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Hello -- we are completely renovating our house and with it replacing the heating and putting in a cooling system. Currently the house has gas heat with radiators. Our plan was to put in baseboard heat, but our air conditioning guy has been convincing us to go with hot air which uses the duct work of the a/c system. This seems like a good choice and is energy efficient as well. However, I just spoke with him and asked him about the location of the grilles and he said that each room would have one grille that would provide heat in the winter and cool air in the summer. I have concerns that having the heat in the ceiling will make for a drafty floor! He told me they make special grilles that are made for both heating and cooling and it wouldn't be a problem and the heat would get to the floor. We live in NY and the winters are definitely cold making this a big concern for me. Someone also mentioned to us getting radiant heat in the floors to offset this problem. Any advice or experience with this would be helpful!
I can tell you my sister has baseboard heat and she abhors it. I have lived in houses (with forced air heat and air conditioning) with basements where the grilles/registers/whatever were on the floor and lived in a house on a slab where everything came out of the ceiling and I never noticed any difference, nor was it any draftier. I have no knowledge of radiant floors but hopefully someone can chime in with expected operating costs which would seem to me to be pretty high.
Depending on the type of radiant floor heat (electric element style vs. recirculating water style), the operating costs aren't that bad, actually. The installation costs, however, are going to be somewhat prohibitive, more than likely - especially in an existing home. Retrofitting radiant floor heat is a big proposition.
TBH, I don't see that radiant heat will be necessary in the OP's case. Forced central air and heat is actually a much more efficient method of climate control than baseboard or radiator heat. If the heat/air unit is the proper size for your home, you won't experience much in the way of drafts, assuming the shell of the house is well-insulated and weather sealed.
However, depending on the size of the room, you may need more than one duct feeding it. One duct is fine for a standard size room (200 to 300 sq. feet), but if you have a large living room or great room, you will need more than one for comfort. As for the "special" grilles, I'm not an AC expert, by any means (know enough to be dangerous), but I've never heard of such a thing. Central air grilles are made with diverters to increase circulation, but as far as a special one for heating and cooling I'm not sure what your contractor is talking about.
We are completely gutting the house, including putting in all new floors throughout. So, I would think that would make radiant heat easier to install. Also, do you know anything about the radiant heat mats? Are the very sub-par to the kind with the actual pipes running underneath?
Oh and yes there are some rooms which will have more than one duct feeding it, just didn't want to go off too much on a tangent explaining all the details of each room.
A complete reno does make a difference in the installation of radiant floor heat. Both types have their drawbacks, but both are efficient heat sources. For the electric mats, the big drawback would be if one of the wires broke. They are also more costly to run, since they totally depend on electricity to do the heating.
For the recirculating style, again the drawback is if one of the lines breaks. Of course, this is compounded by the fact that it would cause a leak that could damage the structure. That being said, the chance of a break in either style is extremely slim, if installed correctly. The recirculating radiant floor heat would cost a bit more at install, since it needs some extra hardware (the heater unit, recirculating pump), but in the long run would cost less as it uses less energy to run.
That's about as much info as I feel confident to give, so check with a local contractor about the radiant floor heaters if you feel that they are necessary. I'm getting ready to retro-fit my house in Jacksonville with the recirculating style, which should fill our heating needs quite nicely, but with you being quite a bit farther north you need to get some local input.
Sizes, construction details, acess make for world of difference....
I owned an older home that was built with hydronic heat. It had some large radiators that really did a crummy job of distrubting the warmth.
I was able to upgrade the insulation and that made a tremendous difference. Low profile base board style radiator were swapped into some of the rooms. I investigated doing underfloor hydronic but payback was just not to be had. Lots more material and labor for something that really is more a luxury product.
I would also agree that electrical radiant heat is not a wise move for general heating. Your electric meter will be spinning like buzz saw , and dollars will be burnt through. It makes sense ro "take the chill off" a tile floor in a bathroom, as you gnerally are still relying on the main furnace, but not general heat.
If you can get several experienced HVAC to propose solutions that helps to keep things honest. I am also very much an advocate of hiring a third party firm to do an energy audit with a blower door test. They pressurize the house and will be able to map out exactly where warm air is leaking out of the home. Best money you can spend. There is software that will use info from that kind of test to give exact sizing on heating plant too. In many cases the operational cost of hydronic heat is lower than forced air, but the pay back for the larger upfront investment in high efficient hydronic hydronic system is too long compare to forced air. Add in the cost of new A/C and forced air wins in most parts of US...
I worry less about the "supply" ducts than in the proper location and sizing of returns. In my experience most HVAC installers undersized returns, you end up having a great deal of hot air trapped on upper stories in summer and similar amounts of cold air pooling on lower level in winter. Ideally the HVAC firms use the software that maps out the whole structure, includes the effects of cooking appliances, externals like solar heating, cool air that can come from dryer ducts, exterior doors opening. Really makes a huge difference in a gut Reno to utilize that kind of info!
The grills that include little louvers pointing in each of four directions do not make much difference in normal residential settings. The velocities of air are such that the louvers barely swirl the air more than inch or two. The high velocity retrofit A/C systems and "positive displacement" commecial systems are a whole other ballgame. Air is moving much faster, forcing out the untempered air. That is not how things work in systems with return ducts. Please please do not consider having / sticking with those "single intake" type forced air units. Very poor air balance from room to room / hallway where the intake typically is...
Final thought -- how large is the house? If you have two or more stories you would need to rip out ceilings to get access for either return ducts or hydronic underfloor heat. Major major labor / refinish issues. If you have ranch / bungalow much easier to do, just head to basement / crawl space.
Maybe it's a personal preference...but I've owned and lived in 2 large old houses [completely renovated] with hotwater radiators, infloor heat, and hotwater baseboard...and I think you're nuts to even think about taking out a hotwater system.
Have the HVAC guy [HVAC is "heating ventilating and air conditioning." What the heck does he know about hotwater heat? You need to visit with a "wethead."] put in an air conditioning system.
Leave the hotwater heat and big old radiators intact. They are big and heavy for a reason. THEY WORK! Or get a bid on infloor radiant hotwater heat. I've got that too and it's absolutely wonderful in the tiled areas of the house.
Remember, if the only tool you have is a hammer all problems look like nails. A "scorched air" contractor isn't [usually] going to know the ins and outs of hotwater heating.
Offhand in NY I would put the grilles near the floor for best heating performance, and then suffer the A/C performance being less than it could be, rather than put them up top, which would do the opposite.
If you are tearing the walls out anyway, why not put in a dedicated heating and dedicated cooling grille in each room - it would cost more up front but probably would work enough better to be worth it. (That's not a formal pay-back analysis of course, just my hunch!)
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Sizes, construction details, acess make for world of difference....
