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I'm looking at a 100+ year old home which was originally only two rooms with a single floor furnace between them. The house is tiny, but I'm being advised that plumbing toward the back of the house (in the kitchen and bathroom, which were added later, as well as a back mudroom containing the hot water heater; there's no basement) would present a freezing pipe threat with the use of just the floor furnace, as well as a comfort problem for residents (it wouldn't heat adequately). Additionally, the back mudroom contains a w/d against an exterior wall, and the pipes under the flooring there are relatively inaccessible due to the ground being very close to them. Finally, I would be leaving the house vacant for long periods (it would be a second home) during cold weather months. I'm also told that floor furnaces in and of themselves are problematic because they're now relatively uncommon; that it would be an issue finding parts and servicing them, even though new replacements are still sold. Does this all add up to a no-go?
If improving the insulation, or adding another form of heat to those rooms isn't on your list of things you want to do... then one alternative is to have a process for draining the pipes before you leave for the last time in the fall. There are various things you can do to winterize a home that will be empty for a long period.
Might be wise to drain them anyway, even if you do leave heat on.... because you won't be there to prevent problems during storms and power outages.
So the floor furnace isn't a concern or is? This person is suggesting that it's not sufficient to heat the added-on rooms with plumbing. I suppose that's easy enough to test out, however.
When you say "floor furnace" are you referring to a horizontally mounted "forced air" furnace in a crawl space?
And this info you have gotten is referring to the current btu's for the size of the house; or there is no ductwork to that area? And said person is saying there's "no way" to get heat to that area?
As previously stated, it may behove you to drain the supplies when the house will be closed for an extended period anyway. Insulating the pipes and walls that contain plumbing will certainly help also.
When it comes to ductwork, when there's a will, there's a way- it may require abit of creativity/engineering, but you can certainly get heat there.
When you say "floor furnace" are you referring to a horizontally mounted "forced air" furnace in a crawl space?
And this info you have gotten is referring to the current btu's for the size of the house; or there is no ductwork to that area? And said person is saying there's "no way" to get heat to that area?
As previously stated, it may behove you to drain the supplies when the house will be closed for an extended period anyway. Insulating the pipes and walls that contain plumbing will certainly help also.
When it comes to ductwork, when there's a will, there's a way- it may require abit of creativity/engineering, but you can certainly get heat there.
No, a floor furnace is common in older houses in warmer areas of the country. It's a gas heater mounted in the floor, with a metal grate that is flush with the floor surface. In North Texas where I grew up they work really well and being powered only by a thermocouple to drive the thermostat, you have heat even in case of a power failure. The downsides are that the gratings get really hot; there's a risk of dropping things down in them (especially with children); the heat is localized to the room where the floor furnace is and not so much elsewhere; and they use up floor space.
The flue runs horizontally under the house until you find a place where it can go up to the attic and through the roof (typically in a closet).
I had them removed in my rent house for obvious reasons and installed central heat and air.
I don't know whether repair parts are readily available or not, but I suspect they still are.
I would think that if the heat is on, and you leave the door to the back rooms open, you would not have frozen pipes. Maybe. Heat tapes on the pipes might be a good idea. Definitely want to drain the system if you are leaving the house unattended for lengthy periods in the winter.
Cold enough for pipes to freeze. It's not that a floor furnace is "an old system"; you can buy units brand new. But, from what I understand, they have a limited range in which heat travels. There is no basement (only a very narrow crawlspace), so installing a standard furnace with ductwork isn't an option.
We had a house in California with a floor furnace. Obviously freezing pipes was not an issue. It heated the house reasonably well, but sometimes it got really hot upstairs. The grate woudl literally brand you if you stepped on it barefooted. Also dropping things in it can be messy if it is things that melt like crayons. Anything else, you just lift the grate and vacuum it out (with the furnace off of course). We had no problem getting parts or service. They were very common in our neighborhood. More common than forced air. They have the health advantages you get with radiated heat BTW.
When we removed it, we had the issue of what to do with the big hole in the floor. We put in a trapdoor to access the crawlspace and later dug out a little mini wine cellar.
As \to your concerns about freezing pipes wherever the house is. Have the pipes frozen inthe past? If not, why woudl they suddenly freeze now?
It is copper, PEX or galvanized?
Regardless of the ehating system, I woudl have a back up if you leave the house sittnig int he winter. A handful of electric quartz heaters set on low temperature would do the trick.
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