Does it really feel different??????

[Love the Heat]

Hi All...

We all know that 71F is 71F. This being said walking in a home heating at 71F with wood
feels very different than a 71F with a Heat pump.

The method I'm interested to know as how it feels is the one where I would heat water and have
a water to air exchanger in my existing plenum....How does it feel?????

Regards..

 

[Jason845845]

The difference in my house is the constant heat coming from the pellet stove as opposed to the on and off from the oil furnace.

I like the heat my open fireplace gives off the best though, regardless of how much goes up the chimney.

 

[RKS130]

To me, my steam heat radiators provide the most pleasant heat - but at too high a price. But those babies retain heat and given their perimteter placement, every room has even comfortable heat. Don't get me wrong, I love my pellet stove (and the $$ I save), but the feel of steam heat is wonderful.

 

[bags]

I have an OWB Woodmaster and have it looped into the plenum of my central forced air system. The air exchange is much warmer than what the heat pump blows out. There is no comparrison IMO. Much warmer air pushed out into the house and a much better heat. Hot air comes out of the registers and vents instead of luke warm air.

This thread might belong in the Boiler Room / Furnace in the main forums topic though. You might get more answers over there. Doesn't have much to do with pellet stoves at all. I am currently heating with a pellet stove but also have a setup your are asking about so I answered here.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Wood heat (pellet or) is a dry heat.

Dampness makes it feel yucky, even warm.

 

[bags]

There is no dampness. They are sealed systems placed into the plenum and air is simply pushed over and thru the exchanger that has hot water running thru it. The humidity or moisture in the air is whatever your home has at the given time being circulated thru the forced air system. I like mine a lot just not all of the wood chucking and processing involved.

Nothing damp at all and not dry like wood and pellet stove air.

 

[pageyjim]

A proper humidity can make it feel more comfortable even at a lower temperature. Not scientific but in general 70 degrees with 30-35% RH can feel more comfortable than 72 degrees and 15-20% RH. Your skin, wood floors furniture etc may also agree. IMO there is no such thing as a dry heat source. What is the worse thing that can be done to moisture? Evaporate it? What can happen is a forced air system can help to make your home go into a negative pressure and pull in more cold dry air. But that can be eliminated with a proper install. Anything without an OAK or equivalent can do the same. Steam is probably the least efficient way to heat but I suppose with a steam vent leaking here and there it can actually aid in comfort. A circ pump is more eficient to move water than creating steam to be the engine. Most steam units are oversized also.
Also modern furnaces are meant to run at a lower temp and lower fan speed for comfort. They run longer and usually you can stare at your thermostat and it will never change. That is for comfort rather than go from cool to hot short cycling. Many people use to an old oil furnace and convert to a modern gas furnace complain that the vents are cold and it takes time for them to get use to it.

 

[bags]

To me, my steam heat radiators provide the most pleasant heat - but at too high a price. But those babies retain heat and given their perimteter placement, every room has even comfortable heat. Don't get me wrong, I love my pellet stove (and the $$ I save), but the feel of steam heat is wonderful.

Imagine that heat in a radiant floor system. Excellent and efficient. This really has nothing to do with pellet stoves but I like many others here like discussing other types of heat so it does apply and isn't off topic.

To further tie it in I will mention heat link systems like Bioburner here runs. He does radiant floor and hot water heat with a PELLET STOVE. There is also a fellow named Chad Hummel on Youtube with a PELLET STOVE and heat link hot water system. Very cool set ups and worth checking out to expand everyone's horizons on what all a PELLET STOVE is capable of doing. Thinking about doing one myself.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

The difference for me is feeling like I can get my room hotter with wood heat and not even think twice about what it us costing me where as running the furnace and burning 4 dollar a gallon of oil, your just using the unit so you don't freeze.
These are 2 very different feelings that I get.........

 

[Love the Heat]

Imagine that heat in a radiant floor system. Excellent and efficient. This really has nothing to do with pellet stoves but I like many others here like discussing other types of heat so it does apply and isn't off topic.

To further tie it in I will mention heat link systems like Bioburner here runs. He does radiant floor and hot water heat with a PELLET STOVE. There is also a fellow named Chad Hummel on Youtube with a PELLET STOVE and heat link hot water system. Very cool set ups and worth checking out to expand everyone's horizons on what all a PELLET STOVE is capable of doing. Thinking about doing one myself.

That is the reason I asked my question over here and also in the other forum, I'm running pellets
and also looking at the crosslink conversion for education and maybe a project in a near future...
I really appreciate everyones answer so far......

 

[bags]

What I am speaking of and the OP is referring too (I think) is a system like I have. Circulation pumps are used to circulate the hot water. Taco Pumps to be exact. They are little low pressure, low volume pumps that just push and pull the hot water consistently circulating it thru the entire Pex Tubing loop returning it to the heat source and doing it over again.

My water is heated by wood outside whereas Bioburners is circulated thru his PC45. His set up is unique because he can utilized the pellet / corn mix heat three ways.
1.) The water in his loop system is heated
2.) The Harman PC45 produces a bunch of radiant heat itself like a wood burning stove
3.) The distribution blower also throws out heat.

Great set up and he gets a lot of bang for his buck on pellet and corn cost.
Pretty cool, Huh?

 

[SidecarFlip]

Imagine that heat in a radiant floor system. Excellent and efficient. This really has nothing to do with pellet stoves but I like many others here like discussing other types of heat so it does apply and isn't off topic.

To further tie it in I will mention heat link systems like Bioburner here runs. He does radiant floor and hot water heat with a PELLET STOVE. There is also a fellow named Chad Hummel on Youtube with a PELLET STOVE and heat link hot water system. Very cool set ups and worth checking out to expand everyone's horizons on what all a PELLET STOVE is capable of doing. Thinking about doing one myself.

It could with a crosslink in the stove, heating the fluid that is heating the radiant floor.

 

[bags]

If you are looking into doing this with a cross link Bioburner is your man. Great guy and very helpful and knowledgeable on this set up and with pellet stoves in general.

 

[pageyjim]

Hi All...

We all know that 71F is 71F. This being said walking in a home heating at 71F with wood
feels very different than a 71F with a Heat pump.

The method I'm interested to know as how it feels is the one where I would heat water and have
a water to air exchanger in my existing plenum....How does it feel?????

Regards..

IMO the biggest difference maker will be humidity. A forced air system can remedy that easier than any other method short of fixing your house for leaks etc. The biggest problems with forced air systems will be that the ducting is likely wrong being undersized, causing drafty conditions and aiding in a negative pressure situation. That being said it doesn't have to be but usually is. Radiant flooring can be very comfortable and even heating. IMO it can make a difference if you want to keep an even heat all day or set it back. It can take a long time to recover with radiant heating. The combo setups with pellet boilers sounds really nice as far as I can see. Would be interesting to see if they can be valved off and diverted back to your oil-gas boiler that would be interesting too.

 

[bags]

Not sure what water temps Bio is running but I know he had to make adjustments and burn slower or something to optimize the crosslink heat and water exchange.

On my OWB I run the water form a low of 160* to a high of 180* so my water stays within those temperatures and parameters. Like I said I love the hot water set up I have with some radiant floors here, forced air, and self contained exchangers with fans. Free domestic hot water too while it is running.

Just needed a break from the wood chucking for a minute.

Had I known then what I know now I would have done all of this with the crosslink and pellet stove initially. Best of both worlds.

I am looking into a possible conversion but need time so I am paying attention here. I can relate to all of it from both perspectives having owned and ran a wood fired hot water system and now heating with a pellet stove.

 

[pageyjim]

Radiant flooring usually runs much lower about 115-135 usually. While you're at it run a zone under your sidewalk and driveway. Now that would be nice.

 

[bags]

A forced air system can remedy that easier than any other method short of fixing your house for leaks etc. The biggest problems with forced air systems will be that the ducting is likely wrong being undersized,

Yes with being able to add and/or control humidity by adding a humidifier onto the central forced air system, and not really on duct work and negative drafts per se. For example, I installed a new heat pump the same time I did the Woodmaster install. Installed it all together at the same time. Duct work was sized and all for the house. What I am getting at is most homes with with a central forced air system are already sized correctly. In an existing system all that really needs to happen is cutting into and slightly modifying the plenum to slip the exchanger in. Works much like the A coil for the AC.

Basically my central system is a two in one heat source. It can go forced air on the heat pump or the hot water without any changes. When or if the OWB runs out the heat pump will kick in and take over. I can fill the OWB on Friday after work and leave for the weekend coming home Sunday and the house is still close to temp or on it without the heat pump kicking on. This can be done in typical winter temps too. Now if it is brutally cold that will change and obviously the wood boiler runs out quicker.

 

[pageyjim]

I had an old neighbor that did that awhile back and he has been very happy with a similar setup. You could tell when he was running it, his wife would open doors etc in the winter lol.

 

[bags]

Radiant flooring usually runs much lower about 115-135 usually. While you're at it run a zone under your sidewalk and driveway. Now that would be nice.

The water comes into my place at 150-180 degrees hits the hot water heater first then the furnace and other things. The radiant floor is last so the water has cooled. I have several floor loops and each has controls so I can adjust and manipulate the floor temps. Radiant floor is the best by far and yes I thought about doing one area of my driveway but just couldn't justify the cost to do so having 4x4 trucks, skid steer, 4x4 tractor with front loader and scraper blades and shovels with operators (kids) LOL! for snow removal. Out west in the mountains they do driveways, side walks and such a lot.

It does take a bit to get the thermal mass heated initially but wow! it is the way to go IMHO.

Hopefully Bio will elaborate here about his set up. Good stuff!

Just some tid bits: It is almost limitless with how and what you can heat with these set ups or having a crosslink system or two. My wood PIG will do 10,000 SQ FT. It is set up to heat my home (all of it), domestic HW, garages, barn, and shop. My unit will do multiple buildings. You can do pools, hot tubs, driveways, and whatever else you would like. Of course the unit or units would need to be sized accordingly.

 

[pageyjim]

That's great. And yes the driveway and walkways are overkill and you seem to have that covered. I have seen several and the only one using it was a billionaire on a mountaintop.

 

[bags]

I had an old neighbor that did that awhile back and he has been very happy with a similar setup. You could tell when he was running it, his wife would open doors etc in the winter lol.

I have mine all zoned out and running 6 different thermostats. I can keep any area whatever temp I want and it will not over heat the house. Your neighbor could get these results doing a little work and running a thermostat. Mine works just like any central system and when it calls for heat the forced air runs and when temp is hit it shuts off. Cycles just like any other typical central system on a stat.

 

[seabert]

Imagine that heat in a radiant floor system. Excellent and efficient. This really has nothing to do with pellet stoves but I like many others here like discussing other types of heat so it does apply and isn't off topic.

To further tie it in I will mention heat link systems like Bioburner here runs. He does radiant floor and hot water heat with a PELLET STOVE. There is also a fellow named Chad Hummel on Youtube with a PELLET STOVE and heat link hot water system. Very cool set ups and worth checking out to expand everyone's horizons on what all a PELLET STOVE is capable of doing. Thinking about doing one myself.

In my home I rennovated the entire house last year and installed radiant heat throughout. The result is incerdibly clean and efficient heat. The most inefficient part of it is an oil fired boiler. However with an open floor plan on the first floor I decided to also install an insert in my den fireplace. The insert provides a very comfortable heat as well and compliments the radiant floor heat nicely. Basically the floors are always warm and the heat is consistent. The hard part is going outside when it is so cozy inside.

 

[pageyjim]

I have mine all zoned out and running 6 different thermostats. I can keep any area whatever temp I want and it will not over heat the house. Your neighbor could get these results doing a little work and running a thermostat. Mine works just like any central system and when it calls for heat the forced air runs and when temp is hit it shuts off. Cycles just like any other typical central system on a stat.

He ran his off a wood stove and it was just on or off. It was in what's referred to as the "north country" way upstate NY. It was funny I saw 25 below and she was opening the front door.

 

[Johnny_Fiv3]

A harman with an aquastat hooked up in room temp manual can regulate the cross link setups nicely.

 

[SKOAL MAN]

My question to the OP is. Why would anyone from Quebec even bother wasting money on wood pellets and a stove with the rates you get electricity for?http://www.hydroquebec.com/residential/understanding-your-bill/rates/residential-rates/rate-d/