Home Decoration & Real Estate

Posts Tagged ‘Heating’

Radiant floor heating offers many advantages over other forms of heat for business or home.

Radiant floor heating is a series of pipes coiled in a room under the subflooring. Heated water is forced through the pipes, and heat naturally rises through the room from these pipes. With radiant floor heating, there are no cold tile or hardwood floors. People with poor circulation in their feet, such as the elderly and diabetics, will appreciate always getting out of bed to a warm floor beneath their cold feet. Parents too like a warm floor when babies are learning to crawl or toddling around in their bare feet.

While radiant floor heating works on the same principal as steam or forced water radiators, radiant floor heating offers several advantages over a wall-mounted radiator. Wall-mounted radiators can cause hot and cool spots in a room, depending on your distance from the radiator. However, a radiant floor heating system covers the entire room under the floor, creating even heat distribution. Radiators are hot to the touch, which can cause burns. Because the radiant floor system is under the flooring, though, there are no hot pipes to touch, and the floor underfoot is never more than pleasantly warm.

Radiators also take up precious wall space, as furniture cannot be pushed up against them, and because they create hot spots, furniture has to be arranged so that no one sleeps or sits too close to the radiator. However, as the radiant floor system is buried under the flooring, it takes up no space and does not cause hot spots.

Radiant floor heating systems are usually cheaper to operate than wall-mounted radiators as well. Wall-mounted radiators have to have very hot water and get well-heated in order to cause convection, the movement of cooler air towards the radiator and the movement of warmer air away from it to heat the entire room. Because the radiant floor heating system distributes its heat evenly over the entire room, convection is not necessary. This means that the radiant floor system does not have to have such hot water in order to work effectively, lessening energy costs.

The primary advantage of the radiant floor heating system over a forced air system is air quality. Furnaces and heat pumps cause the air in a building to dry out rapidly. This can cause a lot of problems for people with sinus or lung issues. Also, coming in from cold and damp to hot and dry can be hard on people with poor health. People with allergies suffer under forced air systems as well because such systems stir up allergens and the dryness causes them to linger in the air longer than usual. Duct work can also harbor allergens, such as mold, compounding the problem.

In most cases, radiant floor heating, when properly installed and insulated, is cheaper to operate than any other system on the market today, and is considered by most to be the most comfortable home heating system as well.

When it reaches the earth it spreads evenly but you may need it to go to a certain area like your home. How do you get that much sunlight to heat a home? It’s easy to do and takes a few extra steps to help get it started.

If you are building your home you have several choices to choose from regarding your heating source. If you choose to heat from the sun you need to build your home facing in the direction that the sun rise’s. This allows your home to get the most sunshine during the hottest part of the day. Buying solar powered glass windows allow the sun to come through and stay in the home without escaping back out. After the sun goes down your home is kept warm by the sunlight that came into the home during the day. You need to keep the door shut in order to keep the heat in and you also need to use insulated curtains on the windows at night so that the heat will not escape at night while you sleep. Make sure you don’t allow too many windows on the side of the house that faces the evening sun as it may cause the home to cool down quickly.

Remodeling your home to use the sun as a natural heating source is fairly easy to do. Although you can’t change the direction that your home is built in to face the morning sun you can still trap the sunlight that shines through and reduce the amount of time that you use another source of heat. You may want to consider building a sun room onto the side that catches the morning sun allowing it to heat up naturally and then install ceiling fans that will circulate the air into the parts of the house. During the day this may provide enough heat to maintain the warmth in your home. When remodeling your home, it will help to install solar power windows that are specially designed to attract the sunlight and allow it to come into the house but not let it escape. This is a natural way to heat your home.

Using sunlight to heat your home is an excellent way to safe money on your heating bill and also to improve the environment. You can install a backup heating source incase the sunlight does not heat your home efficiently during the day because of clouds. Your back up system can be used to assist the solar energy which will also cut down on the use of electric or gas.

If you’re concerned about keeping your home cool in summer and warm during winter, and your existing heating and cooling system is not doing its job, then you need the services of a dependable Minneapolis heating and air contractor.

The comfort of your family is something that you would want to entrust in the hands of an experienced and reliable contractor so it’s important that you are well-guided during your hiring process. Here are 10 of the most practical guidelines that can help you in your search for a Minneapolis heating and air company:

1.    Start your search by asking friends, family, and colleagues of any reputable Minneapolis heating and air contractors that they know of.

2.    When you already have a list of some potential contractors, ask first for the necessary paperwork that will ensure that they are licensed, bonded, and insured under the state of Minnesota.

3.    Request for a list of previous homeowners that he has worked with and check out these references.

4.    Make sure that the Minneapolis heating and air contractor you intend to hire has a business address that can be easily located. This way, you’ll know where to go if something goes wrong with the work.

5.    One indication of a good contractor is when he first makes a careful evaluation of the project before giving estimates.

6.    An experienced contractor will try to get all the details of your current system to make a better assessment of the work needed.

7.    If a contractor suggests replacing your current heating or cooling system with a new and more expensive one, listen to his recommendations and weigh the advantages versus the budget you have allocated.

8.    Request for a written estimate of the project complete with the breakdown of the total cost.

9.    Before making the decision, interview at least three Minneapolis heating and air contractors.

10.     When you have made your choice, make sure you have a written contract with the Minneapolis heating and air company or contractor.

By following these simple guidelines, you’ll be able to find a heating and contractor in your area that will keep your home comfortable year round!

If you live in the Minneapolis area of Minnesota and want quotes from Minneapolis Heating and Air contractors, visit the Minneapolis heating directory for a list of reputable companies to help you with all your home heating and air needs.

Society has been more and more conscious about our environment. For example, when we use primitive technology to try to heat up our homes, the environment gets polluted. More and more, such systems are going the way of the dinosaur. Older systems are giving way to cleaner, more advanced, and more energy efficient systems. The goal is simple and clear – save more energy, and save the environment.

But saving the environment sounds like something meant for an idealist. Is it even practical to actively support such an idea? In the past, the answer would be no. However, today, technology has taken great leaps. And this has allowed us to provide practical solutions to the environmental issue. Take for example, the geothermal home heating system.

The geothermal home heating system cost several thousand dollars to install. While this sounds like a lot of money upfront, this is in fact a cost saving system for the homeowner. There is no burning, no pollution, and the entire system uses very little energy. How does it achieve that?

The geothermal heating system is not really new technology. It has been around since the Roman times. Romans use it to heat their villas and bathing water. So why is it that such a system hasn’t been widely adopted for the modern society? It was only in recent times that more and more homeowners start to adopt this system again.

Perhaps as technology evolved, and other heating systems become readily available, it’s easy to choose a more affordable heating system over the geothermal heating system. And this process will continue if alarm bells weren’t sounded – other systems are hurting the environment and wasting valuable resources.

So we have to go back to the drawing board to rethink how we can continue to keep heating up homes without causing further harm to the environment. And the geothermal heating system has resurfaced as a viable solution.

The term geothermal is made up of two words actually – “geo” and “thermal”. Geo refers to the earth, and thermal refers to the heat. You can probably guess where the system draws the heat from. That’s right, the system draws heat from the earth. Or more specifically, it draws heat from the soil.

Water, refrigerants, or an anti-freeze solution is used by the geothermal heating system. The liquid runs through pipes that go underground, and draws heat from the soil. The heat energy is then transported via the pipes to the house. This happens when the weather is cold.

When the weather is hot (i.e. summer), the process is reversed. Refrigerants run underground to be cooled, and the cold refrigerants run through the house to cool the house down.

The greatest benefit of the geothermal heating system is great energy savings. It can save up to 70 percent on heating, and up to 50 percent on cooling. This means lower monthly utilities bills.

In Calgary, heating a home is never easy. The average nightly temperature in February, the coldest month of the year, is -15ºC. Add in the occasional wind chill, and you have some pretty frigid temperatures. In fact, late January of 2009 brought wind chills of between -30 and nearly -50 ºC.

Given those bone chilling temperatures, it is only logical that many Calgary homeowners are evaluating their home heating systems to see where they can increase efficiency and decrease costs.

Why Choose a High-Efficiency Furnace for Your Home Heating

Alberta’s Climate Change Central (CCC) estimates that close to 60% of your home energy bill goes toward heating. Clearly, a more efficient furnace would help reduce those costs.

In today’s economy, however, many people are weighing the expense of buying a new high-efficiency furnace against other options. Maybe a mid-efficiency furnace will do. Or maybe they can stick with their old furnace until the economy recovers a bit.

Those in difficult financial circumstances will have trouble justifying the costs of a new furnace, especially if there is life left in the old one. For the rest of us, there are many reasons to consider a high-efficiency furnace:

? Costs will be offset somewhat by government incentives. A new renovation tax credit (only available until early 2010) and the existing federal retrofit program will shave off at least a couple of thousand dollars from the price.
? High-efficiency furnaces cost more than mid-efficiency furnaces, but the higher costs will be paid for in less than six years, according to CCC.
? A new furnace adds to the resale value of your home.
? High-efficiency furnaces are quieter and keep the temperature in your home more constant.
? High-efficiency furnaces can be operated by a DC motor, which uses about 30% less energy than an AC motor.

How a High-Efficiency Furnace Heats Your Home

What makes these new furnaces so efficient? According to the Natural Resources Canada (NRC) website, the efficiency comes from the way heat is generated and the way gas from the furnace is vented.

In a standard furnace, combustion gases are generated by the burner, pass across a heat exchanger and release heat, and then get exhausted outdoors via a chimney. In high-efficiency models (specifically condensing gas furnaces), “heat exchange surfaces made of corrosion-resistant materials [are used] to cool and condense the combustion gases (causing them to liquefy), thus releasing more heat for the home.” There is a small amount of wastewater, piped to a floor drain.

The condensing process also reduces the temperature of the flue gases, so they can be pumped out of a PVC or ABS plastic pipe, instead of a chimney. Chimneys are a major source of heat loss, so bypassing them increases the efficiency of your home heating system.

In addition to greater heating efficiency, a high-efficiency furnace can also reduce overall energy costs, if you use a variable-speed DC motor. These motors, mentioned earlier, use less energy while distributing heat better. What’s more, they generate less heat, which allows the bearings to run cooler. According to NRC, this results in less motor noise and longer life expectancy for the motor.

Installing a High-Efficiency Furnace

If you want to start reducing your home heating bill, look for heating contractors in your area. It is best to get a few estimates before signing a contract. You can find a company through references from your friends or through a simple Internet search for Calgary heating contractors.