Heating/AC for attic MB and sitting room
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Hello I am remodeling my current home a brick Chicago style Bungalow in Southern Wisconsin. The 3 rooms upstairs if your looking from the street, would be MB 12×17 then Bath 6×10 and a sitting room 12×12 with the chimney in the center. I can’t run duct work up stairs because there is no room for the ducts in the walls or closets. I thought my best two options are baseboard heat with an A/C unit or a mini-split. I plan on using a small baseboard heater for the bathroom as well as a heat lamp in the bath fan. If I use a min-split I am not sure that itwill heat/cool the MB as well as the sitting room through the hall way (7ft long). I also can’t find many good sources for installing a mini-split. I did find a Hitachi unit for about $400 but its only a single zone.  Since a dual zone mini-split is getting a bit spendy I am not sure what I can do. Does anyone have any advice or experience with these issues?
Edited 2/2/2005 11:49 pm ET by maseo
Replies
Greetings maseo, As a first time poster Welcome to Breaktime.
This post, in response to your question, will bump the thread through the 'recent discussion' listing again.
Perhaps it will catch someones attention that can help you with advice.
Cheers
"Live Free,
not Die"
OK maseo, Let's try this one more time. :o)"Live Free, not Die"
You didn't say what kind of system is presently in the home, but I'm going to guess that you have a forcred air central system that covers the first floor because your talking about running ducts upstairs.
".. two options are baseboard heat with an A/C unit or a mini-split. I plan on using a small baseboard heater for the bathroom as well as a heat lamp in the bath fan.."
You mean electric baseboards? If you don't mind paying for the electricity, heat is easy enough, 3000 watts in the MB (3 - 5' baseboards) and a wall mounted electric heatr in the other two would work fine.
As far as AC goes, in Kenosha it IS optional, but is space and budget limits preclude installation of a central or multi-zned ductless, you can always go with a TWAC i.e. windo shaker when absolutely necessary.
Thanks a lot for your response. Your right I do have a forcred air central system and yes I was talking about electric baseboards. I am thinking of going with a TWAC just because the basboard heat is so expensive and Kenosha is 90+ in July August with 100% humidity. Like the weather man says its cooler by the lake, but not that cool.
Have you ever worked with a multi-zned ductless system? I am wanting to try it but I don't know a soul that has ever worked with one.
Again thanks for taking the time to look at my question
I sell two different brands and have seen may installations, but I do not have any direct personal experience with these units. As far as expensive goes, for a 5 foot 1250 watt basesboard, I sell them at about $80 a piece. But that's heating not AC.
Something that would be nice in the bath, especially with tile is an electric mat. A mat and programmable controller are going to co around $400, though, but it should provide most of the necessary heat and you'll love it on your bare feet in January.
90/90 days are bad, but few and far between where you are. If it were me, I would spend what I needed to make the heat as nice as I wanted and make do on the AC. Taking care of a 4 month a year need far outweighs a 4 week luxury. And really, when was the last summer you needed AC for 4 weeks in this area (I am 5 miles south of the WI/IL border south of Broadhead). I have run my AC for 1000 hours the last 3 summers combined.
I'm not so sure I agree with not having AC in a finished attic.I live in Illinois, West of Chicago. We have an older 2 story home with a finished attic. Attic has no permanent heat source. It stays warm most of the winter just from the heat rising up to the attic. On the coldest days we have a small ceramic space heater that works well.In the summer the attic gets very hot from the hot air rising up. We need to run the window AC unit in the attic even when the rest of the home is cool.The point I'm trying to make is that the heating may not be as important as the cooling in a finished attic. That is my experience anyway.Mike K
Amateur Home Remodeler in Aurora, Illinois
I do agree with you, as I have a 4 ton central air conditioner system in the main part of my house and a 2 ton for the additions. I was recommending to Maseo, that in this climate heat is an absolute necessity, so do it as well as conditions/budget allow. However nice as it may be, AC is optional. It will get very hot a few days a year. This is not ideal, but neither is it unbearable.
With your situation, try this some time. Open only the basement widows and the windows in the attic. You will be amazed at the force of natural convection and how much you don't need cooling with a steady stream of moving air going through your house, from basement up. Is you attic insulated? Have a dark roof? Any shade?
Edited 2/11/2005 1:51 pm ET by Timbo
I like your thinking. My wife might not agree with the AC aspect, but I would rather have a nice fan and fresh air than AC any day. I could get a nice AC unit for when I needed it.
Follow up to your mini-split brands that you sell, how much do they run? Because if I can get one I still think this might be good use of this technology. I have not seen any of the units below $800 besides one Hitachi unit for $400.
Because if I do plan on heating only, what do you think of those gas fireplaces? You can get them for around $600 for as small as an area that I need to heat and its very easy for me to get a gas line up there, and the cost to run the unit should be much cheaper than baseboards or a mini-split.
My buddy installed a gas fireplace in his house and loves it, and they're easy to install.
thanks larry
I sell the Friedrich, Mitsubishi, Hyundai & Enviromaster (EMI) brands. Recently, we acquired the rights to sell LG, as well, though since its new I don't have pricing. Very nice look, but I'm guessing pricey. Freidrich and EMI are the main lines that we deal with regularly.
If you tell me what you have in mind I can give you exact costs. I don't know what you can get for $400, but the $800 is average for a 1 ton single zone mini-split. The least expensive option is going to be window unit(s). When I bout my first house in Rockford, I made due for the first summer with just a single 120v window unit that cost about $200.
I have never had a gas fireplace, but I burn wood everyday from October through the middle of April. A wood burning fireplace ina bedroom is a PITA. The gas one might not be a bad idea, I just can't offer personal experience on that.
We just did two baths that were converted from closet space, and in one we used a 220V Nu-Heat mat and a Runtal towel bar radiator. In the other just a towel bar radiator. This works great for heat in the bath, but note that not all floor mats are rated to supply actual heat for a room. Some just take the chill off of the tile. The same is true of the towel warmers. Both Runtal and Nu-Heat are rated to actually supply heat for the room. Be sure to get the upgraded (programmable) controller for the heat mat.As far as general HVAC, can you do a separate unit in a crawl space and just run duct work for the second floor? There are units that will hang from suspension rods in attics.
There is a system made by unico, i believe. That uses it's own coil blower unit and duct work. the supply duct's onthis system are very small and require very little space to run. you could easliy run them through the back of a closet or build a chase. This would supply you with heating and cooling from one system. I'm sure they have a web site.