4 ms·
Right... but what data? What am I looking for?
by GordonS 3y ago
Right... but what data? What am I looking for?
- sokoloff 3y agoAdjust the boiler so that the output flow temperature is 55°C (or 130°F) or lower. See if your house remains comfortable on the coldest day you expect to have. Note that if you have a boiler not designed to operate with condensing flue gases, this test will eventually damage the boiler [over the course of months, not hours]. If you have a plastic exhaust pipe on your current boiler, you're totally fine to do this. More writeup here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39144329 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39144329
- Kon-Peki 3y agoI do appreciate the writeup, but I feel as though there has to be a better way :) In my area, the most common HVAC system is going to be a gas-fired forced-air furnace along with a central air conditioning system. What do you do there?
- sokoloff 3y agoAir to air heat pumps are a pretty straightforward retrofit there. (Including central units with reversing capability; heat pumps don’t have to be per-room minis.) In some ways, that style of central heat pump is less talked about because it’s usually a straightforward replacement. Ducts may need to be enlarged in heating-dominated climates though.
- fireflash38 3y ago1. Heating Degree Days 2. Net heat delivered (BTU delivered * efficiency) 3. Calculate BTU used per heating degree day 4. Calculate your heat load (BTU/hour) 5. Multiply by the ASHRAE sizing factor (1.4). That's enough to allow you to size/resize a gas/oil furnace, as well as see what sort of costs you'll run. To compare directly to a heat pump is difficult, as you also need to pull in your electricity cost, gas/oil cost, and if you have demand pricing, what sort of temp you keep your house at. I will say though, going from something like a 9 SEER AC/heatpump to 17 is huge. 17 -> 20? Not so much.