Electric flr heating in passive design

[Roy Mock]

Given a passive design with concrete floor [no carpet or timber on top], is
it a conflict-of-interest if an electric floor heating system is installed
so that the feet don't feel the cold floor?

 

[Steve Spence]

Why electric? Why not solar heated hot water with wood backup?

http://webconx.green-trust.org/2003/fireandwater.htm

 

[Roy Mock]

Wood fuel heaters are banned where I am [for air pollution reasons I think].

I haven't heard of solar heated water floor heater suppliers. Interesting
thought though. There is no guarentee of solar access in suburban urban
areas in valleys. That you mention wood backup indicates that it may not be
efficient. I suppose we could use gas backup instead - would sugest gas
boosted solar hot water? or on a separate system?

Otherwise electricity is client choice because of advertising by local
suppliers.

Why electric? Why not solar heated hot water with wood backup?

http://webconx.green-trust.org/2003/fireandwater.htm


--
Steve Spence
www.green-trust.org

Given a passive design with concrete floor [no carpet or timber on top], is
it a conflict-of-interest if an electric floor heating system is installed
so that the feet don't feel the cold floor?

 

[[email protected]]

Wood fuel heaters are banned where I am [for air pollution reasons I think].

I think we all need to reread that sentence and understand the
implications.

Otherwise electricity is client choice because of advertising by local
suppliers.

Is there any way you can sign up for a "time of use" plan for your
electricity? Here, I can get off-peak-time electricity for 1/6th of
the daytime rate, so it makes sense for me to heat with electricity at
night and on weekends, and with propane during the days. It's simply
a case of a timer/switch to turn off the electricity when it's expensive.
Not sure if that helps, if you can't buy your electricity that way.
Your slab can reasonably be warmed at somewhere around 1 degree per
hour (a vastly oversimplified guess but close enough to make the point),
so you can store quite a bit of heat in that thermal mass.

Dave Hinz

 

[Roy Mock]

Wood fuel heaters are banned where I am [for air pollution reasons I

think].

I think we all need to reread that sentence and understand the
implications.

Otherwise electricity is client choice because of advertising by local
suppliers.

Is there any way you can sign up for a "time of use" plan for your
electricity? Here, I can get off-peak-time electricity for 1/6th of
the daytime rate, so it makes sense for me to heat with electricity at
night and on weekends, and with propane during the days.

Yes, we have off-peak rates.

Thnx for your reply.

 

[Steve Spence]

I mention wood backup because for about 5 months in my climate there isn't
enough sun to overcome the cold weather. wood banned for pollution reasons?
how silly. they pollute less than an oil boiler. maybe your code people have
not heard of epa approved stoves, or gasification.

--
Steve Spence
www.green-trust.org

Wood fuel heaters are banned where I am [for air pollution reasons I think].

I haven't heard of solar heated water floor heater suppliers. Interesting
thought though. There is no guarentee of solar access in suburban urban
areas in valleys. That you mention wood backup indicates that it may not be
efficient. I suppose we could use gas backup instead - would sugest gas
boosted solar hot water? or on a separate system?

Otherwise electricity is client choice because of advertising by local
suppliers.

Why electric? Why not solar heated hot water with wood backup?

http://webconx.green-trust.org/2003/fireandwater.htm


--
Steve Spence
www.green-trust.org

Given a passive design with concrete floor [no carpet or timber on

top],
is

it a conflict-of-interest if an electric floor heating system is installed
so that the feet don't feel the cold floor?

 

[Richard P.]

I mention wood backup because for about 5 months in my climate there isn't
enough sun to overcome the cold weather. wood banned for pollution reasons?
how silly. they pollute less than an oil boiler.

I lived in a small town where annual rainfall is measured (almost) in
metres. Wood burning heaters are the primary source of heat due to the fact
that we were surrounded by vast amounts of forests and clear cuts... you
could get your wood for free, as opposed to paying $300 - $400 per month in
electricity by using the baseboard heaters. Quite often the town was
covered in a haze of wood smoke, and I can remember a few times when it was
so thick I thought the fog had rolled in! I used to have an article about
airborne wood smoke particulates, and studies showed that the (lung??)
cancer rate was *much* higher in communities with wood burning heaters than
those who lived within several kilometers radius of a nuclear power plant.
Either way, it can't be healthy to be breathing it.

This might be a viable option for remote living conditions, but I don't
think it has an acceptable place in the urban environment. Plus, it also
plays havoc with with some of us amateur astronomers! <grin>

 

[Steve Spence]

Your recollections must be pre epa approved wood stoves. that behavior you
recollect is not allowed anymore. My woodburner produces little visible
smoke. It's much cleaner than the pollutants outputted by an oil burner.

 

[Steve Spence]

This article of faith as you suggest (you might want to find a new line,
this one is old) is accomplished by 1800 degree burns, which gasify the wood
to burn clean and efficiently. My oil burner used to leave a reddish brown
stain on the roof that this unit does not.


http://www.woodboilers.com/wood-gasification.asp

The combustion system employed in Solo Plus boilers solves most of the
problems associated with conventional wood boilers and outdoor water stoves.
Here's why: The wood gasification combustion process in the Solo Plus boiler
begins when the small, quiet draft fan turns on in response to the boiler's
heat controls. The draft fan blows fresh air into the top of the firebox and
down through the wood and live charcoal bed. This hot air and smoke mixture
is forced through a slot in the top of the ceramic combustion chamber.
Super-heated secondary air is then injected into these gases. The
combination of the wood gas and smoke with the high temperature oxygen
results in a super-hot 1800° flame in the ceramic combustion tunnel. This is
the "Wow, that's unbelievable" process we call wood gasification. The gases
stay in this hot, turbulent environment long enough to achieve extremely
high combustion efficiency. The resultant heat passes into the vertical heat
exchange tubes giving off heat to the boiler water for house heating and
domestic hot water demands. The combination of optimum combustion and
maximum heat exchange efficiency is what yields the unusually high overall
boiler heating efficiencies of 80-85%.

 

[Roy Mock]

I mention wood backup because for about 5 months in my climate there isn't
enough sun to overcome the cold weather. wood banned for pollution reasons?
how silly. they pollute less than an oil boiler.

I'm in a temperate part of the country where we do not use boilers nor
central heating. Many of the older houses have chimneys which were coal
fuelled once-upon-a-time [coal rich area]. However wood is more commonly
available as a substiitute these days - so is gas or oil heating (but not in
the urban/suburban areas).

maybe your code people have not heard of epa approved stoves, or

gasification.

Our water heaters are rated on a 5 star scale. We are trying to reduce our
electricity consumption as most of our electricity is coal fuelled - i.e. a
major contributor to greenhouse gases.

[snip]

 

[[email protected]]

I mention wood backup because for about 5 months in my climate there isn't
enough sun to overcome the cold weather. wood banned for pollution reasons?
how silly. they pollute less than an oil boiler. maybe your code people have
not heard of epa approved stoves, or gasification.

I don't think that in .au, they care much for our EPA's rules. And
their politicians seem even more eager than ours to ban things,
regardless of the logical or scientific facts.

With his thermal mass, I'd say electric hot water on a timer is the
way to go.

Dave