How do you heat your house?

What does a volcano have to do with heating my house? you guys do know that Hawaii snows right? and i live on one of the two islands that snow right? in fact the top of the mountain(Mauna Loa) which the volcano is on snows,a LOT of people where i live have fireplaces. Dont worry i wont think those were dumb questions you guys are just misinformed

 

Our house is small, about 1100 sf and we live on the south east side of Mauna Loa at a elevation of about only 1600 ft. Its not as near cold as a lot of places here like where Kona lives, he said it dipped into the mid 30`s but he lives more up mauka then i do, or cold like you mainlanders but for me who is not used to the cold coming from a hotter island(Oahu) where you need a/c to sleep versus you need a couple of blankets to sleep its cold for me

 

they were kidding. Everyone knows it snows there

 

You're the one that's misinformed .

You think 40F is cold

 

lol if 40 is cold to a individual then its cold, im used to wearing shorts and a tank top with slippers all day cause its hot not coats and boots and shit cause its cold. If i lived in conditions that most of you said you did i would DIE, not going to lie!

 

The defence rests

 

lol

even at the top of their mountain it barely gets into the teens.

 

yeah yeah

 

yeah, they are copper pipes with fins on them covered by a metal case that runs the length of the walls

 

It is one of the nicest, most even types of heat. Very comfortable and they can heat you out of your house. There are many ways to heat the water. We just have oil for now, but you can use gas, outdoor wood boilers, electric, heat pump with step up, and other heat types.

 

With hot air

 

I have a wood stove with a water jacket in it that is conected to the Radiant heat in the slab. Also the slab is conected to solar heat and L P gas tankless water heater for back up. The way the house is 3000sq and cost about $40 to $50 per month to heat in the winter in New England and the slab stays around 72. I go through 2 to 3 cords a winter.

 

Nice set up , it's almost impossible to find a CSA approved woodstove with a water jacket in Canada without going to a wood fired boiler .

Does your solar collector run through a heat exchange coil in a preheat tank before the tankless heater ?

 

So I may be too late for this but it turns out I've been working for an insulation company for damn near 7 years. The question is not how will you heat the house or what you will use to heat it... the question is how are you going to keep the heat in your house? I live up in the New York and granted our winters aren't quite like colorado or other places but it gets cold. I would say contact an insulation company where ever you live. If you were up here we do free estimates or for $200 bucks we do infrared tests to see what you have. $400 for a whole audit. I'd assume those prices are ball park for any company. From there, insulate it! Then get some piddly 75,000 BTU furnace and you'll be more than comfortable!...

 

Very true .

I built my new house with foam insulation on the exterior of the framing to stop thermal bridging , what a difference .

 

FOAM is the way to go!! Fiberglass is just a glorified air filter I'm sure the Canadians will agree

 

I made the water jacket out of 3/4 copper flex tubing in a Vermont wood stove. Just one bend and it's connected to a holding take on the side, no pump just natural flowing. When the holding tank gets to 130 a pump, pumps the hot water into the slab. I have all the safety pressure value on the system. Works great. The solar has a tank but it's real too small. It's but not as well as it should

 

I'm all about a combo of foam and fibreglass batts for exterior walls , and straight 2lb spray foam for basements .

 

Oh. The tankless heater and the solar run through the same system in the slab but are separate and work off different switches

 

The solar has glycol ?