Home heating (house, water heater, to buy)

[Tim Kamys]

This summer I will be building a small, well insulated, two story, 1,500 square foot house in the Kezar Falls, Maine region. With an eye to the future, my objective is to purchase as energy efficient heating system as possible.
I would like advice and or recommendations on the type of heating system I should install.
I am also planning to incorporate a solar electric system on my roof and would like advice and or suggestions on that application as well.
Thanks, Tim

[bignhfamily]

Tim, I have lived in a variety of homes with a variety of heat systems. Our last older, poorly insulated farm house with forced hot air cost us at times $600 month.
We currently live in a efficient well insulated place with much less sq. ft. to heat. This year we are spending $600 for the season!
We are heating with a direct vented Rinnai heater. It's great and super efficient!

We will be moving to Maine and I plan on heating with a combination of wood and a direct vent heater like the Rinnai or Monitor.

If your budget allows radiant floor heat can be efficient, but is expensive to install.

[Mainer61]

We have radiant heat...nice but I wouldn't get it again. I would love solar heat. I've heard pellet stoves work well. My brother has forced hot air in an older home..it is so noisy and the heat is not at all consistent.

[forest beekeeper]

We have radiant floors, it is different, but okay.

You can heat that water using any of many sources.

We use both a propane water-heater, and our wood stove to heat the water.

I am not sure that solar panels would keep the water this hot.

Demand water heaters do work well, though I was told that installing one at this location would violate it's warranty as we use well water.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

The absolute most efficient heat for Maine based on fuel efficiency is a direct vent heater such as a Rinnai. There is no more efficient heat source based on heat recovery percentage. The cheapest heat overall could be an effcient wood stove depending on your wood source. I live on 107 acres of woods and all I have invested so far is my time. I'll use my economic stimulus money to buy an economic stimulus wood splitter.

[ExAirForce]

As of yesterday we closed on our land are are in the early stages of getting ready to build this summer. We were planning on radiant floor heating but a couple post here didn't sound like they were overly "happy" with radiant floor heating and am wondering why.

Also we were looking at a Rianna Tankless hot water heater but I need to do some more research based on Forest's mention of warranty and well water.

[forest beekeeper]

ExAirForce -

We have been in homes with radiant baseboards, so the outer walls are slightly warmer. I have installed baseboards previously.

In some regards when you do get cold, it is nice to be able to walk to a floor register and stand in front of hot blowing air.

Our system warms the floor. Our floors are evenly warmed, so everywhere in our home is even temped. We have no cold rooms, or cold corners, which is nice. We still have OSB sub flooring down, we have not gotten to the point of laying a pretty finished floor. But we can walk bare foot and our feet are warm.

We had read, and we have now seen for ourselves; that the measured temp on a wall hanging thermometer can show lower temps and yet you are still feeling warm with radiant floors.

Our neighbor's house can be running at 60 degrees. It feels cold, and walking around there are cold spots, yet in front of a register and you feel hot air blowing.

In our house the wall thermometer can say 60, but you are not cold, and there are no cold spots.


If I go outside and work and get cold, when I return chilled, it is going to take a long while to finally get rid of that chill. [so I jump in our jacuzzi].

We are finding that radiant floors just take some getting used to.

Every experts seems to agree, that radiant floors are the most efficient system of household heating.

Our front door is a pair of steel double doors. It can be 10 degrees outside, and we may have to open both doors for a minute for a task. The typical blast of cold air, is not felt except immediately in front of those open doors. And once the doors are closed the house temps are warm again instantly.

Our water heater is a 40k Btu heater.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

It's Rinnai.

Radiant heat floors are great until the floor cracks. It's expensive to repair. Just Google "radiant heat slab crack repair". If you go that route make absolutely sure you have a thick stable base under it. Just throwing a thin layer of gravel on the existing soil will guarantee cracks. Make sure your slab guy uses the correct foam insulation under the entire floor. That is necessary whether you go with radiant heat or not.

[ExAirForce]

Thanks for the info .... from what I have researched about the radiant floor heating it really is what I want to go with. We have it here in Europe and those that have it in their homes love it ... we just don't have it in ours. I know everyone has their own opinions but personally I am not fond of forced air heat for numerous reasons so it was down to baseboard or radiant floors. I guess I just need to ensure that our builder knows what he is doing when he installs. Yes it is indeed spelled RINNAI LOL .... will teach me to try and fire off a post as I am getting ready to walk out the door for work. LOL

[Tim Kamys]

Thanks to all who responded to my inquiry!
I have used wall vented gas heaters and on demand water heaters and liked them both; However, I don't like having a large pressure gas storage tank on my property. I currently use a forced air oil furnace (a lot less expensive to install) and enjoy the quick response time in terms of raising the house temperature when I get home. I have also read that forced air enables one to filter air of fine particles and contaminants. However, their big drawback is noise.
Tim