My house is currently heated by gas space heaters and cooled by window air conditioners. There is no central system or duct work installed.
After last winter's (and probably this winter's too) Freeze-A-Thon, I've been shopping around for a central system that will moderate the highs and lows. Of course I want the impossible: silent, invisible and efficient.
I've been looking at small-duct systems like Unico and SpacePak and wonder if anyone here has had experience with them, your opinion and suggestions for other systems. My understanding is that these systems run constantly, which doesn't sound appealing especially since I still follow the old-fashioned custom of opening the windows in nice weather.
Failing the small-duct option, are there any other systems that come to mind? Enough people have mentioned mini-splits that I get the sense that this is the latest trend and does solve the problem of no duct work. My original plaster walls are in excellent shape overall and I'd be hesitant to damage them if another option is available.
Small-duct HVAC systems
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phil
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Re: Small-duct HVAC systems
I was thinking about recovery, for example when I'm at work I let my heat dip and the auto thermostat gets it warming up as I get home. so that means that during the day I'm saving energy as there is a relationship between heat loss and the temperature difference inside to outside. It does cost money to heat the place back up. It seems like an impossibly complicated calculation would be required to see any real numbers on that.
If you have someone at home always, then you wouldn't want the heat to dip and so perhaps recovery is less important and perhaps the slow recovery of in floor heating would make more sense if you are home most of the time but perhaps less practical if you need fast recovery. another example is our summer place. If we go there in winter then we have to heat the house from below freezing quickly and so recovery is important.
maybe a bunch of little separate heat zones could give better zone control for example if you aren't using some rooms, maybe there is some efficiency gained in having the ability to shut them down to a minimum.
I'm not very privy to the new heating systems. My old gas heater is so old I'd like to replace it but it is also quite uncomplicated. Im not sure if Ill save overall if I factor in the cost of a new more efficient furnace and the new heaters seem a lot more prone to issues with electronics but my old furnace has none of those issues. I'm wondering if I'd be best to purchase a new to me heater, maybe something 20 years old rather than 40 years old or whatever mine is. Its aqua green, that alone probably dates it. I'm guessing 60's. maybe I can replace the heat exchanger and maybe the gas jets. I can fix anything with the motor or fan and I think the carburetor ( for want of a better name) is pretty standard. I don't want issues with modern Chinese circuit boards crapping out on me unexpectedly in order to gain some high efficiency rating unless it really makes financial sense. I can't really afford thousands to replace it.
Like with windows the heater companies come out with all these calculations and things about the efficiency but as we know the vendors are going to slant any stats to their advantage and there is a lot to factor.
It might be good to speak to an HVAC guy that would have a better idea on efficiency, reliability etc. If I look for a used one when did they become more efficient and what was it that was changed to accomplish this?
I think like with plastic windows there are people who replace heaters to gain efficiency but when you extract the savings difference and factor in the cost of a new unit and installation it doesn't always compute to any short term savings. I'm not so daft to think that they have not made improvements on efficiency and I may be burning a lot more than I need to with my old gas gobbler.
electric baseboards have pretty quick recovery and are cheap if you have the power to run them, so perhaps the secret is to combine that with a more constant heat source. If electric goes out, your gas heater won't work and neither will electric. mybe some oil space heaters can run without power. I always wonder if I could heat my house enough with my fireplace to keep pipes thawed. probably it would keep me warm but I don;t think the heat would help keep the pipes in the basement from freezing if it stayed cold for a long period. I'm not in an area thats really bad for electric outages but its possible, probably more likely for those on circuits further from the cities. maybe propane heaters could be used in an emergency like that, like with a window open in the basement , I don't mean bring the barbecue in and just let it run until you get carbon monoxide sick but maybe burning a propane lantern for periods with some ventilation to keep things unfrozen could be part of a disaster plan?
an old gas stove might work without power. the newer stoves probably rely on electronics and need power. If your stove worked that would be a pretty big bonus.
If you have someone at home always, then you wouldn't want the heat to dip and so perhaps recovery is less important and perhaps the slow recovery of in floor heating would make more sense if you are home most of the time but perhaps less practical if you need fast recovery. another example is our summer place. If we go there in winter then we have to heat the house from below freezing quickly and so recovery is important.
maybe a bunch of little separate heat zones could give better zone control for example if you aren't using some rooms, maybe there is some efficiency gained in having the ability to shut them down to a minimum.
I'm not very privy to the new heating systems. My old gas heater is so old I'd like to replace it but it is also quite uncomplicated. Im not sure if Ill save overall if I factor in the cost of a new more efficient furnace and the new heaters seem a lot more prone to issues with electronics but my old furnace has none of those issues. I'm wondering if I'd be best to purchase a new to me heater, maybe something 20 years old rather than 40 years old or whatever mine is. Its aqua green, that alone probably dates it. I'm guessing 60's. maybe I can replace the heat exchanger and maybe the gas jets. I can fix anything with the motor or fan and I think the carburetor ( for want of a better name) is pretty standard. I don't want issues with modern Chinese circuit boards crapping out on me unexpectedly in order to gain some high efficiency rating unless it really makes financial sense. I can't really afford thousands to replace it.
Like with windows the heater companies come out with all these calculations and things about the efficiency but as we know the vendors are going to slant any stats to their advantage and there is a lot to factor.
It might be good to speak to an HVAC guy that would have a better idea on efficiency, reliability etc. If I look for a used one when did they become more efficient and what was it that was changed to accomplish this?
I think like with plastic windows there are people who replace heaters to gain efficiency but when you extract the savings difference and factor in the cost of a new unit and installation it doesn't always compute to any short term savings. I'm not so daft to think that they have not made improvements on efficiency and I may be burning a lot more than I need to with my old gas gobbler.
electric baseboards have pretty quick recovery and are cheap if you have the power to run them, so perhaps the secret is to combine that with a more constant heat source. If electric goes out, your gas heater won't work and neither will electric. mybe some oil space heaters can run without power. I always wonder if I could heat my house enough with my fireplace to keep pipes thawed. probably it would keep me warm but I don;t think the heat would help keep the pipes in the basement from freezing if it stayed cold for a long period. I'm not in an area thats really bad for electric outages but its possible, probably more likely for those on circuits further from the cities. maybe propane heaters could be used in an emergency like that, like with a window open in the basement , I don't mean bring the barbecue in and just let it run until you get carbon monoxide sick but maybe burning a propane lantern for periods with some ventilation to keep things unfrozen could be part of a disaster plan?
an old gas stove might work without power. the newer stoves probably rely on electronics and need power. If your stove worked that would be a pretty big bonus.
Re: Small-duct HVAC systems
The guy at my old house fix has just installed a Unico, he is raving about it
Mick...
Re: Small-duct HVAC systems
Thanks, Mick. I'm going to look into it.