any HVACs here or do I need a plumber?

[BootHead]

any HVACs here? or do I need a plumber?

Looked at a 1300 sq foot, 2 story, 3 bedroom, one bath house (7/8 rooms total) today. It's REO cash sale so no inspections have been done yet.

Here's my question. Can a hot water heater with a capacity of 100 to 150 gallons keep up with baseboard radiators?

That's the way it looks like it's rigged right now. We went on an unguided tour today.

The boiler is in pieces.

and ..... What's the price range for a scratch built(ducts and all) high efficiency furnace, with and without central air? I will contact locals soon, just wanted some numbers to play with.

This is on propane. Seems to me the poor HWH would be running all day when it's less than freezing out or before.

 

[beeper*71]

Here's my question. Can a hot water heater with a capacity of 100 to 150 gallons keep up with baseboard radiators?

My guess would be no. Insufficiant BTU's to maintain enough heat, a water heater is not a boiler. The last house we lived in was a small 2 bedroom with a dedicated boiler and on below 0 days it could only maintain 60 degrees in the house. Luckily the place had 2 electric ovens in the kitchen and on many a cold morning both of those were cranked to broil with their doors left open to take the chill out of the place. *Shivers at the memory* :dgt:

Start calling local contractors in your area for some ballpark quotes on a forced air system or perhaps some simple wall furnaces. Pellet stoves or corn burners are another viable option, buddy of mine heated his whole house (@1500 sq ft) last winter with only the corn burner for a total season cost of $500.

When we were looking at houses a few had boiler systems and those were immediately scratched from the list.:dgt:

 

[68R/T]

I heat with hot water and my winter heat costs are usually almost half that of similar sized homes. :giggedy:

You may want to get estimates to replace the boiler as compared to a forced-air system......and a decent window-air unit can do a lot.

 

[mopar_man]

Rusty Cuda should be able to answer all your questions for you

 

[mr340]

What the man above said, Rich IS the guy you need to speak to on this subject.

 

[1966D100]

My parents run a pellot stove, but my dad modified it to also run a mixture of corn and wood pellots at the same time. We also have a propane furnace, but that stove is so efficent, the only time the furnace kicks in is when we turn off the pellot stove so we can make sure the furnace still works. My parents buy the corn and wood pellots in bulk. My dad has a huge dump trailor and storage bins for store the mixure.

So yeah, if the insulation is good, i say go for a pellot or corn stove, but thats just my opinion

 

[69.5CUDA]

we have a boiler forced water baseboard setup here...i will say this..heat is NOT isntant..give it an hour or more...and triple that if the pipes are not super wraped as it will have to heat the air under the house befor you realy start getting any heat...when they work there great but kinda slow..but when its neer freezeing they suck ass imo....central air is a wonderfull thing for instant heat...i will admit tho our forced boiler setup is cheep to run

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Somebody took the cheap fix approach!
assuming its a ranch you can get by with a hot air/a/c system & get good results, heat only bout 4 k round here, with a/c add 2k, also get 90% (but not a 2 speed or modulating) a little higher eff but too too complicated for a small house(problems down the road) go about 14seer on the a/c. That said the best way to do it is get a new boiler, keep the baseboard, probably 3500 ish. A/c from the attic down is the most efficient a/c system, but then your gonna go bout 5 k for that alone, long term do it right, boiler & attic a/c , if you only plan on a few years in the house, go hot air & a/c! (oh yea, check on the new freon too(410A) there gonna stop making 22 units in 2010 & then start fazing out the freon as well) Might cost a little more now but you should be good for 15 to 20 years! Rich.

 

[BootHead]

Rusty and 68 split the prize I think. Boiler, and Make a "cold room" or two each with a small window A/C. Computer room and one bedroom.

After all that is working then maybe an add-on pellet thang.
Now there would be a 100-150 gallon hotwater heater down there for one bath....

My brother has the boiler/baseboards (that's where I learned to sweat copper) and it works pretty good except he installed electric baseboards in the girls bedroom and the upstairs bathroom just to correct for the "slow factor".

The garage and the land are worth the asking price just need some numbers to throw at the banker.

Thank's for helping post 1 k have some semblance of intelligence

 

[69.5CUDA]

befor putting in a bid ...if there hasnt been an inspection..i would crawl under the house..sooooooooooo much can be learned down there ....and alert you to future problems

 

[Da-ho]

I heat with wood exclusively- when you drive a self loader log truck part time its the only way to go. A long log load goes for about a grand and gets you through a couple seasons usually. I was over in montana a few weeks ago and saw a guy doing a remodel on an old service station and he was installing this silver stuff with lots of small air bubbles in it, giving him a R factor of 29 and then hes running a finned aluminum stuff under it in the ceiling hooked into his water heater which is propane. With vinyl cased dual pane windows hes hoping for a hundred dollar a month bill in the winter. Looks like a really neat setup.:hmmm: