What Heating System Is Right For My New Custom Home?

Q:

What heating system is right for my new custom home?

A:

This question is asked by every homeowner to their general contractor when they are having a new home built. There are some many options out there and with every option there are pros and cons, every option is a different price and affects the way the home is heated/cooled.

Time should be spent on this decision; this decision should be made with the homeowner, the general contractor and the HVAC sub-contractor that will be installing the system.
HVAC systems have become very complicated and some system work better with certain equipment.

When it comes to the choice of equipment that decision should be left up to the general contractor and the HVAC subcontractor.

There are several main factors that determine or shape the direction in which you will proceed when narrowing down the choices for your HVAC needs, they are;

• Price. Price will dictate whether you can afford high-end systems like geothermal in-ground heat. The lower your budget for HVAC the less choices you will be left with to choose from.

• Availability. If you are in town and have access to natural gas then you have a lot of inexpensive options to choose from when considering your HVAC. If you are in an area that does not have natural gas then your choices narrow and you have to decide on what combination of equipment works for you. You might be building your home on a piece of land that doesn’t work well to have in-ground heating; this would mean you would have to choose other options.

There are so many combinations for HVAC systems like pairing a natural gas furnace to a electric air to air heat pump and so many grades of efficiency that it’s not worth me taking the time to try and list them all. I would be here for hours.

One of the big factors will be what recommendations your HVAC installer wants to use, their knowledge of systems, warranty issues, ease of use and pricing will go a long way in determining what you can install.

With anything if what they are proposing to install doesn’t make sense and cannot be properly explained then ask for other options. This will help ensure that you get not only what you want but what your new home needs.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

The Different Ways That You Can Heat You're In-Floor Heating System

The different ways that you can heat you’re in-floor heating system.

In floor heating is one of the most efficient ways to heat your home; the thermal mass allows your floors once they are warm to radiate heat for hours, long after the actual system has turned itself off. Radiant heat also heats an entire space evenly with heat originating from the entire floor instead where ever the ducts appear from the floor wall. Because radiant heat is produced at the floor level it is always rising by you the homeowner towards the ceiling. This means that the room is always the same temperature and that is feels comfortable.

To feed water to this system there are many different ways that you can create the hot water that is needed to run the system, here is a brief list;

• Hot water tanks. The standard hot water tank can be used to create enough hot water for small to medium sized area for heating. It is not very efficient but it will do the job. You can also use more than one tank if you think that you require more capacity. Hot water tanks can be powered by electricity, propane, natural gas, furnace oil or even solar.

• Geothermal. New geothermal heating systems will create hot water by ground source heat. This is a very efficient way to heat your floor especially if you have no access to natural gas. It is a more expensive option but you will see the savings over the long run. Geothermal systems are powered by electricity and require no fossil fuels.

• Flash boilers. Flash boilers are probably the most efficient water heaters out there, especially if they are powered by natural gas. They can also be powered by propane and electricity. A flash boiler does what the name says it does, it boils water to your desired temperature only when you require it. There are no storage tanks to hold warmed water; it is created when the system calls for it.

• Boilers. The traditional boiler is still used for large in-floor areas; it works well as it is able to create large volumes of water in short amounts of time to feed the system. They can be powered by natural gas, propane or electricity.

• Air to air heat pumps. Air to air heat pumps work by removing the heat from the air outside and transforming it into useable heat inside the home. Newer heat pumps can take heat from the air well below zero. This can be used to heat water that will fuel the in-floor heating system.

Whatever way you decide to power you’re in-floor system you are bound to be happy at the lower heating costs you will endure throughout the long winter months.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

Can my geothermal heating system do forced air and in-floor?

Q:

I want to put geothermal in the custom house that I plan to build, but I want in-floor and forced air heating, is that possible with geothermal units?

A:

This is entirely possible with today’s available technology.

In a home that has access to gas you would require one unit to heat the floor and another unit to do the air handling or forced air. That is not the case when you are doing the same jobs with geothermal heating.

There is an all in one unit that will do both in-floor and forced air at the same time. You will not require two units, as long as your house is not extremely large.

These new dual units work on the same principles as normal geothermal heating units.

A geothermal heating system has lines filled with a liquid that absorbs the heat from under the ground and transports it into the home for the furnace to make heat or to create cooling. There is no gas or electricity required to make the heat, the heat is make from pressurizing the liquid and passing it over a rad that a fan blows air over. This heats the air to the desired temperature and the furnace circulates it around the home.

When doing in-floor with geothermal the piping coming from the ground outside runs into a storage tank that holds the water or glycol (which ever liquid you’re in-floor system is running on). The heated lines heat the holding tank to the desired temperature and then the warm liquid is circulated throughout the piping under the floor.

These two different heating scenarios are now completed in one unit. This single unit with the storage tank beside it takes up far less room then the conventional dual units that were installed in the past.

This heating system is an extremely energy efficient way to heat your home and I would recommend this to any homeowner looking for an energy efficient heating option for their country home.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.