The “HOT” topic
September 14, 2011The Home Discovery Show for September 11th, 2011
Welcome back to another re-cap of The Home Discovery Show. It was hard to talk about it, but we did. IT was heat. I know….. We dove into the topic of turning the heat on and that felt like slamming the door on Ms Summer as Old Man Winter was coming in. We won’t let her go just yet, and I have an idea that there will still be some people in shorts and tanks, even in November. Nonetheless, we do have to get prepared while we can. We’re talking about cleaning out ducts, burner maintenance, chimney inspections, and even maybe looking at getting a new fireplace installed.
One of the big things in the market today is the heat pump for the furnace. Most new furnaces come with them, or can be added to the older ones. Furnaces have become a lot more efficient and a lot smaller. Fireplace inserts have become a source of heat for the home, and not just something to cozy up to. Whether it’s gas, propane, electric, or even wood burning, the furnace or fireplace provides the comfort of heat and the attraction of a centerpiece of a room.
Rob from Kamloops called in and reported that he saw a marginal savings on his electricity bill with his heat pump, but only had one season to compare. He concurred that propane is expensive and one would need a 40 – 60 ampere circuit to run an electric unit. With Margaret’s call from Langley, she was concerned about her friend’s place that had a lot of (what we think was) soot building up on the walls. Through Bob on Vancouver Island (we didn’t get his company name, so I hope he calls back), we discussed “back drafting” and “negative air”. What’s all that?!?! Well, it means that the fireplace pulls air from the house to feed the fire and creates a lower air pressure than what is outside. It can also occur when the bathfan is running, along with the stove hoodfan, along with the clothes dryer and furnace etc. Anything that “moves” the air from the inside to the outside (ie. “vents”) can cause a back draft. To stop this, an “in” needs to be created to help balance the “out”. Typically that’s called a “make-up air” and can be simply a 6” pipe from the outside to the furnace room. Most zero-clearance fireplaces will have that built in to their vent piping, whereas a 4” pipe is covered by a larger pipe, and the space between them is where the “in air” flows. We’ll get more on that later.
Mike called in and he has a 10 year old townhouse that he’s looking at abandoning the forced air system and switching to an electric heat because of the dusty air that spews from the ducts. Pete from Vancouver Island wants to abandon his oil heat and move to gas. Certainly, with any change of system, whether it’s for serviceability, cost, energy efficiency, space, etc, the pros need to be called in to make sure that it’s done correctly, safely, and to Code. Like a roof or a foundation, the heat / cooling system in your home is very important and not something that you may want to do twice.
We’ll talk more on heating I’m sure, so be cool for now – while summer is still here…..
Here’s the link for today’s show, and thanks for tuning in.
http://emedia.cknw.com/Podcasts/1199/Home_Discovery_Show_-_September_11_2011.mp3
Steve
