Floor Furnaces in Downeast Maine? (home, water heater, living)

[maine4.us]

I need to additional heating in my cottage of about 800 square feet. I grew up in Tennessee and convection floor furnaces were extremely popular. The cottage floor plan is perfect for a floor furnace in the open kitchen/dining/living room area. I called a couple of propane companies, and while they are aware of them, nobody knows much about them in Maine. We had lots of ice storms where I grew up, and with that came loss of power for as long as a week. A convection furnace has no fan, and operates independently of power. The vent goes out of the basement and through the foundation.

Question is, does anyone know why these types of floor furnaces aren't popular in Maine? They are very efficient. A little insight from you guys would be helpful!

[dmyankee]

Does Empire make them? An Empire direct vent might work.

[contented]

burnt feet?

[Submariner]

They are nice.

Empire does make a line of them; from 32kBtu to 65kBtu.

Though I think that you can find models that go from 10kBtu up to 100kBtu.

My grandparents used to have one in the 1950s.

They are really kind of like a propane BBQ mounted a foot underneath the floor with a grill that is stronger.

Without external venting they will add a lot humidity to your air, but they don't require venting.

And they are cheap!

[maine4.us]

Burned feet? You will only do that once!!! I still wear "grill marks" on the bottom of my feet obtained when I was a small child. Thanks guys, I just don't have any outside walls to mount a Rennai or a Monitor, and venting to the chimney while it is close to where I want a heater would require more elbows than code allows, plus an industrial strength looking vent pipe. We will keep the unvented log set to knock the chill off the morning air. More suggestions are welcomed.....Thanks!

[movintime]

I know this is very old but anyone give new ideas for a cheap, efficient furnace system for a small 2 bed home? We're considering one but haven't a clue coming from very warm weather areas the past few yrs. I know Maine winters are harsh but costs must be budgeted into this, & I'm sure you guys know all the angles.

Also, health is a concern as I have asthma issues & any chemical sensitivity of smoke/propane/etc. will need be considered too, but it must also be reasonable enough $-wise, yet efficient & capable of doing the job as well. Good luck, hahaha.

Obviously, we want most for the buck but really aren't sure where this price range begins, & what is TOO much. Thanks & private message me if need be. Thanks so much.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by movintime

I know this is very old but anyone give new ideas for a cheap, efficient furnace system for a small 2 bed home? We're considering one but haven't a clue coming from very warm weather areas the past few yrs. I know Maine winters are harsh but costs must be budgeted into this, & I'm sure you guys know all the angles.

Also, health is a concern as I have asthma issues & any chemical sensitivity of smoke/propane/etc. will need be considered too, but it must also be reasonable enough $-wise, yet efficient & capable of doing the job as well. Good luck, hahaha.

Obviously, we want most for the buck but really aren't sure where this price range begins, & what is TOO much. Thanks & private message me if need be. Thanks so much.

I recommend radiant systems in the floor. A heated floor feels great. The actual air temperature in the home may be lower, but it will feel warmer. So you are not heating as much.

How you heat the water is up to you. We heat our water with wood. We also have a propane backup. You could easily plumb in multiple alternative heat sources, depending on which fuel is least expensive.

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by Submariner

I recommend radiant systems in the floor. A heated floor feels great. The actual air temperature in the home may be lower, but it will feel warmer. So you are not heating as much.

How you heat the water is up to you. We heat our water with wood. We also have a propane backup. You could easily plumb in multiple alternative heat sources, depending on which fuel is least expensive.

I had a instant hot water heater.. I was "told" that it could also heat a radiant system though I know it doesn't specifically say it can be used for that purpose. I believe you only need to heat the water to 70-80 degrees?? is this true?

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by flycessna

I had a instant hot water heater.. I was "told" that it could also heat a radiant system though I know it doesn't specifically say it can be used for that purpose. I believe you only need to heat the water to 70-80 degrees?? is this true?

Yes. You certainly can do that.

When we were designing our radiant floor system. We found that there is not much in the way of solid guidelines or formulas to follow. Some systems are designed to operate with 105F water, but it is very fuzzy.

I think that in most cases, if you were to run 80F water through a floor. The measured air temp in the room might only be 60F, yet you would feel comfortable.

One down side to keep in mind is that with a heated floor; if you go outside and you get a chill, then return inside, there is no place to stand where you can feel hot blowing air. The ability to rid the 'chill' is lacking. So you may need some other device for that purpose.



Another point to consider: Let us assume that your home requires 60k Btu/hour to stay warm when it is -10F outside. [I am just grabbing a random number here]

A heating system with a 120k Btu burner will then need to run 50% of the time. To give you that 60k Btu/hour effect. A system with a 200k Btu burner would only kick-on occasionally. etc ...

We have a LPG-fueled tank water-heater. When I was shopping around, I discovered that nearly all of them use the same burner. Repairmen use an interchangeable burner, regardless of brand name. The specs for one water-heater to another, depend mostly on the size of the tank and it's insulation. But not the burner. The burners are normally 40k Btu.

During a time when your home only needs 10k Btu/hour to maintain it's temp, a 40k Btu system would only need to run 25% of the time. However on the 15th of January, you might be needing 80k Btu/hour to keep comfortable. In that case, your 40k Btu water heater, will be running 24/7 and still not be capable of heating your house.

This is the same, whether you use a demand water-heater, or a tank water-heater.

90% of the time it will only run occasionally. But [depending on 47 other factors] there may be times when the heating needs will exceed the Btu capability of a water-heater.

We love our radiant floor. Don't get me wrong. But it is smart to rig a back-up [or three].



Our woodstove also heats water. That heated water is circulated through a thermal-storage bank. Before it is circulated through our heated floor. I can really crank-up our woodstove, and a lot of that heat gets stored in the thermal-bank.

Over the course of the evening, the woodstove will die-down, though it takes many hours for the temp of the thermal-bank and floor to drop.

We use our LPG water-heater only as a back-up.

[Zymer]

Another point to consider: Let us assume that your home requires 60k Btu/hour to stay warm when it is -10F outside. [I am just grabbing a random number here]

A heating system with a 120k Btu burner will then need to run 50% of the time. To give you that 60k Btu/hour effect. A system with a 200k Btu burner would only kick-on occasionally. etc ...

We have a LPG-fueled tank water-heater. When I was shopping around, I discovered that nearly all of them use the same burner. Repairmen use an interchangeable burner, regardless of brand name. The specs for one water-heater to another, depend mostly on the size of the tank and it's insulation. But not the burner. The burners are normally 40k Btu.

During a time when your home only needs 10k Btu/hour to maintain it's temp, a 40k Btu system would only need to run 25% of the time. However on the 15th of January, you might be needing 80k Btu/hour to keep comfortable. In that case, your 40k Btu water heater, will be running 24/7 and still not be capable of heating your house.

Wicked good advice, Sub. I have a big Jotul F500, but when it hit -15 here, it hardly made a dent in it and I had to resort to sleeping on the floor in front of it. The next year, I added a big Glenwood Oak parlor stove and thought that would do me just fine...but that Winter the temp dropped to -25 and stayed there for 3 weeks, I froze my butt off and the pipes bursting in the wall sounded like gunshots, even with both stoves going.

Now I have 3 stoves (2 wood, 1 pellet). Fortunately, last Winter was relatively mild and I didn't fire up the Glenwood at all (thought about it a couple of times, but didn't). I still have about 2 cords of wood left.