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Heating & Air Conditioning Design Dilemma

hydro air for new construction

last year

I am in the process of building a new 2500 sq ft house. The house is located in New England. We are going to have at least three zones for heating and cooling. The house is one level with an open floor plan. The contractor is recommending a hydro air heating system. I am looking for some information such as the pros and cons of using hydro air compared to forced hot air system. Does hydro air carry a higher installation cost compared to forced hot air. The contractor is suggesting put the unit in an attic which will not be conditioned space and putting the furnace in the basement.

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Comments (4)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
I am not familiar with that exact heting system but we have hot water heat and I will never go back to forced air it is a really nice consistant heat no dust no vents to have cleaned.
Elmer J Fudd
last year
See some info in this link

Hydro Air

If I understand correctly, this is akin to a heat pump Air to Air or Ground to Air system, using water instead of a refrigerant to "transmit" heat. For heating, the water is heated by a boiler, routed in a pipe to an air handler, through which passes ducted interior air to be warmed. I guess there would be a second air handler connected to an outdoor AC compressor to which cooled refrigerant would be piped to produce AC. I'm not sure what the advantage is of having an air handler instead of a furnace.

I'm sure the contractor can explain what they have in mind.
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Obviously this is regional, but it could certainly be that the OP has no option for builders in the area he wants to be. In my area, it is easy to have a custom build lot but if you want a large neighborhood (pool, playground) then you have to do production. There are a lot of pros for large neighborhoods and these have to be balanced against the advantages of custom. I live in a custom neighborhood but I think my wife would prefer to live in a production neighborhood given the choice today. IMO, in my area, production makes sense for neighborhood only. What surprises me is that Huntsville doesn't have better standards. You might find a production neighborhood that has better standards. You also might be comforted to know that your climate doesn't demand insulation like other climates do. In the end a/c costs are primarily based on solar gain and your heating costs are probably pretty low. A new house built to relatively poor standards is still far better than an older house as the standards have improved over time. You might look at your neighbors utilities to get an idea of what kind of money you are talking about. I have fiberglass in central NC. Even doing it again, it was the right financial decision. Before I had solar installed, my a/c bill was right at $300 a year and heat was $600 for 5000 sqft. There are plenty of things I would have done differently but fiberglass isn't the biggest sin.
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Wallynut, So would I be correct in saying that I need to find out how many kilowatts are needed to keep this house at X temperature using Hydro-air and compare that to kilowatts used, using the electric baseboard. I probably can find the existing usage from my local power company, but where could I find how much power these Hydro-air units use? Would the installer be able to provide me with estimates? I am in NY so I'm guessing were in the same "boat". Any help would greatly be appreciated. Jim
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decoenthusiaste
last year
This is something to consider, and now the mini-split systems can be ducted with no wall cartridge to interrupt your decor. If you can install solar to heat the water for radiant floor heating, there may be some financial or tax advantages. Check it out carefully though. Lots of scammers are trying to take advantage as renewables are being pushed so hard.
Elmer J Fudd
last year
Heating water with electricity can take a lot of electricity. All electric houses in my area are more commonly air to air or geothermal to air heat pumps for heating and cooling. Mini-splits are efficient air to air heat pumps and used for heating and cooling.

What you cite talks about Mini-split systems with a hot water coil. Are you in the US, where are these common?

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