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Help me understand heat sources and how the heat is introduced into a room. When I look at photos of houses that are for sale, I always examine the ceilings to see whether there are overhead vents, since unfortunately I really dislike having air pumped down on me. As far as I can tell, those systems are often associated with "heat pumps". But do all heat pumps need to have overhead vents? And do all overhead vents imply there is a heat pump?
I have only owned houses with either steam radiators or furnaces where the warm air either just radiates from the device, or there are supply vents on the lowest part of the wall and the heat gently rises. Love them, but I am guessing they are becoming more rare. Is that true?
Also, are baseboard radiators as troublesome as they look? Are there any good reasons to have them, other than cost to install?
This may really vary by where you are, regional differences may apply! And definitely will depend on the age of the home. Forced air in the floor is probably the most 'popular' around here, if it's original to the house.... it's harder to add that later. Here, I associate ductwork in the ceiling with systems that were added later to a home... and not ideal, for the reasons you mention.
Yes, baseboard radiators are a pain.... They make it harder to place furniture and can be a real hazard.
Help me understand heat sources and how the heat is introduced into a room. When I look at photos of houses that are for sale, I always examine the ceilings to see whether there are overhead vents, since unfortunately I really dislike having air pumped down on me. As far as I can tell, those systems are often associated with "heat pumps". But do all heat pumps need to have overhead vents? And do all overhead vents imply there is a heat pump?
I have only owned houses with either steam radiators or furnaces where the warm air either just radiates from the device, or there are supply vents on the lowest part of the wall and the heat gently rises. Love them, but I am guessing they are becoming more rare. Is that true?
Also, are baseboard radiators as troublesome as they look? Are there any good reasons to have them, other than cost to install?
Much of this is regional. A major driver is whether or not AC is involved. Soon as you get south AC will almost always lead to ceiling ducts.
Ceiling ducts do not imply heat pumps. Most in fact are heated by natural gas or in rural places propane.
Boilers and hot water systems are not generally used if the place is air conditioned. The plumbing for radiators or hot water heat exchangers would be redundant with the AC ducts.
The new thing on the AC side is ductless...basically a unit in each room that cools or heats with refrigeration technology. Advantage is that you do not need duct work and each room can be individually controlled.
The ceiling location of the ducts rather then the floor is again driven by the AC where the cool air settles rather than rises.
Location: Finally the house is done and we are in Port St. Lucie!
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A house we rented in Pennsylvania had a heat pump. The registers were located in the floor.
Southern homes seem to have vents in the ceiling. Most of these homes don't have basements so the ductwork has to go in the attic/ceiling. Therefore vents are in the ceiling.
El Paso, Texas, my dad had no basement so vents were in the ceiling. He had what is called a swamp cooler. That introduced moisture into the air along with either AC or heat. Desert area.
Venting in the ceiling is more of a regional thing. Most northern homes have floor vents.
I can't speak about radiator heating as I've never lived in a home that had that.
A house we rented in Pennsylvania had a heat pump. The registers were located in the floor.
Southern homes seem to have vents in the ceiling. Most of these homes don't have basements so the ductwork has to go in the attic/ceiling. Therefore vents are in the ceiling.
El Paso, Texas, my dad had no basement so vents were in the ceiling. He had what is called a swamp cooler. That introduced moisture into the air along with either AC or heat. Desert area.
Venting in the ceiling is more of a regional thing. Most northern homes have floor vents.
I can't speak about radiator heating as I've never lived in a home that had that.
Swamp coolers do not work with AC or heat...grossly incompatible. When you run a swamp cooler you pump tons of air through a wet filter and then into the house. You have windows or vents open to allow the air to escape. You flow lots of air into and out of the house. When it is humid outside you turn off the swamp cooler, close all the windows and turn the AC on. You do not want any of the cooled air going outside.
There are also some places in the country where they place the ducts in the slab...well actually they place the vents below the slab and then the slab seals them in. Never seen it in the west.
My current home uses an HVAC system which has a furnace and an AC in one unit. Furnace is gas and AC is electric. Duct work goes throughout the crawl space and all the supply vents are at floor level. This is in central NC and the house is a renovated farm house.
I'm thinking too that all of those cathedral ceilings might have been the reason for ceiling vents? Maybe the temperature was better controlled when tons of conditioned air drifted down instead of radiating upward? And maybe I'm the only one who hates that feeling of cool air blowing on me when the heater is on. It seems especially bad when it blows air on you when you are trying to sleep.
Vent location has more to do with the location/configuration of the HVAC unit. If the HVAC unit is in the attic, the registers will generally be in the ceiling or high in the walls. If there is a basement or a crawl space where the HVAC unit is located, the registers will generally be in the floor or low in the walls. In our area, if the house is on a slab on grade with the HVAC unit on the main floor, the ducts will run up from the unit and to the registers. This is partially due to the ease of installation and future repairs.
In our house, built in 2015, the HVAC unit is in the basement. The supply ducts run in the space between the floor joists with registers in the floor on the main level. Basement registers are in the ceiling. Return registers are in the ceiling on the main floor and near the floor in the basement. It is important to have returns opposite the supplies for efficient flow. Properly designed and built homes with forced air systems do not depend on convection for efficient heating.
Definetly depends on region, climate and type of construction. Warmer climates like Florida, that mostly built on slabs, will have ceiling vents. Most of the year, the A/C is running so you would want the cool air coming down in the room.
Where I live in NY, we are seeing splits as popular in our older builds. Or if central air is added or updated, I have seen many systems go in the attic with cooling vents in the ceiling. This is usually in conjunction with a seperate heating system via radiators or registers in the floor.
I have baseboard electric in my PA house. I don't love it as they get very hot to the touch and do not stay warm when the unit goes off, the way a steam or hot water old iron one does.
I am also not a fan of trying to heat from above, but sometimes it is hard to avoid depending on the system and build.
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