I know this is an old thread, but.... I had an HVAC engineer come by and do a complete analysis of our current system. He made some recommendations that could make the existing system far more efficient, but there are no guarantees. Fortunately, the mods he suggested are not significant in change or cost, so I may consider them after I get a second opinion.
He was surprised that the house had a single system, due to the square footage (almost 4000 finished) and the volume of our entry/atrium. His ultimate recommendation if funds were not an issue would be to put a second system in for the upstairs, which I think we will eventually do. It will allow for far more comfort upstairs, allow us to effectively "zone" the house, and add a currently unfinished room to a system so it is habitable. Dan --- On Mon, 7/13/09, Rich Thomas <richthomas79td...@constructivity.net> wrote: > From: Rich Thomas <richthomas79td...@constructivity.net> > Subject: Re: [MBZ] Speaking of hot.... > To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > Date: Monday, July 13, 2009, 9:59 AM > I had an old Victorian with forced > hot water baseboard heat. It did a fairly decent job > warming up the house, considering. I had a woodstove > in the kitchen, which was in the back of the house, and > there was a back stairway that let the heat upstairs. > My last year owning the house the winter oil bill was $500 > (the realtor refused to believe this, thought it was more a > monthly kind of bill), I ran the woodstove mornings and > evenings and it kept the upstairs nice overnight, downstairs > we were mostly moving around so could keep it at like 60-65F > or so and it wasn't bad, in the kitchen it was nice and > toasty. Plus you get used to cool/warm whatever is > your climate. > > The Houston house was about 3500ft2, 9ft ceilings, and had > 2 units, one up and one down, the upstairs unit ran a lot > more than the downstairs as it was cooling the rising heat, > and the cool air would go down the stairs. I set them > both at 78F, there would usually be a difference you could > feel up and down. House was well insulated, but > physics are physics. In the winter I seldom used the > gas heaters, maybe a few mornings to warm things up a bit if > it had been in the 30s overnight. Sometimes by > afternoon the AC would be needed. > I vote for 2 units, zoned up and down, both maybe a bit > larger than you think as you don't want them running > continuously and barely keeping up (like the single unit > does here in the marsh house, and does not cool upstairs). > > --R > > Allan Streib wrote: > > One house I looked at (but did not buy) had baseboard > hot water heat, and A/C in the ceiling. I'm sure this > is because the AC was added later and for ease of access > they did all the ductwork in the attic, but this struck me > as a good combination. > > > > Radiant heat is nicer in the winter, does not feel as > "dry" as forced air. And AC with the registers in the > ceiling also seems optimal. > > > > Allan > > > > On Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:59 -0700, "Jim Cathey" <j...@windwireless.net> > wrote: > > > >>> Any other suggestions before I call in my HVAC > guy? > >>> > >> I've seen houses with two systems. One main > one and > >> a smaller one to do the top. A different way > to do > >> zones, and potentially more efficient if running > just > >> the small system up top is sufficient for a good > part > >> of the year. > >> > >> Or it may have just been a bonehead way to avoid > doing > >> proper engineering. Who's to say? > >> > >> -- Jim > >> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________ > >> http://www.okiebenz.com > >> For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > >> > >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > >> http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > >> > > > > _______________________________________ > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://okiebenz.com/pipermail/mercedes_okiebenz.com/attachments/20090713/493535b1/attachment.html> > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
