New house system ontario canada

[mcdougy]

Hey folks,
The plan is to build a new home in southwestern ontario this spring, about an hour east of detroit.
The home is aprox 3000sq ft ranch. 9' walls will be r32 attic r60, 8' basement walls will be r 20.
I was planing on running ductwork for the ac system, and think I would install a lp furnace as well for backup/main heat.
I'm curious in what way would you incorporate wood heat into a new home. The property has 14acres of hardwood bush and I have access to much more as well. I'm 40 yrs old if this makes any decisions and this is my forever homestead. I enjoy cutting wood and splitting it. Just looking for more knowledgable people's advice or thoughts if they were in my situation?
Thanks
Matt

 

[Jacksprat]

Hey folks,
The plan is to build a new home in southwestern ontario this spring, about an hour east of detroit.
The home is aprox 3000sq ft ranch. 9' walls will be r32 attic r60, 8' basement walls will be r 20.
I was planing on running ductwork for the ac system, and think I would install a lp furnace as well for backup/main heat.
I'm curious in what way would you incorporate wood heat into a new home. The property has 14acres of hardwood bush and I have access to much more as well. I'm 40 yrs old if this makes any decisions and this is my forever homestead. I enjoy cutting wood and splitting it. Just looking for more knowledgable people's advice or thoughts if they were in my situation?
Thanks
Matt

you might want to think about a LP/WOOD combo best of both worlds

 

[plumedic]

Have you considered radiant floor heat. You usually can use lower water temps with radiant. Long term if you're using wood it converts into less work than say a water to air exchanger in your ductwork like I'm stuck with.

 

[Jacksprat]

you might want to think about a LP/WOOD combo best of both worlds

must be from around Chatham area originally lived in Tilbury

 

[mcdougy]

must be from around Chatham area originally lived in Tilbury

I'm in London.....started here and gonna end here is the plan

 

[mcdougy]

Have you considered radiant floor heat. You usually can use lower water temps with radiant. Long term if you're using wood it converts into less work than say a water to air exchanger in your ductwork like I'm stuck with.

I do like radiant floor heat....im not sure if the basement slab would result in much heat on main floor? I was under the impression that air from radiant starts loosing heat after so much height? As far as radiant on the main floor, I was involved building a customers home that wanted it, we poured the gypcrete system and ...it's not for me. My original thoughts are a large size wood "furnace"/ insert that I can take a heat dump and blow into forced air system. I had a customer do this and I liked the premise of aesthetics and heat. But this what briNgs me to ask others opinions, many people are smarter and more experienced than me.

 

[Lucas]

I do like radiant floor heat....im not sure if the basement slab would result in much heat on main floor? I was under the impression that air from radiant starts loosing heat after so much height? As far as radiant on the main floor, I was involved building a customers home that wanted it, we poured the gypcrete system and ...it's not for me. My original thoughts are a large size wood "furnace"/ insert that I can take a heat dump and blow into forced air system. I had a customer do this and I liked the premise of aesthetics and heat. But this what briNgs me to ask others opinions, many people are smarter and more experienced than me.

Why don't you like the gypcrete radiant floor system? I'm building a house next spring and am planning to pour gypcrete. Are there particular issues with it?

 

[mcdougy]

Honestly, it just seemed strange to me to be poring concrete on top of a wood floor. All I could think about was possible problems/ issues in the future. I have no Concrete reasons it was just a personal opinion. I haven't heard from the homeowner in 5 years, so it's safe to say no news is good news and im sure his feet are nice and toasty.

 

[mcdougy]

I now remember the wood stove that the other customer put in and I liked it...it was the Opel by rsf I believe

 

[S.Whiplash]

Honestly, it just seemed strange to me to be poring concrete on top of a wood floor. All I could think about was possible problems/ issues in the future. I have no Concrete reasons it was just a personal opinion. I haven't heard from the homeowner in 5 years, so it's safe to say no news is good news and im sure his feet are nice and toasty.

Staple pex up underneath between the floor joists, insulate below..

 

[huffdawg]

I poured 1-1/2" of concrete on 3/4" plywood 8 years ago . Still workin fine no issues.

you can use concrete instead of gypcrete. u just need to make sure the floor can take the load.

 

[Nofossil]

I'm thinking about next home - kids are gone, don't need *quite* as much space. Probably do main house all on one level in case I get older, with guest rooms upstairs. Radiant slab for sure, also lots of heat storage. Probably do bidirectional heat pump for A/C and backup heat, maybe taking advantage of storage. Probably do small gasifier in boiler room attached to garage or shop.

Matt, if you have the chance to do radiant, this is the time. The *only* complaint I've ever heard from radiant users is that staple-up systems can be noisy - they can squeak as the pex expands and contracts.

Previous posts are dead-on about radiant keeping you warm with lower water temps. You're also usually comfortable at lower room temps. If you invest now in really good insulation and a tight shell, you'll be surprised at how little heat you'll need.

 

[Woodfarmer1]

Definitely pex in the slab, however that won't heat the main floor at all.

I have staple up that keeps the floor warm but won't heat my space only because it is 22' sidewall and a 12/12 cathedral ceiling (works well in the bedrooms with 11' ceilings) so I had to add two 8' stelrads.

The best advice I can give would be to hire a professional hydronic heat contractor and then visit a few of their jobs. The homeowner will probably tell you what works and what doesn't.

 

[mcdougy]

House is well under way and I just ORDERED a new fp 30 arch. Install date of nov 9th. Really feeling happy as the wood heat has been a large focus of the new build. Cheers

 

[maple1]

What's an fp30 arch?

 

[Quincy]

Installing a wood boiler with storage outside in a detached shed is ,in my opinion an awesome long term approach to hauling and loading wood. The mess,bugs and dust stay outside . I believe as others have mentioned low temp emitters such as infloor ,staple up in floor or radiators give the most efficient use of wood. Good luck with your new build hope all goes well. After following Hearth for years I notice more and more fellow Canucks here eh! Nice to see we have so many wood addicts close by.

 

[leon]

I stopped burning wood after 33 years. I have a coal stoker boiler . Are you willing and able to get up at 3AM to feed the forest eater or change a circulator that went bad? will your spouse go out and fill the boiler at night if needed?

The other issue is whether you want an open system with a plate or tube heat exchanger in your home or a closed pressurized system.

Think about this 15 years from now when your 55.

You could install gravity hot water heat or a steam boiler for your new home using copper pipeand have an excellent heating system for your conditions with very little work by placing the radiators on the inside walls away from the exterior walls. By doing this it shortens the pipe runs for both gravity hot water and 1 pipe steam systems as the boiler is in the basement directly under the radiators and the pipe runs are very short in a spoke pattern.

Since you have new construction a steam or gravity hot water system will not consume a lot of fuel as the house will be heavily insulated.

A boiler certified as UL ASME and CSA for steam will only require 1.5 PSI to heat your entire home and very small steam boiler set up as a one pipe system fired with propain that is the size of a typewriter cart will create a huge amount of heat for your needs.

Both gravity hot water heat and steam provide an even heat through the entire building and you will not have cold floors. I grew up with steam heat and I wish I had it in this house.

Think long and hard about this please. I did not in 1983, and I should have installed an underfed Van Wert Coal stoker for the extra $2,000.00 USD it would have cost me.

 

[Fred61]

If I were building new at this time the heat load would be so low, there would be no need for any wood boiler. Any wood boiler on the market now is too large and would be a hindrance as opposed to an asset. With the new insulating materials on the market and our understanding of heat loss it is entirely possible to build a home that could be heated with a couple air to air heat pumps.

My home is a perfect example of this theory. It's a 1970's ranch so I wasn't able to work from the ground up but I have been able to retrofit to the extent that it is very easy to heat. If I had been able to start at the footing level and incorporate all the knowledge accumulated over the years it would have been great. The 6 kw solar array I had installed in February has banked $240.00 in credits that I plan to use with my mini-splits. I will be burning the junk wood I have left over this winter and will be selling the good stuff. So this is my last year burning wood. I'll be making up the difference with oil which won't be much.

What we've learned about heat loss through conduction, infiltration, moisture and what we are still learning about radiant losses will allow us to build with nothing more than a masonry Russian fireplace.

 

[TCaldwell]

Are you still going to check in with us burners on the hearth!

 

[Fred61]

Are you still going to check in with us burners on the hearth!

You're like family.

 

[huffdawg]

I stopped burning wood after 33 years. I have a coal stoker boiler . Are you willing and able to get up at 3AM to feed the forest eater or change a circulator that went bad? will your spouse go out and fill the boiler at night if needed?

The other issue is whether you want an open system with a plate or tube heat exchanger in your home or a closed pressurized system.

Think about this 15 years from now when your 55.

You could install gravity hot water heat or a steam boiler for your new home using copper pipeand have an excellent heating system for your conditions with very little work by placing the radiators on the inside walls away from the exterior walls. By doing this it shortens the pipe runs for both gravity hot water and 1 pipe steam systems as the boiler is in the basement directly under the radiators and the pipe runs are very short in a spoke pattern.

Since you have new construction a steam or gravity hot water system will not consume a lot of fuel as the house will be heavily insulated.

A boiler certified as UL ASME and CSA for steam will only require 1.5 PSI to heat your entire home and very small steam boiler set up as a one pipe system fired with propain that is the size of a typewriter cart will create a huge amount of heat for your needs.

Both gravity hot water heat and steam provide an even heat through the entire building and you will not have cold floors. I grew up with steam heat and I wish I had it in this house.

Think long and hard about this please. I did not in 1983, and I should have installed an underfed Van Wert Coal stoker for the extra $2,000.00 USD it would have cost me.

I'm 52 , still luv cutting firewood. I never get up at 3am to light fire lol.

 

[huffdawg]

What's an fp30 arch?

(broken link removed)

 

[Bob Rohr]

Run a load calc first. You might find loads below 10 but/sq. ft with a tight well built home. For a design day load below 30,000 BTU/hr crunch the numbers and be sure it is worth the wood boiler option. Expect to pay someone well north of 10 grand for a well designed, top quality, buffered wood boiler. Look at your fuel costs for a low load home.

As much as I love hydronics, for tiny load homes those mini splits that offer heat, cool, and dehumidification mode sure are attractive Use the wood boiler budget $$ to install solar PV and cover a large portion of the mini split power requirements?

Any RE credits available up there anymore?

 

[Highbeam]

I'm 52 , still luv cutting firewood. I never get up at 3am to light fire lol.

Yes, I agree. Even in single digit temps with my little woodstove keeping a 1963 built house warm I still only do 12 hour reloads. The other95% of the burning season I reload once per day.

 

[Fred61]

I'm 52 , still luv cutting firewood.

About the time I turned 72 a cord seemed to have doubled in size.