Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I miss my hot water heating system in my old house, it was dead quiet and very efficient, and the house stayed a very even temperature.I have a new house and its a forced air system -its noisey, you can hear noise from other rooms, my heating bills are much larger even though the house is half the size,and the house never seems very comfortable.So my question is why did they go with forced air instead keeping with hot water heating in new houses.
I did just the opposite. We had forced hot air from oil and went to hot water radiant from gas. My wife is getting used to the occasional creak of the pipes warming up but I love the quiet and constant warmth. I'd never go back to forced air, although we do have a separate system for the central in the house.
....my heating bills are much larger even though the house is half the size,...
Assuming the same fuel and the same cost per unit then you have something wrong. All things being equal there shouldn't be a significant difference between two houses of the same size let alone one that is smaller.
You're probably loosing heat somewhere, uninsulated ducts in an unheated space like an attic, leaky ducts etc.
As I already mentioned the reason for ducts is becsue it's cheaper, I don't know what the costs differences are for gas or oil but for coal a large hot air furnace might cost you $4k and a boiler is going to be $7K to $9K. The installation cost of the pipes, pumps and everything else is more too.
Last edited by thecoalman; 11-06-2013 at 09:02 PM..
I miss my hot water heating system in my old house, it was dead quiet and very efficient, and the house stayed a very even temperature.I have a new house and its a forced air system -its noisey, you can hear noise from other rooms, my heating bills are much larger even though the house is half the size,and the house never seems very comfortable.So my question is why did they go with forced air instead keeping with hot water heating in new houses.
Hot water system, as in baseboard heat? I know a lot of people love them but I hate them ... I've always found them hideous and space hogs. (Yes I know you can put little pieces of furniture in front of them, at least the hot-water ones, but you can't have walls of bookcases, which is what I need!!)
I love forced hot air because for me it's unobtrusive.* I never notice it cycling on/off (and certainly never noticed temperature swings) ... I can't believe you couldn't get used to the very slight sound of air moving? And I certainly never hear it come on in room B (with forced hot air) if I'm in room A (without forced hot air -- a couple of my rooms have their own thermostats) -- if you're hearing it from another room, sounds like something's wrong.
And as someone else said, your heating bills definitely should not have gone up.
*I actually just added a pellet insert in my fireplace and for the past week and a half since it was installed, the oil furnace has not been on for even a minute. But that's another story.
Heating bills going up = could it be due to lack of insulation, leaky doors and windows, etc.
I've only lived in houses with forced air, so I'm used to whatever the cons are. People say it's dry... well it's winter. If you can't stand it, just use a humidifier or cook more stews and soups. I air dry my laundry (just hang them up) in the house when it's really cold and the heat is on a lot. I don't mind the air movement since it's hot air so it feels good. Also you don't need to be sitting where the register is blowing right at you. I think the dustiness issue could be legit. My house is not bad at all though - maybe the system is newer and I use good filters.
House do not have enough good insulation in walls. Foam guys can do it for you. They drill like 4" radius hole and file walls between studs with foam without removing wall sheetrock.
Hot water system, as in baseboard heat? I know a lot of people love them but I hate them ... I've always found them hideous and space hogs. (Yes I know you can put little pieces of furniture in front of them, at least the hot-water ones, but you can't have walls of bookcases, which is what I need!!)
I love forced hot air because for me it's unobtrusive.* I never notice it cycling on/off (and certainly never noticed temperature swings) ... I can't believe you couldn't get used to the very slight sound of air moving? And I certainly never hear it come on in room B (with forced hot air) if I'm in room A (without forced hot air -- a couple of my rooms have their own thermostats) -- if you're hearing it from another room, sounds like something's wrong.
And as someone else said, your heating bills definitely should not have gone up.
*I actually just added a pellet insert in my fireplace and for the past week and a half since it was installed, the oil furnace has not been on for even a minute. But that's another story.
no I didnt have baseboard the house was 100 years old, it was those big radiators. many people had told me I would like forced air because Im use to hot water and they were right, While my new house is very well insulated the heating bills are higher because I have to turn the thermostat up much higher to get the same quality of heat.It sounds strange bit its a very cold uncomfortable type of heat.I think its because the hot water system keeps the heat between cycles so the floor and everything is continuously heated but the moment the forced air stops everything cools down to fast. thats just my theory.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
And I certainly never hear it come on in room B (with forced hot air) if I'm in room A (without forced hot air -- a couple of my rooms have their own thermostats) -- if you're hearing it from another room, sounds like something's wrong.
