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Old 01-22-2016, 10:50 AM
 
1,045 posts, read 1,044,987 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ydsavaged View Post
I have 4 zones in my house - kitchen, living room, bedroom, upstairs. I'd say add another zone to the cold/problem area or get a space heater?
We have 3 zones: bedroom level / LR/DR/Kitchen / Den and basement. Of all those the den is the coldest room. When we reno the room we're considering getting a real radiator instead the the recessed sheet metal ones because they're supposed to keep the room warmer. We actually have a fireplace in the room but I have two small children and it makes me nervous.
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Old 01-22-2016, 11:06 AM
 
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I also live in a split. You said radiator, if you have baseboard, replace them with new fins, they put out 50% more heat. You will need a plumber for this. Depending on the area and space you can get a toekick. I added a kick unit in my kitchen it puts out 8400 btu that's the equivalent of 14 ft of baseboard.

I had issues in my living and dining room when I had the new baseboard and toekick installed in my kitchen the plumber had to bleed the system and he bled each radiator and it made a massive difference.
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Old 01-22-2016, 11:41 AM
 
Location: Nassau County
5,263 posts, read 4,703,163 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gx89 View Post
I also live in a split. You said radiator, if you have baseboard, replace them with new fins, they put out 50% more heat. You will need a plumber for this. Depending on the area and space you can get a toekick. I added a kick unit in my kitchen it puts out 8400 btu that's the equivalent of 14 ft of baseboard.

I had issues in my living and dining room when I had the new baseboard and toekick installed in my kitchen the plumber had to bleed the system and he bled each radiator and it made a massive difference.
I would like to get new fins eventually in my dining room/kitchen. What's the cost on a job like that?
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Old 01-22-2016, 11:59 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by peconic117 View Post
I would like to get new fins eventually in my dining room/kitchen. What's the cost on a job like that?
Wasn't to bad I had other work done at the same time, I would say for about 10ft of baseboard I paid $400 or so. I also had the baseboard backing and covers replaced. Material was about $200 rest was labor.
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Old 01-22-2016, 01:44 PM
 
Location: Nassau County
5,263 posts, read 4,703,163 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gx89 View Post
Wasn't to bad I had other work done at the same time, I would say for about 10ft of baseboard I paid $400 or so. I also had the baseboard backing and covers replaced. Material was about $200 rest was labor.
Thx for the info. Definately worth me looking into.
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Old 01-22-2016, 02:00 PM
 
730 posts, read 1,644,869 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jayhas View Post
I recently moved into a renovated split level house. With the cold spell, noticing a lack of heat to keep the main living area warm and trying to get ideas on what to do to fix it.

Currently with the cold temperatures, my boiler kicks in all the time given that I have a 2 zone heat system. The den zone kicks in for all of 5 minutes because it has 2 big radiators for a very small amount of floor space. There is an unheated basement that is open off the den level. I have a second zone for the rest of the house (3 brs and lrom/dining room etc). The bedrooms get super warm because the radiators are quite large.

However the main living space is always cold! When they did the renovation, they tore down a wall ot make it open concept and in doing that removed a radiator, so I have 2 medium radiators trying to heat a 500 sq foot floor space. Amazing that the bedrooms have less floor space and much more heating! I recently added more insulation to the roof so should be at the required r39, but in terms of comfort or feeling drafts,
I still have that in the main living space

As the split level is all open not sure how to keep the temperatures. Currently the den is 2 degrees cooler than the main level to account for the heat rises theory. Not sure if that is the way to go. Love to get insights from people who own splits and have enhanced their comfort.

Any thoughts on what I can do to enhance the comfort and reduce the frequency of boiler kicking in?




In addition to the other advise, please see my low / no cost favorites.



If the basement is warmer than the room closest (due to the furnace), keep the basement door open.

Since the bedrooms are warmer than the surrounding area, keep these doors open.

Keep doors closed to rooms when the room is cooler than the surrounding area.

Keep closet doors shut especially when they have an exterior wall.

See if you can add a separate zone for the room that is always cold.

If there are windows that do not seal well, get the kits to make them air tight and use a hair dryer to tighten the plastic film.

Close drapes on cloudy days and at night to retain heat and keep out the cold that radiates off of the windows.

Chaulk around windows and doors and don't forget the gap between the walls and the floors that are usually there due to the house settling.

After cooking, open the oven door to reclaim heat you have already paid for.

Insulate the garage door and seal all gaps where you can see sunlight shine through (if the garage is attached).

Don't forget to put insulation on the hatch leading to the attic and get a device to seal the pull down stairs to the attic (if applicable).

We have a vaulted 16 foot ceiling in our family room that is difficult to heat, now, at night I set the thermostat for that room (separate zone) to 60 degrees as no one is in there. The furnace used to cycle every 10 minutes to heat this unoccupied room.

Close all the ceiling vents for the central air system (if applicable) as heat rises and will just be wasted.

Hope this helps.
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Old 01-22-2016, 02:41 PM
 
Location: SW Florida
1,161 posts, read 1,398,560 times
Reputation: 1860
Quote:
Originally Posted by peabodyn View Post
In addition to the other advise, please see my low / no cost favorites.



If the basement is warmer than the room closest (due to the furnace), keep the basement door open.

Since the bedrooms are warmer than the surrounding area, keep these doors open.

Keep doors closed to rooms when the room is cooler than the surrounding area.

Keep closet doors shut especially when they have an exterior wall.

See if you can add a separate zone for the room that is always cold.

If there are windows that do not seal well, get the kits to make them air tight and use a hair dryer to tighten the plastic film.

Close drapes on cloudy days and at night to retain heat and keep out the cold that radiates off of the windows.

Chaulk around windows and doors and don't forget the gap between the walls and the floors that are usually there due to the house settling.

After cooking, open the oven door to reclaim heat you have already paid for.

Insulate the garage door and seal all gaps where you can see sunlight shine through (if the garage is attached).

Don't forget to put insulation on the hatch leading to the attic and get a device to seal the pull down stairs to the attic (if applicable).

We have a vaulted 16 foot ceiling in our family room that is difficult to heat, now, at night I set the thermostat for that room (separate zone) to 60 degrees as no one is in there. The furnace used to cycle every 10 minutes to heat this unoccupied room.

Close all the ceiling vents for the central air system (if applicable) as heat rises and will just be wasted.

Hope this helps.
Plan B- Move South!
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Old 01-22-2016, 08:55 PM
 
1,402 posts, read 1,523,487 times
Reputation: 2142
Quote:
Originally Posted by gx89 View Post
I also live in a split. You said radiator, if you have baseboard, replace them with new fins, they put out 50% more heat. You will need a plumber for this.
Actually, it is very easy to install baseboard heating yourself. If you are at all handy, learning to sweat copper pipe is a breeze. I finished my basement years back and installed all the heating myself. The only thing I left of the plumber was the final connection to the furnace (It was a new line and we were creating a separate zone).
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Old 01-22-2016, 09:12 PM
 
Location: Long Island, NY
186 posts, read 241,986 times
Reputation: 287
Insulation, insulation and insulation.

That's the key to a comfortable house and lower heating and cooling costs.

Unfortunately most homes are lacking adequate insulation and proper installation of whatever insulation they do have. Insulation is probably one of the most improperly installed components of a house. Windows are another huge part of it and low quality windows will suck the dollars right out of your house and are a big part of why areas of homes are cooler, warmer than other parts. People spend their money in all the wrong places and buliders know it, that's why they insulate to code. Code is bare minimum, it's a D, You just barely passed.

Ripping out walls, ceilings, floors is a big part of our renovation projects and we educate our customers on how important insulation is. We've turned cold rooms in winter warm, hot rooms in summer cooler just by insulation alone.

Sure you can turn up the heat in winter, lower the AC thermostat in summer, and add additional sources of heat and/or AC but you're going at it the wrong way.
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Old 01-24-2016, 06:53 PM
 
Location: Long island
8 posts, read 12,120 times
Reputation: 10
Thanks for all the suggestions some of which we are already doing and ithers like plastic on the windows that we should look into. I know insulation is thr big gap here give the age of the home and even though we added insulation to the roof, seems the main area of concerns is the bay wondow area. Had cellulose blown in and noticed that some of it ended up in the basement behind the finished wall. Guessing theres a hig gap somewhere thats letting in the cold breeze so will have to find that to address our main concern. Otherwise its pay more for heating one way or the other.
One other tip to add is add some weatherproffing to exterior doors. We have 2 that seem to prevent air coming in but the one attached to the garage, you can feel the cool air sneaking in so will be tightening that up.
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