The wife has some concerns about the exhaust odor coming from our natural gas, forced air furnace. You smell nothing inside, but outside the exhaust has an odor. I grew up around propane and older natural gas furnaces and feel the odor is somewhat normal for a mid-1990s gas furnace, but we are having someone come out to check.
I'm posting because I can already see where this is going:
- wife hates the odor
- wife hates forced air heat in general (dry air, allergies, etc.)
- furnace is pushing 23-24 years old
- electric water heater is also quite old, and we have considered replacement
I'm preparing myself for the conversation to turn toward replacement of the furnace, and if that is the case, I would want to consider retrofitting some sort of hydronic radiant system for both heating the house and domestic hot water. Has anyone installed such a system in an existing house with access to the first floor in the basement?
My basement is partially finished, so I would have to tear out some ceiling drywall (which would not hurt my feelings; I hate finished ceilings in a basement that do not allow access). My thought to make such a project more affordable is that I install all of the tubing, then the heating company comes in to install the boiler/hot water heater, valves, etc. and make the gas connections. I have no idea if they would do this.
One of the biggest expenses, therefore one of my biggest questions, is do you use a hot water heater or a boiler to generate the hot water? I even find places where tankless water heaters are recommended. Opinions across the internet seem to vary, so I thought I would ask here.
One place I have found some info is this site where they recommend a Polaris water heater versus a boiler - https://www.radiantec.com/about-radiant-heating/open-direct-system/. The Polaris is a $3000 water heater, so definitely not a box store special.
Here is another link where I've gathered info to try to decide if this is something I get a contractor to fully install or are there DIY portions of this job - https://www.thisoldhouse.com/ideas/retrofitting-radiant-heating.
A retrofit to radiant heat would create the question of how do we cool the house if the forced air furnace is removed? Do we keep the furnace in place just for the central air, or is there a more elegant solution? (window A/C units are not an option as far as I'm concerned).
Thanks!
I'm posting because I can already see where this is going:
- wife hates the odor
- wife hates forced air heat in general (dry air, allergies, etc.)
- furnace is pushing 23-24 years old
- electric water heater is also quite old, and we have considered replacement
I'm preparing myself for the conversation to turn toward replacement of the furnace, and if that is the case, I would want to consider retrofitting some sort of hydronic radiant system for both heating the house and domestic hot water. Has anyone installed such a system in an existing house with access to the first floor in the basement?
My basement is partially finished, so I would have to tear out some ceiling drywall (which would not hurt my feelings; I hate finished ceilings in a basement that do not allow access). My thought to make such a project more affordable is that I install all of the tubing, then the heating company comes in to install the boiler/hot water heater, valves, etc. and make the gas connections. I have no idea if they would do this.
One of the biggest expenses, therefore one of my biggest questions, is do you use a hot water heater or a boiler to generate the hot water? I even find places where tankless water heaters are recommended. Opinions across the internet seem to vary, so I thought I would ask here.
One place I have found some info is this site where they recommend a Polaris water heater versus a boiler - https://www.radiantec.com/about-radiant-heating/open-direct-system/. The Polaris is a $3000 water heater, so definitely not a box store special.
Here is another link where I've gathered info to try to decide if this is something I get a contractor to fully install or are there DIY portions of this job - https://www.thisoldhouse.com/ideas/retrofitting-radiant-heating.
A retrofit to radiant heat would create the question of how do we cool the house if the forced air furnace is removed? Do we keep the furnace in place just for the central air, or is there a more elegant solution? (window A/C units are not an option as far as I'm concerned).
Thanks!
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