In the late 70’s we were on a roll moving towards energy efficient homes then we lost ground , I say that because in my area ( Toronto) you can buy a $500,000 home and come away with little more than ceramic bricks , drywall and nails. Do we know of any communities that are providing zoned forced air heating so that the basement, first floor and second floor are managed separately and insulating the attic and walls so that for that outlay the home starts to pay for itself? Naturally geothermal would be in there as well and is there any reason why for $5000,000 this package could not be standard. By the way 1900 square feet would be enough house for the price. Thanks
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I didn't know that
I didn't know that "communities" provided zoned heating (though I suppose some do develop heating zones). Any home can be built with zoned heating. (Or are you asking if it's in code somewhere?)
And certainly the code for insulation has improved over the years, though code is always well behind the state of the art.
And if I had to drop half a mill on 1900 square feet I'd sith a brick.
We are looking to build and meeting with the HVAC guy soon, he has something where they put a few temperature sensors elsewhere in the house, then they average the temperatures out, so that you end up with less hot/cold zones.
warrensgun - that sounds like zoning.
Without the zoning however, a well balanced distribution system should keep the house equal throughout.
>>We are looking to build and
>>We are looking to build and meeting with the HVAC guy soon, he has something where they put a few temperature sensors elsewhere in the house, then they average the temperatures out, so that you end up with less hot/cold zones.
Maybe I,m missing something, but how about simply doing a decent job of designing the system?
there are courses in system design and balancing, e.g, the National Comfort Institute
If building from scratch, why even look at 'scortched air' heating?
Why look at "scorched"
Why look at "scorched" air?
To avoid redundant heat distribution systems
I'm a big fan of hot water heat, myself, but having both HWH and A/C is pretty darned expensive.
mandriva.... why do you say "naturally, there would be geothermal involved ".....
with superinsulation, geothermal becomes an unnneccessary expense..
geothermal is expensive to install...and expensive to maintain... and the equipment replacement costs down the road are daunting