Heating is not critical now as we spend our winters in Florida but as Canadians we will eventually find health care costs prohibitive and need to stay home in winter. We are looking for a balance between initial system cost and efficiency. We are on a restricted budget so solutions like ground source are out and as mentioned we do not have access to natural gas. We are totally confused as to what type of system to install. This is the first time I have seen such clear descriptions. Thanks very much for the detailed explanation for the various terms. I think you are talking about "in-floor electric resistance heat." You refer to "electric radiant," but as I said earlier, many of the systems we have discussed use electricity as a fuel. Some of these systems use ductwork others (ductless minisplits) don't require ducts. What you call a "forced air heat pump" is more accurately called an air-to-air heat pump. If you want electric-resistance space heat, use electric-resistance baseboard or in-floor electric resistance heaters. This is an air-to-water heat pump.Īn "electric hot water" system is more accurately called an "electric resistance water heater" or an "electric resistance boiler." (After all, all three types of systems we have discussed so far are electric.) It makes no sense, in my mind, to use an electric resistance water heater or electric resistance boiler to heat water for a hydronic distribution system. When you say "hot water heat pump," you are probably talking about an air-source heat pump like the Daikin Altherma. A ground-source heat pump can be connected to a hydronic distribution system (one using hot water - for example, in-floor hydronic - sometimes called "radiant" - heat) or a forced-air distribution system (using ducts). What some people call a "geothermal" system is more properly called a ground-source heat pump. You are contrasting "geothermal" with a "hot water heat pump." But a "geothermal" system is a type of heat pump. Is the order of solutions logical and what can you tell me about the efficiency and comfort of the hot water heat pump solution? I found many old discussions on hot water heat pumps but they were small units to replace hot water tanks. I am waiting on pricing for this and the electric hot water solution. It was described as a heat pump with a hot water tank or boiler that heats or cools the water similar to how a forced air heat pump works but heating and cooling water instead of air. Geothermal is out as it is nearly three times the price of the other solutions and this is a retirement home. We don’t have natural gas so that is not an option. We have been told by HVAC specialists that the best solution would be geothermal, followed by hot water heat pump, electric hot water, then forced air heat pump and electric radiant. We live in a Zone 7 area and are building a one story 2000 sq ft on a slab and have decided we would like to heat the house with in-floor radiant.
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