Quote:
Originally Posted by michael
...even with last nights low of 30 degrees, the heating system at 24k Btu/hr is keeping up with the heat loss. The house and floor were warm this morning at 5 when I got up, but to do that, the circulator ran 13 out of the last 24 hours.
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Part of why it isn't easy to comment on your house and its heating, is that you have a 1000 sq. ft. radiant panel (your central heated floor) supplying heat to the whole 2000 sq. ft. of your house. I have been temperature monitoring my house, room by room, which is much smaller than yours, but only has a few central rooms directly heated. So I can see that the heat from the central room 'leaks' into the other rooms. All in all, it is working out fairly well, as the central room is where I spend my relaxed time. The other rooms are for activities and temporary activities... but none of them are ever at outdoor ambient temperature.
But requiring 24k Btu/hr for 1000 sq. ft. at 30F outdoor temp seems to me to be quite a bit of heat to balance 30F outdoor ambient.
And requiring 24k Btu/hr for 2000 sq. ft. at 30F outdoor temp sounds laudable, but still seems to not rise to the level of stellar energy conservation, either.
In my estimation, infiltration control and also robust insulation are under-rated and often misunderstood.
I'm not sure what California building code requirements are, but in my area, roof/vaulted ceiling insulation is R38, exterior walls is R20 and floors is R30,
windows R2.86.
I don't look at these specifications as achievement targets, but rather as starting points.
We all know that, in the long run, energy will become much more expensive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by michael
I'm in awe of your ability to build heat pumps from scratch!
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Well, it's less like cooking from scratch than it is like cooking from prepared ingredients, since we start with a used air conditioner or de-humidifier, and the compressor and the cap tube or Temperature Control Valve (TXV) is already matched, so most of the tough engineering has already been done.
Best,
-AC