Tag: hvac

Heat!

January 2, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Oh, finally, finally we have real heat! Up to this point we’ve been relying on a collection of electric heaters meant to supplement rather than stand in and even running four of them and consuming 6,000 watts of electricity in the process, it’s been cold. The insulation helped quite a bit, but ultimately we just needed the radiators working.

Mechanical Panel

Mechanical Panel

Lester finished up the other jobs he’d been working on and started working more seriously on our project. Over the course of a couple weeks he got the mechanical panel built out and the boiler hooked up. We figured out where we were temporarily putting the radiators on the second floor (until we remodel the floor and install in-floor radiant) and Mike helped me mount plywood panels to the wall so we could mount them. We also got the old steam radiators out onto the back porch.

Plywood panels

Plywood panels

I had originally wanted to run the PEX tubing that supplies the radiators through the attic, so Lester was going to put a manifold on the second floor. I decided the manifold could go behind the dishwasher since it’s on the wet wall and that spot will be in the master bath once we remodel. Unfortunately, when I pulled out the dishwasher and cut open the wall I found that spot occupied by five different supply and drain pipes.

All of the pipes

All of the pipes

Instead Lester put the manifold on the first floor and ran the PEX through the first floor. That may complicate things later, such as the plumbing that needs to go right where the manifold is and the ceiling where the tubing is running, but I guess we’ll figure that out when we get there. Top priority was getting heat.

Radiator being warm

Radiator being warm

With the radiators mounted and everything connected, Lester fired up the system and soon it started to get warm. We’ll still use one or two electric heaters if it gets too cold outside since the radiators are sized for our future insulation rather than the current lack thereof, but the difference in warmth and comfort is profound.

We had one hiccup though. After we got back from a long weekend with my family we discovered that the pipes had frozen. I had put an electric heater on the first floor but the circuit tripped so it wasn’t running. Fortunately there was no damage and we got everything thawed back out. This weekend I’m planning to get some pipe heating cable since its much cheaper to run than a 1,500 watt oil-filled electric heater.

Looking Ahead

July 22, 2011 / / 2 Comments

We’ve been talking to the structural engineer, and while we haven’t figured out the exact plan we’re hoping to get the basement shored up. If we’re lucky we’ll find that the footings under the wall go a foot down below the basement floor. If that’s the case we’ll get the new steel header and steel support posts, as well as new concrete footings under the posts. Those new footings will be set deeper than the current floor, so that down the road we can dig out the basement floor and gain about 8″ of height. I was relieved to find out that we could do those two separately, because digging out the basement is expensive, and not something we really need right now. The support posts need to be done now, though, because the house needs to be leveled before we can remodel the first floor.

So far we’ve been working on the second floor and everything has been temporary stuff to make the house livable. The structural work is the first thing that’s actually fixing the house up, well aside from exterminating roaches. The exterminator told us we can move in, but I was disappointed to hear that we probably won’t completely eliminate them until we tear down the walls and then call the exterminators back to spray again. That means we’ll be sealing everything on the second floor up as tight as we can with caulk, wood fill, spray foam, and whatever else it takes. He said it was one of the worst infestations he’d seen.

Once we’re moved in and the condo is rented we’ll move forward on the structural repairs. Then we’ll work with an architect and plan out the rest of the project. In addition to the obvious stuff like new walls, drywall, and floors, we need to install new heating and cooling. We’d like to put in hydronic radiant heating and high velocity forced air cooling, but they aren’t cheap. High efficiency boiler, pumps and manifolds, condensers, blower and ductwork will run tens of thousands of dollars. We can do some of it in phases, but it’s probably the single most expensive part of the project. We’ve spoken with an HVAC guy and gotten some ideas, but it’s tempting to just go with traditional forced air, even if it means installing bulkheads.

We’ll figure it out once we get closer. Right now we’ve got more pressing needs, like getting the rest of the trim back up and the second floor painted, plus a laundry list of little tasks that add up to a lot of work.