Quote:
Need Opinions On This Electric Heater
- Thread starter Boyd
- Start date
Our house came with a heat pump, it's shot to heck. The last guy that looked at it said it has 4 coils and 3 of them are dead.
Our house also has a nice old fashioned woodstove in the basement with a huge metal hood built over and around it that ties into the ducts of the house. It has a blower attached to help it circulate. It keeps the house incredibly toasty. Only the bedrooms stay cold and I like sleeping in a cold bedroom. I don't like hauling the wood, but I love a cozy woodstove.
Our house also has a nice old fashioned woodstove in the basement with a huge metal hood built over and around it that ties into the ducts of the house. It has a blower attached to help it circulate. It keeps the house incredibly toasty. Only the bedrooms stay cold and I like sleeping in a cold bedroom. I don't like hauling the wood, but I love a cozy woodstove.
Quote:
We paid about $14,000 for our geo installation in a new home, but we did all of the trenching/line installation ourselves. We ran 5 horizontal lines in 100 ft trenches for a 1000 total line length for the lines (out & back 100 ft = 200 times 5 lines = 1000). My hubby stood by an old trencher for a month to save us about $6500. It was worth the time/work.
We built a very green home system. We live in a styrofoam house (love to say that) using Structurally Insulated Panel systems (SIPS). Each 8' piece of wall is 6" of foam surrounded by OSB, no studs, no air space, no heat loss. The ceilings are 12" thick foam. No attics, all vaulted ceilings. It's like living in an upside down beer cooler.
(I will tell you that electricians don't love SIP panels but my heat bill is well worth his discomfort.)
We also did on-demand water heaters, and in-floor radiant heat pipe in the basement concrete. We did the in-floor ourselves as well for about 25% of retail cost. We run the water pipes over the geo compressor to collect that heat and get much of our water heated for free through that process.
Expensive to maintain geo? well I haven't seent that yet, but the house was new in Feb 2007 so time will tell on that issue. I am unsure of the cost difference to maintain forced air over geo. But I think the geo is a healthier type of heat than the forced air.
Kermit was wrong, it's easy being GREEN, but it's probably not cheap.
If I was building a house I'd consider geothermal, both active and passive systems. I'd use wells tied into a small hydroponic system of ponds too. It's some cool stuff.
Depending on the complexity of your system you have hundreds of feet of pipe, multiple junctions, circulation pumps, solenoid and manually controlled valves, a heat pump, thermostat controls, and a few other misc parts that will eventually need service. There is also the coolant used as a heat transfer. Water works but a glycol mix is much better, and much more toxic. Plus many of the parts are not accessible. Compared to other systems there are many more failure points. It's true you may not see any of those things fail for many years, if ever, depending on the materials used.
Forced air simply means using circulated air to transfer heat, not convection or radiant types. Radiant types are healthier. Forced air is cheaper and easier (sometimes). You can use any heat source, such as geothermal, for forced air.
Another thing I like about geothermal is it's all season aspect. You can't cool your house with solar. (well, you can with a chiller but that's more industrial)
We paid about $14,000 for our geo installation in a new home, but we did all of the trenching/line installation ourselves. We ran 5 horizontal lines in 100 ft trenches for a 1000 total line length for the lines (out & back 100 ft = 200 times 5 lines = 1000). My hubby stood by an old trencher for a month to save us about $6500. It was worth the time/work.
We built a very green home system. We live in a styrofoam house (love to say that) using Structurally Insulated Panel systems (SIPS). Each 8' piece of wall is 6" of foam surrounded by OSB, no studs, no air space, no heat loss. The ceilings are 12" thick foam. No attics, all vaulted ceilings. It's like living in an upside down beer cooler.
(I will tell you that electricians don't love SIP panels but my heat bill is well worth his discomfort.)
We also did on-demand water heaters, and in-floor radiant heat pipe in the basement concrete. We did the in-floor ourselves as well for about 25% of retail cost. We run the water pipes over the geo compressor to collect that heat and get much of our water heated for free through that process.
Expensive to maintain geo? well I haven't seent that yet, but the house was new in Feb 2007 so time will tell on that issue. I am unsure of the cost difference to maintain forced air over geo. But I think the geo is a healthier type of heat than the forced air.
Kermit was wrong, it's easy being GREEN, but it's probably not cheap.
If I was building a house I'd consider geothermal, both active and passive systems. I'd use wells tied into a small hydroponic system of ponds too. It's some cool stuff.
Depending on the complexity of your system you have hundreds of feet of pipe, multiple junctions, circulation pumps, solenoid and manually controlled valves, a heat pump, thermostat controls, and a few other misc parts that will eventually need service. There is also the coolant used as a heat transfer. Water works but a glycol mix is much better, and much more toxic. Plus many of the parts are not accessible. Compared to other systems there are many more failure points. It's true you may not see any of those things fail for many years, if ever, depending on the materials used.
Forced air simply means using circulated air to transfer heat, not convection or radiant types. Radiant types are healthier. Forced air is cheaper and easier (sometimes). You can use any heat source, such as geothermal, for forced air.
Another thing I like about geothermal is it's all season aspect. You can't cool your house with solar. (well, you can with a chiller but that's more industrial)
Quote:
Good God man.
Good God man.
I have one of these amish heaters http://www.heatsurge.com/fireplaces.cfm We love it and it is really pretty. Everyone that walks in my house talks about it, and it works great.
Quote:
Hmm, I was looking at one of those for our bedroom.
We live in an 109 year old house. We have propane heat, which we are getting 1.89/gal this year. I could get it cheaper, but don't want the hassle of switching companies and tanks for .40 cents less.
In any case, we don't use much propane. I was pleasantly surprised last year. It seems to be well insulated. The upstairs gets chilly sometimes, but not bad. ( which is why I was looking at that heater you linked. )
We only need one delivery last winter, and the propane guy asked if we even had the heat on. LOL
We are thinking about one of those outdoor wood furnances. I researched it a little bit. For our size house the price wasn't too bad, and you get a nice tax break.
The other thing we were looking at is windmill for electricity. The particular ones we researched are made here in MI, and you get a really nice tax break for having one of those. I'm still researching that before I call someone out to give us a quote.
Bluemoon
Hmm, I was looking at one of those for our bedroom.
We live in an 109 year old house. We have propane heat, which we are getting 1.89/gal this year. I could get it cheaper, but don't want the hassle of switching companies and tanks for .40 cents less.
In any case, we don't use much propane. I was pleasantly surprised last year. It seems to be well insulated. The upstairs gets chilly sometimes, but not bad. ( which is why I was looking at that heater you linked. )
We only need one delivery last winter, and the propane guy asked if we even had the heat on. LOL
We are thinking about one of those outdoor wood furnances. I researched it a little bit. For our size house the price wasn't too bad, and you get a nice tax break.
The other thing we were looking at is windmill for electricity. The particular ones we researched are made here in MI, and you get a really nice tax break for having one of those. I'm still researching that before I call someone out to give us a quote.
Bluemoon
Quote:
Hmm, I was looking at one of those for our bedroom.
We live in an 109 year old house. We have propane heat, which we are getting 1.89/gal this year. I could get it cheaper, but don't want the hassle of switching companies and tanks for .40 cents less.
In any case, we don't use much propane. I was pleasantly surprised last year. It seems to be well insulated. The upstairs gets chilly sometimes, but not bad. ( which is why I was looking at that heater you linked. )
We only need one delivery last winter, and the propane guy asked if we even had the heat on. LOL
We are thinking about one of those outdoor wood furnances. I researched it a little bit. For our size house the price wasn't too bad, and you get a nice tax break.
The other thing we were looking at is windmill for electricity. The particular ones we researched are made here in MI, and you get a really nice tax break for having one of those. I'm still researching that before I call someone out to give us a quote.
Bluemoon
If you have a boiler then for around $5000 you can almost completely heat your house and hot water with thermal solar panels.
Nix the windmill. They don't make enough power to justify the cost and even with tax breaks will take a decade to get your money back.
In reality, for what it's costing you now just go have a beer and smile.
Hmm, I was looking at one of those for our bedroom.
We live in an 109 year old house. We have propane heat, which we are getting 1.89/gal this year. I could get it cheaper, but don't want the hassle of switching companies and tanks for .40 cents less.
In any case, we don't use much propane. I was pleasantly surprised last year. It seems to be well insulated. The upstairs gets chilly sometimes, but not bad. ( which is why I was looking at that heater you linked. )
We only need one delivery last winter, and the propane guy asked if we even had the heat on. LOL
We are thinking about one of those outdoor wood furnances. I researched it a little bit. For our size house the price wasn't too bad, and you get a nice tax break.
The other thing we were looking at is windmill for electricity. The particular ones we researched are made here in MI, and you get a really nice tax break for having one of those. I'm still researching that before I call someone out to give us a quote.
Bluemoon
If you have a boiler then for around $5000 you can almost completely heat your house and hot water with thermal solar panels.
Nix the windmill. They don't make enough power to justify the cost and even with tax breaks will take a decade to get your money back.
In reality, for what it's costing you now just go have a beer and smile.
Nope, no boiler
It's a fairly new furnace. It's not the best, but it isn't a low end one either.
I'm orginally from New England, I was just happy to see it wasn't oil heat. My DH didn't realize people still used oil heat. I said oh yes, in New England.
Solar panels is on our list of research too. We won't do anything until every option has been looked into. We want to be informed.
I like the outdoor wood furnace, and wood isn't hard to get around here.
Bluemoon
I'm orginally from New England, I was just happy to see it wasn't oil heat. My DH didn't realize people still used oil heat. I said oh yes, in New England.
Solar panels is on our list of research too. We won't do anything until every option has been looked into. We want to be informed.
Bluemoon
Mmmm, looks pretty. Not sure how good it is, too expensive for our budget. We will be trying the "Vornado" heater from Kohl's this winter. And lots of blankets, Lol! We just can't afford to spend the $2,000+ each winter for propane!
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