Hello,
I got a 1956 ranch house in central NJ. 1750 sq.f. above grade and 1000 sq f. in the partially finished basement.
The rest is crawlspace. That 1750 sq.f. include 200 sq.f. of the room created in the garage. It is often too cold or too hot.
The house has forced air (natural gas), something old, Kenmore-branded. Furnace is 100K BTU. Air conditioner works OK, just probably isn't efficient. Don't know how to tell the conditioner size.
I have already spent $500 on the new exhaust fan for the furnace (emergency), and I know the sensor that tells if the exhaust fan is working well is shot ( contractor who replaced the fan discovered that but instead of replacing he shorted it out).
I'm not happy with my heating. I think the furnace works for too short periods and temperature drops to uncomfortable levels in some areas between the runs. Also, there are uninsulated ducts in the crawlspace, so I'm getting cold air into the house when furnace starts running.
Also, even with the new exhaust fan, I feel I'm getting a bit of exhaust gas into the house when it runs (not CO, that has been ruled out by my fire department and the furnace was checked by 3 people - no heat exchanger cracks).
This is my second attempt to fix my heating. When I tried a couple years back, I saw no contractor I would trust. Most wanted to replace 100K furnace with a new 100K furnace. My own heat loss estimation (don't remember what software I have downloaded for this) was at 45K. Today I have read on this forum that I should be at 25K! I'm planning to double the attic insulation, but that's all I can do. Windows are already modern.
So I would like the heater to work permanently and modulate. I would like to warm my hardwood floor, especially on top of the crawlspace. I would like to address the special needs of the room in the garage (BTW, it's 50 ft from the mechanical area). My mechanical area is the furnace and 50 gal water heater next to it. I could hang a wall-mounted boiler behind the water heater.
I don't have more space and would ideally eliminate water heater and use its space for something else.
So, here I am asking for advice. Am I unreasonable looking for a
* smallest boiler I can find, direct vented. It will probably be at 50K BTU
* if it had internal heater for the DHW, nice, otherwise - indirect WH
* radiant heat for the floor - stapled up. No hope to heat the whole house, only warm the feet
* a coil to heat the forced air (how this can be modulated? )
* in the summer I would love to use same boiler to heat the pool up at bit
If that is too much to ask for, I would probably settle on a new modulating furnace (does one exist though for my house)?
Thanks!
I got a 1956 ranch house in central NJ. 1750 sq.f. above grade and 1000 sq f. in the partially finished basement.
The rest is crawlspace. That 1750 sq.f. include 200 sq.f. of the room created in the garage. It is often too cold or too hot.
The house has forced air (natural gas), something old, Kenmore-branded. Furnace is 100K BTU. Air conditioner works OK, just probably isn't efficient. Don't know how to tell the conditioner size.
I have already spent $500 on the new exhaust fan for the furnace (emergency), and I know the sensor that tells if the exhaust fan is working well is shot ( contractor who replaced the fan discovered that but instead of replacing he shorted it out).
I'm not happy with my heating. I think the furnace works for too short periods and temperature drops to uncomfortable levels in some areas between the runs. Also, there are uninsulated ducts in the crawlspace, so I'm getting cold air into the house when furnace starts running.
Also, even with the new exhaust fan, I feel I'm getting a bit of exhaust gas into the house when it runs (not CO, that has been ruled out by my fire department and the furnace was checked by 3 people - no heat exchanger cracks).
This is my second attempt to fix my heating. When I tried a couple years back, I saw no contractor I would trust. Most wanted to replace 100K furnace with a new 100K furnace. My own heat loss estimation (don't remember what software I have downloaded for this) was at 45K. Today I have read on this forum that I should be at 25K! I'm planning to double the attic insulation, but that's all I can do. Windows are already modern.
So I would like the heater to work permanently and modulate. I would like to warm my hardwood floor, especially on top of the crawlspace. I would like to address the special needs of the room in the garage (BTW, it's 50 ft from the mechanical area). My mechanical area is the furnace and 50 gal water heater next to it. I could hang a wall-mounted boiler behind the water heater.
I don't have more space and would ideally eliminate water heater and use its space for something else.
So, here I am asking for advice. Am I unreasonable looking for a
* smallest boiler I can find, direct vented. It will probably be at 50K BTU
* if it had internal heater for the DHW, nice, otherwise - indirect WH
* radiant heat for the floor - stapled up. No hope to heat the whole house, only warm the feet
* a coil to heat the forced air (how this can be modulated? )
* in the summer I would love to use same boiler to heat the pool up at bit
If that is too much to ask for, I would probably settle on a new modulating furnace (does one exist though for my house)?
Thanks!