Hey Folks,
I've got a unique heating/cooling situation in my Northeast raised ranch home. The home was built to be approximately 1500sq ft, two levels, with a garage basement. The previous owners added on a 1000sq ft portion to the house that spans the three levels. Clearly they weren't real concerned with how it stays warm because the only half finished it.
The original portion of my home is an oil burning forced air system and it does very well for that first 1500sq ft. The issue is that it was never designed to heat that other 1000sq ft.
The surprising thing is that they actually ran the duct work for the entire addition and connected it to the main system so the other rooms DO receive heat, but it's generally 3+ degrees cooler in that portion of the home and even up to 10 if you close the doors.
Another surprise; they actually ran radiant in floor heating throughout the entire addition (including the basement room) BUT they never finished hooking it up. There are pumps, expansion tank, a controller, and a great big water heater that was never connected.
So the bones of this project are good, but I'm trying to figure out the best route to go here. I see two options.
1. Finish the radiant floor heating. Quotes have come in at $3000 and $3900 for this.
or
2. Close off the main heating system from the duct work in the addition and add a second much smaller forced air heater to supplement the addition when the main one can't keep up. The contractor's BTU estimations have come in at 20,000 all the way to 40,000 so an electric forced air furnace could be around $600-$800.
Thank you in advance!
I've got a unique heating/cooling situation in my Northeast raised ranch home. The home was built to be approximately 1500sq ft, two levels, with a garage basement. The previous owners added on a 1000sq ft portion to the house that spans the three levels. Clearly they weren't real concerned with how it stays warm because the only half finished it.
The original portion of my home is an oil burning forced air system and it does very well for that first 1500sq ft. The issue is that it was never designed to heat that other 1000sq ft.
The surprising thing is that they actually ran the duct work for the entire addition and connected it to the main system so the other rooms DO receive heat, but it's generally 3+ degrees cooler in that portion of the home and even up to 10 if you close the doors.
Another surprise; they actually ran radiant in floor heating throughout the entire addition (including the basement room) BUT they never finished hooking it up. There are pumps, expansion tank, a controller, and a great big water heater that was never connected.
So the bones of this project are good, but I'm trying to figure out the best route to go here. I see two options.
1. Finish the radiant floor heating. Quotes have come in at $3000 and $3900 for this.
or
2. Close off the main heating system from the duct work in the addition and add a second much smaller forced air heater to supplement the addition when the main one can't keep up. The contractor's BTU estimations have come in at 20,000 all the way to 40,000 so an electric forced air furnace could be around $600-$800.
Thank you in advance!
