Perhaps someone can help me -heating question

[UUmom2many]

Right now we're in a very poorly insulated house. It's old and drafty. We're in FL so we have electric heat...something that ceases to work in the very early morning because it's too cold right now. So it blows cold air until it's warm enough outside to create heated air inside.

this is not my ideal situation even in a new house with out the issues I have here. We're using 4 portable fan space heaters and the downstairs is still frigid. But this also makes me ponder how I'd do things differently in the house we want to build. It's north and consistently about 10-12 degrees cooler year round. The heaters are on all the time right now, except when we're sleeping upstairs we bring 2 of them with us though. Our electric bill jumped $100 this past month to almost $300 total and I know it's from these ineffective heaters.

So I'm planning this new house. It will be 2 stories on one part and 1.5 on another, though the .5 won't be finished.

I was looking at wood stoves for cooking in the kitchen that have a hot water reservior and also ductable with the ability to close the vents during summer. I'm not sure I could use wood to cook all the time though. I'm not really sure how a wood stove works. I mean if I wanted to cook dinner in the oven part during the summer.

I definatly want to incorporate a wood fireplace, or two. I don't want to rely on electric heat though. It's FL so we have no close coal source. Not sure how propane runs. I want something that is easy to use, inexpensive and will be reliable during power outages.

Should I be looking at incorporating multiple systems?

[marvella]

i use gas logs to back up the heat pump. it works without electricity.

[tyusclan]

It sounds like you have a heat pump. A heat pump is an A/C in the summer and reverses to put heat in the house in the winter. They do freeze up in cold weather and reverse to defrost, which is essentially turning the A/C on. They have electric heat strips that come on when the unit reverses so that it doesn't blow cold air inside. It sounds like your heat strips aren't coming on. They could be wired incorrectly, they could have gone bad, the circuit board that controls them could be bad, or the most likely cause is that the sequencer that turns them on has gone bad.

A good heat pump is usually not a bad option in Florida. The kind of weather we've been having the last couple of weeks has taxed them though. I have one, but rarely use it for heat as we prefer to use the wood heater. Even in Florida I think you're wise to want a back-up to the electric heat.

A wood cookstove would be great in the winter, but brutal to use in the summer. I would a propane stove as well. Then you could use the wood stove in winter, and the propane in the summer. A big advantage in my mind with the propane stove is the ability to cook when the power is out. That's a big consideration in hurricane country.

You can also get an A/C central unit with propane heat. You have to have electricity to run the fan even in heat, so you'd want some kind of back up. If you put in the fireplaces or wood heaters you mentioned you'd have that taken care of.

[mdharris68]

Sounds like your heater is not functioning correctly. It should give you heat any time you need it. Just have to assume you have a heatpump because that is real popular in Florida. You should have a professional look at the thing and determine the problem. There could be a problem with your auxillary heat strips if you have them. Alot of times heatpumps are set up with an outdoor thermostat that disables your heatpump when the outdoor temps drop. The auxillary heat is supposed to kick in at this point.

As to the other issues with new construction, you have all sorts of options and someone that lives in your area can be of more help. Relying on firewood is a fairly large commitment. I would do as you suggested and use multiple sources for your heat.

[Beeman]

Wood cook stove is nice for a backup but I couldn't imagine cooking on one in FL in the summer. It doesn't matter if you're using the oven or the burner it's the same fire. They aren't designed to heat a house they are designed to cook on. Fireplaces are for asthetics, not for heat.
How much firewood do you have available in FL and what type where you are? Will you be buying firewood or will you own the land with the wood? If you're buying wood in an area where it's expensive it's probably not cost effective. I would look at 2 sources of heat with wood being for when it's real cold or when power is out but I would look at a woodstove. There are many that have glass doors and also ones where you can open the doors and burn like a fireplace.

[Ross]

Fireplaces are not usually very efficient, but there are some good exceptions. Some wood cook stoves are better at heating than others, the Alt Eenrgy board here has a discussion on that fairly current. I don't think any have ducts attached buy maybe I'm thinking of ducts differently than you mean. A heat pump with an electic back up sounds best for you in Fl and Mdharris is right it should be working now if thats what you have.

[palani]

You cannot beat the Kerosun heaters. They throw out a lot of IR heat. Don't require electricity. Are portable and can be placed where needed. The drafty house is an advantage since you don't have to worry as much about asphyxiation (oxygen depletion). The only downside is kerosene is around $4 per gallon.

[agmantoo]

If you do have a heat pump the strip heat is either missing or the circuit breaker for the strip heat is off.

For your location, nothing can beat a geothermal heat pump. You need heat and air conditioning. The geothermal heat pump will provide both efficiently.

[Witterbound]

The #1 thing you need to do when you build your new home is insulate it the best you can. I'm a believer in sprayed foam insulation, which not only insulates, but seals it up also.

[UUmom2many]

Wow thanks for all the responses. I'll have to call our AC guy and ask about the strip thing.

I checked into the geothermal but I think that's going to be too much $ for us. We're trying to do this with our own hands and our own money (no bank mortgages).

we will definately be insulating well in the new house

I'm trying to work on plans in visio (have been for about a year!) but it's hard to find plans that work WITH natural/off grid heating and cooling. Fireplace cooking, etc. We rented a house once that had a gas fireplace with heat ducts under the floor (in FL we're pretty much all raised up in the older houses) so when the fire was working it would also heat the downstairs.

another issue with the AC/heat here is that the ducts from the unit are all upstairs save for one in the center of the downstairs. So we have one small vent for heat in the 600 sq ft downstairs.

[UUmom2many]

thanks Rose! I'd love to see it. We're a family of 7 so 6 beds I was planning to just make a boys room and girls room though with an additional bedroom. We also need a school room. I got the plans from www.countryplans.com for the 20x34 2 story and 1.5 story and T boned them together. I'm also using Anne of Green Gables Treasury as a basis since that's the only "old" home plan I could find LOL

[agmantoo]

I realize that the initial price of a geothermal heat pump are greater than an air to air conventional heat pump. However, energy costs are going to continue to rise. At this time I feel that I am saving not less than $200 per month over what it would cost to provide the same creature comfort from other purchased utilities at today's prices. I have been enjoying these conveniences for nearly 18 years. That is a lot of money saved. It is either a pay now or pay forever situation when considering a geothermal heat pump. Realize you also get virtually free hot water during the months the AC is running. My summer power bill is typically $68 to $70 and my winter bills do not exceed $124. This is for a large home.

[edcopp]

My suggestion for right now would be to set the theromstat at a lower temperature, like 60 deg. or so.

Assemble all the children and adults too, and issue orders. Two layers of clothing for everyone. Two pairs of pants, two shirts, two pairs of socks, and one hat. Put it on, all of it. Do it now. Thay's an order.

This is a heating emergency, and it will pass. Then you will be able to plan better.

Have some of the older children check for drafts. Perhaps call this a draft patrol. Have them get a glass of water, put a finger in the water and hold it near where the suspected draft is, under the door to the outside and window sills are common places. When they find a draft have them design and install a draft barrier, like a rolled up towel or a pair of pants.

Start an emergency soup project. put on a large pot of soup and keep it going. This will increase the heat and the humidity in the house. Both will increase the comfort level of the heat that you do have in the house.

Any children who have some old lightweight gloves, cotton is fine, would think that it is "cool" to be wearing gloves with the fingers cut off in the house.

The hat or cap is very important because most of the heat is lost from the human body through the head. Heat rises.

Find any sunny spot that there may be in the house and have children gather there sitting in the sun spot. Works well for dogs, should work for people too.

This is just a little cold snap that will pass.

[ninny]

Just one suggestion for the new house, insulation, lots of insulation.


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[texican]

If you have multiple energy sources, you have options if one of them fails. Always have a fail-safe source, that's not dependent on others.

I have wood and gas, but no electric heat. `Several times in the last few days, my gas has froze off for a few hours. I was able to jiggle the gas well and get it back on. Meantime I cut some firewood. Electricity was up, and thought to myself, self, you should get at least one electric space heater. Problem is, 99% of the time, it's the electrics going off, not the gas.

Insulation solves a lot of your problems... and there's all kind of tax incentives right now for adding insulation.