J.T. – Union, Connecticut

On Fri, Dec 7, 2018 at 8:16 AM JT wrote:

Charles, 

We are moved in and have our CO [certificate of occupancy]. We actually hosted thanksgiving there! We have no idea how the house is performing (no propane or electric bill yet despite being hooked to the grid for almost 4 months!) but it is super comfortable! Everyone that comes always tells us how ‘warm’ it is, with thermostat set to 68º. So far we are very happy, interested to see what the first propane fill up looks like, I haven’t even had time to look at the gauge yet. We have a 500 gal underground tank feeding a Viessmann condensing boiler with low temp radiant; because the house is so tight I’ve been monitoring water temps and with few exceptions the boiler is constant circulating 80-85 degree water, just enough for warm toes. I had a lot of people tell me that radiant is a waste in a high performance home but we love it (placed in selective places around the house, bathrooms and high traffic main areas). With the tightness of the house, I did not even bother to put any heat source in the outlying separate rooms of the house and seems evenly distributed. We haven’t gotten the upstairs heat hooked up yet (except radiant in bathrooms) and it still stays warm up there on 20 deg nights, About ~65ºF. SPF Insulated attic stays at around 60ºF with no heat source. Currently no ERV (researching and saving up for one- rough ducting for it is in place- suggestions welcomed, thinking either Venmar/Broan or Panasonic) but have continuous run Panasonic bath fans for now and the house does not feel stuffy.  We did have some window condensation issues at first but I’m running a dehumidifier in basement until ERV install and seems to have taken care of that (before the dehumidifier we were at 65%RH!) – still a little on really cold mornings. I assume a lot of that is construction moisture (rainy spring/summer) and there are a lot of green lumber from timber frame drying and the concrete in basement shedding it’s water. The garage is ridiculously warm and on it’s own zone at 60ºF. It barely ever runs. Only when a door is open. 

 I’ll get some pics loaded up and send you a new link. 

 JT

On Dec 7, 2018, at 6:49 PM, Charles Leahy wrote:

Friggin impressive JT!  That is a beautiful floor.  Are you going to tell me that you ran the radiant floor hydronics yourself?  If so again I am floored!  What do you see as your anticipated final cost/floor sqft?

Best,

Charles

On Dec 8, 2018, at 7:58 AM, JT wrote:

Charles, 

Yes it was all done by my wife and I and whatever poor sucker I could trick into helping me for the weekend. The only things not done DIY were Sheetrock and tape, siding, rough plumbing and half of rough electrical, standing seam roof, setting trusses, staircase, SPF insulation and sanding hardwood. 

As far as price I’m kind of scared to figure that out but we’ve kept a detailed expense log and are at $535k total with $118k for our 21 acres of land included. That is every single expense included 1000ft driveway, fuel, 4 acres of land clearing, permits, engineering, septic, well etc. So around $420k if you take out just the land.  At 2700sqft somewhere in the neighborhood of $160 sqft. Still have finish trim, A/C and some other landscaping to finish up so that number will go up in the spring.  I was hoping with the year and a half of my life I donated to the project we could get in the $100-$125 range but that didn’t happen. Things like the standing seam roof and radiant (garage and basement too) did not help. Hoping I have a higher quality house with the sweat equity invested though. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. 

Thanks for your part in making this dream a reality! 

J.T.

On Dec 8, 2018, at 10:29 AM, Charles Leahy  wrote:

This is great– thanks.  Is the Radiant your only source of heat?  I’m sure it could be, but just wanted to confirm.  And I’m sure as you go along you’ll understand that you can minimize which areas are to be heated to maximize the efficiency of the overall system.  I love that you are conscious of this stuff – so many take it for granted.  And my friend [RP] is a Broan/Venmar rep – and I think he is very knowledgeable about Panasonic as well (if he is not also repping them now).

Regarding the radiant heat and what people generally think of it – I think we all love it, it’s just an issue of value for the money.  I know it is pretty expensive and complicated to put down – and you are seeing at how amazing it is to keep your home comfortable.  It will be interesting now to scale it back during the winter to see if you can leave some zones off and not notice a difference.  But maybe you have to keep the fluid circulating anyway?  I’m simply not familiar with the systems though I look forward to hearing how it goes.

Would you consider your home “off-grid”?  Also, I would bet if you had solar panels you could be NetZero – or even positive.  Any plans for solar panels in the future?  For that stuff it often depends on available incentives.

We are talking to a guy in Portsmouth R.I. about some rental cabins – he told me he knew where Union CT was – I hope it’s OK if he reaches out.  I haven’t given him your name yet but will if it’s ok with you.

Best,

Charles

On Sat, Dec 8, 2018 at 12:27 PM JT wrote:

That’s fine. Feel free to reach out. I used to work in Newport, RI- next town over. 

Future plans include solar, need to save up for that. But it’s in the 5 year plan. We are hooked up to the grid. We debated otherwise but monetarily it was not viable.

Hey Charles, 

Just responded to someone else asking about my satisfaction with my heating system. Thought you might find it interesting… This is with my Veissmann 200 condensing gas boiler. I’ve attached the pictures.  btw, humidity issues have seemed to all but disappear. I think it was still the construction moisture cooking out. Still a little moisture on the bottom half inch of the glass on single digit nights but nothing like those first few weeks….

I rarely see over 85º in my radiant floor loops (basement/garage/1st floor) with return water about 5-10 over indoor ambient usually 72-75. Up to 135º in high temp loop (panel radiators upstairs). Most times I look at it, panel rads are around 120º. Boiler temp usually follows the high temp loop but I have seen it up a good deal higher on a DHW call and when its really cold out (not really sure why it would need to be higher than what the panel rads are running??). I also have hot water outdoor spigots and I was pressure washing with my gas powered pressure washer for almost an hour last week and never lost hot water from the indirect/boiler. At my old house I had 5 minutes before the spigot went cold. Hot water seems essentially limitless with Viessmann /indirect tank setup. 

 I actually hooked the house up to a 100lbs cylinder for 3 really cold days a couple weeks back to figure out usage, as well as averaging the last two months. Leaving the house at 68, with regular DHW use and gas range use; I’m at 4-6 gal of propane per day. It seems like around 4 on a seasonal day, and 6ish when it drops sub 25º for a high (that’s a little better than an educated guess). That 100lbs tank lasted 4ish days. That’s also my wife using our propane fireplace for an hour or two a night, That uses less than gal/hr on low. Amazingly, if you do the BTU calcs on propane consumption and the expected efficiency of the system I come in a little below btu use from what my room by room coolcalc.com, manual J said for heating load, although I never factored in the garage when I did the load calcs (i guess that means the house performing better than expected). Overall, its still early but I think I’m pretty happy. Costs less than our old house to heat and its 1.5X the size. 4X the size if you count heating the garage to 55º and basement stays at 75º just from the boiler/piping. Our old basement was easily sub 55º (heat pump hot water heater) and I only heated garage when I was out there. 

I did just install my woodstove in the basement (with fresh air intake – house was too tight without and it wouldn’t pull a draft) and have started burning that now when cold out, that should make the propane use all but disappear. My wife likes 72+º. It gets the house warm but does make the radiant shut off, which is good and bad… Bathrooms get a little cold; when the radiant is running they are the warmest places in the house….