Nice set up, how do you like the hydro air w/ the hot water heat ex-changer??
The hot slab is the way to go.
It is about that time for some heat
- Thread starter redhat
- Start date
The hot slab is the way to go.
I am next door to you and yes mama is cold outside.
I like it. I finished building the house in 2002. The slab has foam insulation under it. Once it’s below freezing I set the room temp to 68 F and this allows the slab to warm up to keep the room temp at 68.
The upstairs is set to 70 deg during the day and 64 at night. The temp is set to start coast down from 70 at 5:00 PM and by the wee hours of the morning it’s 64 upstairs and 68 downstairs. On a really cold morning say, 0 degrees F, the furnace kicks in with the hot water from the boiler going through the heat exchanger at around 4:00 AM, and the upstairs temp ramps up from 64 to 70. Because the basement also has air ducts, the air temp in the basement ramps from 68 to 72 and the infloor heat turns off and coasts most of the day. The heat in the slap keeps a warm feel for your feet all day log. The temp eventually falls to 68 in the basement and the hot water circulates in the slab again during the night.
The nicest part of the system is your feet are always warm and it doesn’t feel like a basement and unlike many homes, it’s always warmer in the basement than the main floor.
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Very nice set up!
I thought about doing some thing like this but at the end the best solution is to move to a warmer place.
Here is my neighbour’s brand new Daikin cold climate heat pump. It runs to 5 F on the compressor and switches to strip heating below that. It does this at a pretty reasonable COP and is plenty hot at the air vents throughout the house.
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Heats been set at 68F and it was cold the past week, into the teens over the weekend.
The one thing I don’t like about this thermostat is the lag in data. But it automatically cycles just the fan to circulate air through the house, something the Nest wouldn’t let you do.
The one thing I don’t like about this thermostat is the lag in data. But it automatically cycles just the fan to circulate air through the house, something the Nest wouldn’t let you do.
I have the T9 as well. Used to be you couldn't access the data a year or so ago so count your blessings lol. It's superior IMO for remote room monitoring.
We’re done with AC and the unit is now set to heat. It’s 36 F this morning and the heat pump is running smooth. I have a cord of wood stacked and a full tank of propane. Bring it on. 
@SF, can you give us a comparison of your KW hr cost vs gallon of propane cost their in BC? I am curious how it compares to us down continent.We’re done with AC and the unit is now set to heat. It’s 36 F this morning and the heat pump is running smooth. I have a cord of wood stacked and a full tank of propane. Bring it on.
In US dollars per gallon, I paid $2.13 US per US gallon. Electricity is $ 0.10 US per kWh, so expensive propane and cheap electrical power. Almost all of our power is from power dams in BC.
Now, by applying different efficiencies to the heat pump I have the price per million BTUs. I also converted kWhrs to equivalent million BTUs.
When I am running the heat pump at 66 degrees F outside my energy cost is $9 per million BTU. When the outside temp drops to my 27 degrees F limit for the heat pump, the efficiency drops and my cost is $ 11 per million BTU.
When the temp drops to below 27 F my heat pump stops and my propane boiler kicks in and my cost is $22 per million BTU. At that point I can supplement my heat with fir firewood at $17 per million BTU based on a purchase price of $250 US per cord. If I used strip heating the cost would be $27 per million BTU, so propane is still less than electrical strip heating ( electrical base boards).
I cannot get natural gas here, due to the mountainous terrain and the fact my small town is not served with natural gas. If I did, the cost would be $9 per million BTU. How are you all doing with propane and electricity cost?
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gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
We usually don’t have to put the heat on until late in the fall, when it’s in the 50s in the house. The bedroom is sometimes kept in the 60s if the wife is feeling chilly, lower at night for sleep comfort.
We only raise the heat to 70 when we have guests over. When we acclimate to the winter cold 70 feels sweltering! The guests can do whatever they want with the thermostats (we have baseboard electric, so thermostats in every room).
We‘re lucky (in the winter) to have a large swath of our useable space‘s windows exposed to the south, as well as large sky lights. Even when it’s below freezing outside, a sunny day will keep the rooms warm enough to not need much heat added, if at all.
We only raise the heat to 70 when we have guests over. When we acclimate to the winter cold 70 feels sweltering! The guests can do whatever they want with the thermostats (we have baseboard electric, so thermostats in every room).
We‘re lucky (in the winter) to have a large swath of our useable space‘s windows exposed to the south, as well as large sky lights. Even when it’s below freezing outside, a sunny day will keep the rooms warm enough to not need much heat added, if at all.
its about 150 miles for me to swim to Cuba.
Pretty easy!
