HVAC: What's best for cold climates?

[Tjf1967]

What happened to the in floor heating? That seems like a no brainier for new construction.

 

[Harvey]

My Mitsubishi mini-split doesn't do well below 40 degrees.

River what was the rating for it?

 

[Harvey]

What happened to the in floor heating? That seems like a no brainier for new construction.

What do you use for flooring? I was hoping for a mix of maple and tile. Hardwoods no bueno for in-floor?

 

[Sbob]

What do you use for flooring? I was hoping for a mix of maple and tile. Hardwoods no bueno for in-floor?

You can but hardwood is limited to 80° floor temp. If you have any areas with higher ceiling or lots of windows you’ll need to add some baseboard or other sources.

I’ve seen two nightmares where they ran 180° boiler temperatures in the radiant.

 

[Harvey]

So then the question is:

How does the cost of radiant beneath the tile (kitchen and bathrooms) plus radiators compare to all radiators.

Wait... can you mix the two with the same temp water? I think I asked this before.

 

[Harvey]

I saw a Runtal sample over the summer and thought they looked nice from the front but lots of nooks and crannies for dust bunnies to hide in the back.

@sig how is the dust and vacuuming?

 

[Sbob]

So then the question is:

How does the cost of radiant beneath the tile (kitchen and bathrooms) plus radiators compare to all radiators.

Wait... can you mix the two with the same temp water? I think I asked this before.

That’s a calculation that your heating guy can make . Assuming you have tile in the bathroom you can run warmer floor temperature so you only need baseboard in higher heat loss areas. You do need a second zone for the baseboard but it can be staged off of one thermostat. Radiant would be primary.

 

[riverc0il]

River what was the rating for it?

Heating Minimum Temp 5 F

It obviously gets way colder than that around here... and performance drops off well before hitting the minimum.

 

[Harvey]

Heating Minimum Temp 5 F

It obviously gets way colder than that around here... and performance drops off well before hitting the minimum.

I agree the number you wanna know is like the 80% efficiency temperature? What is that?

Here in NJ. We have a heat pump and that's what I leave it set at. I forget 35 or maybe 40.

 

[Harvey]

That’s a calculation that your heating guy can make. Assuming you have tile in the bathroom you can run warmer floor temperature so you only need baseboard in higher heat loss areas. You do need a second zone for the baseboard but it can be staged off of one thermostat. Radiant would be primary.

Tile might be 15% of the floor (just guessing). Is it really worth it to add another zone for that much?