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I’ve looked the web over and not been able to find any discussion area that comes close to this one, so bear with me, I’m back, with more questions for you all. Like most homebuilders in this country with internet access, I’ve asked Breaktime about cellulose insulation, passive solar design and ventless cathedral ceilings beneath a metal roof. Thanks again, to all of you who took the time to answer my questions. As a result of some of the answers given here, I have about six hundred square feet of concrete slab heated with PEX tubing and south-oriented with lots of glass and big overhangs. I’ll attach a photo, so that any who care to see, can see, “what we’ve got going.”
I live in a climate roughly equal to that of St. Louis, MO. I have 2×6 walls stuffed with R-19 bat insulation, while the cathedraled ceilings 2X8 rafters are dense-packed cellulose. All of the windows are low-e, insulated glass, and the walls are shorter on the north side and there are few north-facing windows.
By all rights, for the design I wanted, I’ve tried to limit my heating needs where possible.
So, what’s the problem, right? While I initially hoped to install a full hydronic radiant system, I backed off the second phase where we would staple up tubing beneath the crawl space parts. The cost and time seemed prohibitive at the time, so in a moment of who-knows-what, I “went” for radiant electric cove panels. Maybe, just because it had “radiant” in the name, and it looked relatively easy. I’m not discouraged about the product, per se, but my first question is whether a $1,250 outdoor temperature controller, for this radiant electric system, would ever “pay” for itself. The system has room thermostats, and it now seems to me that I need to focus more on making sure the heat loads are accurate than on some additional “controller.” In checking the heat loads generated by a consultant — who I have paid, but since had reason to become suspicious of, it looks like perhaps he oversized the system, but I’m having difficulty checking this since he gave me back plans in required wattage as opposed to btu/hr loss, which my program generates. So, my second question is do you convert btu/hr to watts, just by the conversion factor, which I found as roughly wattage as a third of btu’s?
Thank you for your time.
Replies
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I've looked the web over and not been able to find any discussion area that comes close to this one, so bear with me, I'm back, with more questions for you all. Like most homebuilders in this country with internet access, I've asked Breaktime about cellulose insulation, passive solar design and ventless cathedral ceilings beneath a metal roof. Thanks again, to all of you who took the time to answer my questions. As a result of some of the answers given here, I have about six hundred square feet of concrete slab heated with PEX tubing and south-oriented with lots of glass and big overhangs. I'll attach a photo, so that any who care to see, can see, "what we've got going."
I live in a climate roughly equal to that of St. Louis, MO. I have 2x6 walls stuffed with R-19 bat insulation, while the cathedraled ceilings 2X8 rafters are dense-packed cellulose. All of the windows are low-e, insulated glass, and the walls are shorter on the north side and there are few north-facing windows.
By all rights, for the design I wanted, I've tried to limit my heating needs where possible.
So, what's the problem, right? While I initially hoped to install a full hydronic radiant system, I backed off the second phase where we would staple up tubing beneath the crawl space parts. The cost and time seemed prohibitive at the time, so in a moment of who-knows-what, I "went" for radiant electric cove panels. Maybe, just because it had "radiant" in the name, and it looked relatively easy. I'm not discouraged about the product, per se, but my first question is whether a $1,250 outdoor temperature controller, for this radiant electric system, would ever "pay" for itself. The system has room thermostats, and it now seems to me that I need to focus more on making sure the heat loads are accurate than on some additional "controller." In checking the heat loads generated by a consultant -- who I have paid, but since had reason to become suspicious of, it looks like perhaps he oversized the system, but I'm having difficulty checking this since he gave me back plans in required wattage as opposed to btu/hr loss, which my program generates. So, my second question is do you convert btu/hr to watts, just by the conversion factor, which I found as roughly wattage as a third of btu's?
Thank you for your time.