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I’m building a new home in Northern Wisconsin with a walkout basement that will be divided into 3 main living areas needing comfortable heat. It is a forced air system being powered by a geothermal heat pump. The HVAC man wants to place the heat delivery in the ceiling of the rooms as opposed to running the heat ducts down to the floor level. The HVAC man says using round diffusers in the ceiling deliver maximum air flow and coupled with good return air ducting provide effective heating. My logic says “hot air rises, cold air falls”. For this situation, is it better to place the heat delivery at the floor or the ceiling level?
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Gary, If you are serious about wanting a comfortable lower level with capability to zone heat, I would forget about the forced air heat in the lower level and install radiant heat in the floor. You could buy a water heating unit that is capable of domestic water heating as well as heating your slab. The comfort level between the two systems is like night and day! You can still use ceiling ducts for A/C. In my experience, forced air heat in a basement does not work very well unless you have some means of zoning it and having separate thermostats from the upper levels. You only have one chance to do this right...I'd spend a few more dollars and consider the lower level as a totally separate entity and heat it with the in-floor heat.
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I'm building a new home in Northern Wisconsin with a walkout basement that will be divided into 3 main living areas needing comfortable heat. It is a forced air system being powered by a geothermal heat pump. The HVAC man wants to place the heat delivery in the ceiling of the rooms as opposed to running the heat ducts down to the floor level. The HVAC man says using round diffusers in the ceiling deliver maximum air flow and coupled with good return air ducting provide effective heating. My logic says "hot air rises, cold air falls". For this situation, is it better to place the heat delivery at the floor or the ceiling level?