I need a new heating system for my home....

[Digit]

What I currently have is obsolete and is basically a gas fired boiler mounted on the side of my home. It uses natural gas and heats the water coils, which then travels to an air handler which blows over the coils. You can't get parts anymore and I have been having problems. It also has provided all the domestic hot water for the house. The house is just over 2000 sf
I am in NC and wish I could do solar, but hvac people are pretty sorry down here.
When I heard the cost of natural gas was going up by 71% I freaked out.

[KitchenWitch]

1. Perhaps electric space heaters

for specific rooms?

[Digit]

2. When I lose the heat, I lose all hot water as well

The whole system has to be replaced.

[KitchenWitch]

3. Damn

Perhaps a gas water heater, and the electric space heaters...

Water heaters are fairly inexpensive in comparison to actual furnaces. And the newer ones are very energy efficient.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

4. Get the electric heaters that look like radiators. They have oil

circulating in there. The oil heats electrically and the electric shuts off till the oil cools down. I bought a De'Longhi (sp?) and it heated a 10x10 room. It is more efficient than constant electric and less of a fire prohibition. I plan to get another one tomorrow, the stores will be jammed. Also, another poster give me this advice on sealing windows/doors (I don't know how to post to another thread).

If you have drafts, get some rope caulk and plug the cracks
On a windy day, it's easy to tell where the cold is getting in. Often around the windows, sometimes at the baseboards. Just fill the gaps -- rope caulk is temporary and can come off next spring -- and you'll be a lot cozier for less expense.

[Betsy Ross]

6. Make temporary storm windows to retain heat

There is heat-shrink plastic you can apply to the outside of windows to create an insulating air space. This can be used on rentals as well. Insulation can be extremely cost-effective in reducing heating requirements.

We were able to replace the windows in our bedroom with double-glazed last year. Our deLonghi heater did a great job of keeping this one room comfortable. We had been using insulated roman shades to hold in the heat in previous years. With the new windows, we rarely put the heavy shades down.

2000 sf isn't much by today's standards, but it is a lot to heat.

[firefox]

5. Monitor heaters are popular here

I live in NC too. The best thing is an efficient heat pump, but with that you need a back up source for when it gets real cold and the heat pump becomes too costly. But you really need a backup source anyway in case the electricity goes out.

Have you ever heard of Monitor heaters. They are popular in mobile homes because they fit in a window and can be moved, yet the fuel does not come in the house. They make them for kerosene and propane. Have you ever heard of Iwanna.com or their printed version? You can look there for used stuff.

[skids]

7. Hmm. I never heard of combined forced air and water before.

...the only forced air house I ever rented used an electric water heater.

Anyway, here are all the tips I can think of.

For water: tankless are good, but a heater with a super-insulated mini-tank in it is better because it is more responsive. Of course insulate any pipes that have not been.

There are some valves and T connectors you would need to install if you wanted to do a solar preheat tank later. They aren't that expensive and if you have to rip up your plumbing anyway it would be better to get them put in now rather than later.

Keep your old tank as it might be handy in cobbling together DIY solar. If you have storage space for it, that is.

For space heating: If your ductwork is well insulated and doesn't leak it is an asset. I don't know much about buying forced air heaters but you might just want to look for one that can be grafted into the current duct system. However, if you take another route, see if you can use the old ducts to circulate the air from the roof of the top floor down to the floorboard of the bottom floor. This reduces heat leakage dramatically. Also it might work just as well to allow heat to rise through grates in the bottom floor to the top (depending on many factors.) This is more efficient than forcing the air directly up to the top floor.

In general, circulate air within rooms with slow, efficient fans, like ceiling fans. This actually helps a lot.

Get a clean humidifier and control humidity during the winter. You can get a forced air heater with one built-in, but it is easy to forget that way to keep it clean. Dry air is bad for your health (various reasons) and on top of that it feels cooler, which causes you to crank up the heat past the 68 degree mark which is recommended. One way I take care of this is not to run the shower fan during the winter. It gets pretty sauna-like but once the bathroom door is open everything dries up quick enough to prevent mold, and adds moisture to the air. A $30 hydrostat can be bought at any decent hardware store to keep an eye on things and decide whether showers alone will do the trick.

A good air purifier might allow you to let the house breathe less without the air filling up with crap, as well as function as a fan for air circulation.

Redo your south facing windows with high admittance superglass to let solar heat in during the daytime (2 glass plies with polymer between) and awnings to shade them during the summer. Though a tree that drops it's leaves in winter works pretty darn well if you have it. You can also add additional attic-based or window-hung solar air heaters pretty easily/cheaply as a DIY project. That cuts down on your daytime load.

Most of all, though, do NOT oversize your heating system. You want to avoid it turning on and off too often, since it wastes fuel if not run for long stretches at a time. If you end up with a system that you think might be a little bit too large, add a few thermal masses (large black metal tanks of water.) Those are really only a challenge in figuring out where to fit them amongst the furniture. :-)

There are also tricks that can be played with chemical heat storage if you have enough south facing windows to overheat during the day. However Gaubers Salt tanks eventually stratify so they are not maintenance free. I heard they were working on a 68 degree state transition chemical to be put in "thermal drywall" but I don't think a product is available yet.

If you have a lot of cash to burn, consider a geothermal heat pump. The coils only have to be dug below the frost line, not horribly deep, 5 feet or so depending. Don't get the impression that geothermal implies a 50-foot-deep borehole. Air geothermal is expensive to install but works both for heating and cooling.

[LostinVA]

8. Where in NC?

When I lived in Wilmington, it was quite temperate in the winter, so all I needed was a heat pump. In Greensboro, I was COLD! I had gas heat.... of course, gas was cheaper then!

[Digit]

9. Raleigh area

[Digit]

10. This is what I have now....Seahorse

I did a quick search to see if I could describe what I currently have.
I notice this article is from 2004, so will have to read it to see if they are supporting this technology once again. At the moment, I have to run off for an appt, so will ck it out later.

http://www.eere.energy.gov/femp/technologies/techdemo_comp3.cfm

[redtapeblues]

11. A Water Source Heat Pump...

would probably be the way to go in your neck of the woods. They are a bit costly up front because of wells and piping; however, they are very efficient.

http://www.trane.com/Residential/Products/GroundSourceHeatPumps.aspx

[Digit]

15. Thanks, I bookmarked the site...

I wonder how much these cost since the price of energy will keep going up.

[slackmaster]

12. Get a whole bunch of cats

An assortment of shorthairs, medium-hairs, and longhairs. The colder it gets at night, the more cats will climb into bed with you.

[MadHound]

13. Get yourself an external woodstove with a catalytic converter

You can throw in enough wood to heat your house through the night. With a catalytic converter, you will capture the heat going up the chimney and be able to use it. You will also cut down the pollutants going up the chimney by ninety percent. With it being an external stove, you will cut down on your insurance tab. And it will tie right into your current ductwork, and use the blower on the heater you have now to move the air around.

I have used woodstoves a lot in my lifetime, and have always thought that they were the way to go.

[Digit]

16. Can't cart the wood since I am disabled....

Sorry, I should have maybe mentioned that up front.
I am in need of a total knee replacement and that kind of spoils that idea for me.

[Ganja Ninja]

14. I work in the Heating and A/C business.

Your still probably better off replacing your system with a gas fired system. It's just more efficient than electric and if gas goes up then so will electricity. You might be better off by going with a direct fired, forced air gas furnace and a gas water-heater. However if this system also serves as your air conditioning system then it may also provide you with reheat of your conditioned air. Reheating the conditioned air lowers the humidity in your house. That may be why replacement is so expensive. It costs more but it's kind of a deluxe feature that only hospitals, schools and public building have.

[Digit]

17. I live 20 miles from a nuclear power plant...(yeah, I know...)

Would that make a difference?

[zulchzulu]

18. Plastic on your windows will do wonders....

Make sure to put fiberglass insulation in your basement and attic. I am...

As for hot water, lower the water heater to a setting that may not give you scalding shower capability...turn it on "vacation".