Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Do We need a furnace? & Hot Water heaters

[Kay Argyle (argyle]

I should add, Salt Lake is USDA zone 5, meaning every few winters you can
expect minus 10 F.  Typical winter temperatures hover between 20F and 30F
(low and high, respectively).  There's usually a week or more of 0 to 10F.
Our single heater for both heat and tapwater has been adequate, even at -13F
outside.

We turn the water temperature down in the summer, since without cold water
returning from the floor to the coils inside, the tapwater is hotter then.

Heat transfer from the floor into the air is slow, which makes insulation
very important. We have multiple floor surfaces -- concrete downstairs, wood
on the upstairs landing, carpet over lightweight soft concrete in the
bedrooms, and tile over lightweight concrete in the bathroom and the walk-in
closet.  The concrete and tile give the fastest heat transfer.

The house takes time to heat up or cool down -- my thermostat is programmed
for an hour ahead of when I get up.

One thing I would recommend is to get the contractor to lay the floor pipes
in separate zones, each with its own thermostat.  We have a separate zone
for each bedroom upstairs (feeding up through the bathroom before diverging
at the landing, so each side of the floor is a different temperature), and I
wish we had multiple zones for downstairs as well -- if the kitchen is warm
enough, the living room is too warm.

Kay
Wasatch Commons
SLC

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