they always put a smaller one on.

What's this about and what size 'gun' do you recommend for a 4,000 sq ft house with FHW-Oil?

[FTL_Ian]

Joe,

We're going after these guys as potential advertisers:  http://eheat.com

The product looks really simple and by the testimonials, effective.  Something a couple of Florida boys could really get behind for an endorsement if they work.  Any experience with them?

[FTL_Ian]

Polyanarch,

I get really cold feet as well.  Do you have any favorite methods to warm them?  I've heard of the battery powered socks, but those seem clunky and require hand-washing.

[FrankChodorov]

I have another question. I have FHW-Oil. On my burner, my engineer husband used to always change the 'gun' to a larger one when he did the tune up.

Now that I have to rely on commercial people to do it, (I'm a widow) they always put a smaller one on.

What's this about and what size 'gun' do you recommend for a 4,000 sq ft house with FHW-Oil?

probably not the "gun" but more likely the nozzle that is at the end of the "gun" that atomizes the oil and probably not to a bigger one but more than likely just a new one.

[polyanarch]

I change my socks often.  Dirty, oily and sticky feet/socks get colder faster I have found. I've tried the heated socks thing but that doesn't work very well as the socks are hard to clean/wash without ruining them.  Basically, the heated floor thing is the best -short of having a nice person rub them.  I'm a SUCKER for a footrub.  Warms my feet right up.  I'll do just about anything for a good footrub...

[FTL_Ian]

Rather than derail this thread, I've created a thread specifically about cold feet:

My thoughts on socks there:

http://forum.soulawakenings.com/index.php?topic=5616.0

[jaqeboy]

Merino wool socks are the answer! ~$8-9/pr, but your feet will sweat! Try them and let me know if I'm wrong.

[MaineShark]

(although if any of you cute ladies want to catch me literally with my pants down you can visit my OK Cupid page...)

I thought OK Cupid frowned on those sorts of photos?

MaineShark,

I am so going to hire you when I build my house to do consulting work if you are available.  I think you have experience in doing exactly what I want to do.  We are kind of on the same sheet of music on many things.

Thanks.  I can't understand the folks who learn one way to do "just enough, " and then stop learning.  There's no much nifty stuff out there to learn about...

I've got to get working on talking my GF into moving to NH.

Yeah, get working on that.  The offer is still open, if you want to visit Northwood and need a place to stay.

I have another question. I have FHW-Oil. On my burner, my engineer husband used to always change the 'gun' to a larger one when he did the tune up.

Now that I have to rely on commercial people to do it, (I'm a widow) they always put a smaller one on.

What's this about and what size 'gun' do you recommend for a 4,000 sq ft house with FHW-Oil?

As Frank said, that probably refers to the nozzle.  The why... depends on the listed firing rate of the boiler.  If it's only rated to handle, for example, 2 gallons of oil per hour, the largest correct nozzle size is one that will deliver 2 gallons of oil her hour.  Going a bit smaller will actually improve the efficiency of the unit.

Are you running out of hot water, or is the system not able to keep up with demand during the coldest part of the winter?  If it's supplying enough heat to meet your needs, then the nozzle could actually be stepped down further (basically, the "ideal" size is one that just exceeds the demand, so it uses as little oil as possible, but doesn't run out of heat).

We're going after these guys as potential advertisers:  http://eheat.com

The product looks really simple and by the testimonials, effective.  Something a couple of Florida boys could really get behind for an endorsement if they work.  Any experience with them?

Not with them, in particular, but any electric heat is horribly expensive.  My parents had electric and wood heat, and switched to oil.  Even with the wood taking up a large part of the demand, so the electric heat was only part-time, the entire cost of the change-over to oil (roughly $7500) was paid off within five years due to the reduced electric bills.

Are these panels more efficient?  Possibly.  Maybe it would take six years to save $7500, instead of five.

And NH has electricity costs that tend to be on the high side, so the difference might have been even greater.

On the other hand, if someone has one particular room that is not heating properly and the problem with the central heating can't easily be repaired, this might be an easy way to supplement that one room.  But I'd look into repairing the central heat, first.

Joe

[Lloyd Danforth]

I am often asked to install a 3 or 4 foot section of electric baseboard in peoples bathrooms, just to take the edge off.

[polyanarch]

Thanks Joe.  I'll take you up on that offer someday.

I'd like to mention one more thing about electric heat.  It is rediculously expensive to run electric heat TODAY.  Maybe in 10 years they will be building a ton of nuke plants and electricity will be cheap again -who knows.

One thing about electric heaters are that they are rediculously cheap to install.  A baseboard electric heater costs more to wire than it does to buy (less if you put it in with new construction)  I would suggest that anyone building a new house put in a small electric baseboard heater in every room with a thermostat "just in case" -spend $500 and you have a back-up system.  It's expensive to run, but there are times when your main furnace goes down and you either can't afford to fix it or you are not around to fix it or fuel availibility is a problem or whatever.  Flip the breaker and your house is heated (although at at almost twice the cost/btu -but that is cheaper than replacing pipes and your comfort level has got to be worth something!)

[CNHT]

Are you running out of hot water, or is the system not able to keep up with demand during the coldest part of the winter?  If it's supplying enough heat to meet your needs, then the nozzle could actually be stepped down further (basically, the "ideal" size is one that just exceeds the demand, so it uses as little oil as possible, but doesn't run out of heat).Joe

I guess they probably knocked down the size of the nozzle for efficiency. I don't know why my husband always put a bigger one on...
I am not running out of water because it's just me, and even then, we showered at different times. But at least now I understand the significance of size of nozzle.

Earlier this month the boiler was shaking the whole house and water was leaking on the cellar floor so I had to call the oil company and they did a very expensive refurb. Everything is running smoothly now...it's hard to keep up with all these things that I've never had to worry about before but I'm learning!

[JonM]

Hey Joe, what's your take on the tankless water heaters?