|
 This
section is intended to help those people who are considering a
new home in the near future. This site takes EII products along with other manufacturer’s
products and recommends fitting these together to provide an
economical, efficient, comfortable, and reliable heating source
for your new home. Whether
or not you use our products, and realizing we are biased toward
our own product line, we would like you to see the benefits
of our ideal system.
Combination Heat/Cool Systems
What seems to be homeowners’ key interests:
- Cooling
- Warm floor
- Operating economy (annual cost)
- Minimum first-time costs or installation costs
If the above is true, the system design then begins with forced
air (especially the upper levels) to answer the cooling priority,
air conditioning or heat pump. This means one component of the
heating system is a gas furnace. To take care of the warm floor
or radiant heat consideration, especially lower areas and tile,
a boiler is required. The type and fuel for the boiler may be
determined by maintaining reasonable first-time cost.
The selection of the gas furnace is further evaluated based
upon the comparison of gas cost and electric rate. In the upper
Midwest an air source heat pump with comfort added modulated
electric resistance (WarmFlo) probably has lower operating cost
than straight gas furnace. This is definitely true with today’s
LP cost and natural gas is getting close. Realizing the heat
pump may provide the best overall operating efficiency, qualifying
for interruptible electric rate may provide the incentive for
the back-up gas furnace. In many cases the back-up gas furnace,
with the approximate one-half electric kWh rate, can provide
a very short payback to a general service rate electric heat
pump/air handler/duct heater.
Even with the basic electric heat pump, the WarmFlo/Electro-Duct
and standard air source heat pump substantially increases comfort
and annual operating costs by maintaining the longest possible
heat pump run cycles (not overheating with total kW strip heater).
Excluding the unknown cost associated with wood, some special
ETS furnace rates, and a complete Geo heat pump/loop system;
it is our opinion the combination air source heat pump/Electro-Mate/WarmFlo/gas
furnace provides the lowest annual heating cost.
The major item relating to first-time cost is probably the
selection of the boiler system for the radiant floor or warm
floor portion. The Electro Industries’ Mini-Boiler with its
associated minimal support components generally is considered
one-third the equipment installation cost of a gas boiler radiant
floor system. This one-third initial cost is very significant
and becomes a key decision in maintaining competitive building
cost. This first-time cost factor is high enough priority to
where the electric rate becomes a secondary decision. Even at
general service rates this initial savings can often justify
the increased annual operating cost. However, where interruptible,
off-peak, or time-of-use rates are available the selection of
the Mini-Boiler for the radiant floor is a “no brainer”. Because
of the heat mass within a concrete/sand-based floor system,
the electrical power interrupt associated with off-peak rates
presents no problem and essentially has no effect on comfort
from the warm floor.
When looking at building a new home, one always wants to balance
initial investment, annual cost savings, and most of all the
cost of comfort. |
