Hi all,
Been building a house for 3 year now…… still living in the basement…. Eventuallt, when everything is all said and done, I will have radiant on every floor and most likely a gasifier wood boiler.
As of right now, I only have the piping in the basement slab with the manifold for the 5 loop of ½ pex for 1000 sqft of basement slab.
As of right now, I am heating the basement at 70 with electric baseboard and a wood stove. The first and second floor never gor under 50 with the basement beign heated. (Still have a lot of work to do inside the house).
I bought the radiant heat design book for 200$ 3 years ago, and read approx. 50 page of it….. been reading here a lot…. But I’ve been working on the road, away from home crazy hours since 7 years and the few weeks off I’ve got home got so busy making the house protected from the element that the design of the radiant floor never came close to the top of the priority list.
But with a 3rd kid on the way and the possibility of me beign away from home this winter, the wife really wants the basement slab heated before I go, remember the old saying: A haapy wife is a happy life.
So my plan always been to have an electric boiler to start anyway. So i want to start with it.
Radiant is kind of not common here, and with the very few contractor I’ve talked too, they don’t seem to know much, so I wold like to have my system design by someone who knows the stuff and then I could compare with local quote. Or maybe kick my butt and do the install myself during parental leave in November (Baby is due first week).
Anybody have recomandation ? What should I pay for a basic system design ? Only 1 electric boiler with 5 zone for 3000 sqft?
As of right now, I usually burn approx. 8 face cord of maple or 13 face cord of larch per full heating season. And my total electrical bill from beginning october to end of april have average have been:
For 2009-2010 season, nobody was home from mid-January till the end of the season, so heating only with electric heat and burnt approx. 3-4 face cord of larch for nov-dec-jan :
2009-09-24 to 2009-11-20 - 58 days : 2 630 kwh for 208,58 $ Avergae of 45 kwh / day
2009-11-21 to 2010-01-21 - 62 days : 2 610 kwh for 206,02 $ Avergae of 42 kwh / day
2010-01-22 to 2010-03-25 - 63 days : 3 790 kwh for 305,16 $ Avergae of 60 kwh / day
For 2010-2011 season, we were not home from January till the end of the season, but the sister in law stayed home until end of march while we were gone, so on top of the elctrci bill, we burnt a total of approx. 5-6 face cord of larch (But the SIL burnt approx. 2 cord for the whole jan-feb-march):
2010-09-23 to 2010-11-17 56 days: 2 070 kwh for 162,10 $ Avergae of 37 kwh / day
2010-11-18 to 2011-01-24 68 days: 3 530 kwh for 283,91 $ Avergae of 52 kwh / day
2011-01-25 to 2011-03-23 58 days: 4 470 kwh for 368,46 $ Avergae of 77 kwh / day
For 2011-2012 season, the wife been home full time, and As I didn’t have any larch left, I bought some dry maple, and we burned approx. 7 face cord from September to april (Note that the bill from November from jan was estimated, wich mean the utility company couldn’t access my meter due to snow, so the estimated the consumption and then got a real reading end of march, so those 2 bills might not reflect the reality, I probably use more kwh in nov-dec wich in fact boost my jan-feb march bill when they got a real reading, I think an average of 68 kwh day is a little high when we figure the stove is usually burning 16 hours a day minimum:
2011-09-14 2011-11-09 57 days: 1 610 for 125,25 $ Avergae of 28 kwh / day
2011-11-10 2012-01-11 63 days: 3 360 for 271,44 $ Avergae of 53 kwh / day
2012-01-12 2012-03-20 69 days: 4 710 for 388,46 $ Avergae of 68 kwh / day
So that’s what it is, note that the electric bill include everything plus heating (DHW, dryer,s tove, lights, tv, ect….)
When ever I’ll be ready for the wood boiler, I will do the whole thing myself, but as of right now, I can’t justify a IWB, but I am planning / hoping to change job within 3-5 years, my oldest daughter will start school in 2 years from now and they won’t follow me on the road after that…..
The house is very well insulated, 2 story plus a full basement, the system will be a 5 zone system, and probably should plan a 6 zone for DHW when the WB will be online:
1 – the basement
2- The walk-in – lobby – mud room on the first floor
3 1st floor: Kitchen / Dinning / Living all open floor plan
4 2nd floor family bathroom
5 – 2nd floor , a total of 4 bedrooms
Haven’t had the time for a heat load calculation yet.
So, what you guys think, any idea, inputs, or suggestion, I am open to every opinions, options and possibilities.
Thanks
Been building a house for 3 year now…… still living in the basement…. Eventuallt, when everything is all said and done, I will have radiant on every floor and most likely a gasifier wood boiler.
As of right now, I only have the piping in the basement slab with the manifold for the 5 loop of ½ pex for 1000 sqft of basement slab.
As of right now, I am heating the basement at 70 with electric baseboard and a wood stove. The first and second floor never gor under 50 with the basement beign heated. (Still have a lot of work to do inside the house).
I bought the radiant heat design book for 200$ 3 years ago, and read approx. 50 page of it….. been reading here a lot…. But I’ve been working on the road, away from home crazy hours since 7 years and the few weeks off I’ve got home got so busy making the house protected from the element that the design of the radiant floor never came close to the top of the priority list.
But with a 3rd kid on the way and the possibility of me beign away from home this winter, the wife really wants the basement slab heated before I go, remember the old saying: A haapy wife is a happy life.
So my plan always been to have an electric boiler to start anyway. So i want to start with it.
Radiant is kind of not common here, and with the very few contractor I’ve talked too, they don’t seem to know much, so I wold like to have my system design by someone who knows the stuff and then I could compare with local quote. Or maybe kick my butt and do the install myself during parental leave in November (Baby is due first week).
Anybody have recomandation ? What should I pay for a basic system design ? Only 1 electric boiler with 5 zone for 3000 sqft?
As of right now, I usually burn approx. 8 face cord of maple or 13 face cord of larch per full heating season. And my total electrical bill from beginning october to end of april have average have been:
For 2009-2010 season, nobody was home from mid-January till the end of the season, so heating only with electric heat and burnt approx. 3-4 face cord of larch for nov-dec-jan :
2009-09-24 to 2009-11-20 - 58 days : 2 630 kwh for 208,58 $ Avergae of 45 kwh / day
2009-11-21 to 2010-01-21 - 62 days : 2 610 kwh for 206,02 $ Avergae of 42 kwh / day
2010-01-22 to 2010-03-25 - 63 days : 3 790 kwh for 305,16 $ Avergae of 60 kwh / day
For 2010-2011 season, we were not home from January till the end of the season, but the sister in law stayed home until end of march while we were gone, so on top of the elctrci bill, we burnt a total of approx. 5-6 face cord of larch (But the SIL burnt approx. 2 cord for the whole jan-feb-march):
2010-09-23 to 2010-11-17 56 days: 2 070 kwh for 162,10 $ Avergae of 37 kwh / day
2010-11-18 to 2011-01-24 68 days: 3 530 kwh for 283,91 $ Avergae of 52 kwh / day
2011-01-25 to 2011-03-23 58 days: 4 470 kwh for 368,46 $ Avergae of 77 kwh / day
For 2011-2012 season, the wife been home full time, and As I didn’t have any larch left, I bought some dry maple, and we burned approx. 7 face cord from September to april (Note that the bill from November from jan was estimated, wich mean the utility company couldn’t access my meter due to snow, so the estimated the consumption and then got a real reading end of march, so those 2 bills might not reflect the reality, I probably use more kwh in nov-dec wich in fact boost my jan-feb march bill when they got a real reading, I think an average of 68 kwh day is a little high when we figure the stove is usually burning 16 hours a day minimum:
2011-09-14 2011-11-09 57 days: 1 610 for 125,25 $ Avergae of 28 kwh / day
2011-11-10 2012-01-11 63 days: 3 360 for 271,44 $ Avergae of 53 kwh / day
2012-01-12 2012-03-20 69 days: 4 710 for 388,46 $ Avergae of 68 kwh / day
So that’s what it is, note that the electric bill include everything plus heating (DHW, dryer,s tove, lights, tv, ect….)
When ever I’ll be ready for the wood boiler, I will do the whole thing myself, but as of right now, I can’t justify a IWB, but I am planning / hoping to change job within 3-5 years, my oldest daughter will start school in 2 years from now and they won’t follow me on the road after that…..
The house is very well insulated, 2 story plus a full basement, the system will be a 5 zone system, and probably should plan a 6 zone for DHW when the WB will be online:
1 – the basement
2- The walk-in – lobby – mud room on the first floor
3 1st floor: Kitchen / Dinning / Living all open floor plan
4 2nd floor family bathroom
5 – 2nd floor , a total of 4 bedrooms
Haven’t had the time for a heat load calculation yet.
So, what you guys think, any idea, inputs, or suggestion, I am open to every opinions, options and possibilities.
Thanks