Hello,I have a single story ranch with unfinished basement. I have central AC in my home. The air handler is located in the attic. There is existing hydronic baseboard throughout main floor, but it all needs replacing due to damage. Boiler in basement also is going to be replaced. My question is this:1) Should i replace hydronic baseboard with new, or should i take advantage of having central AC and run a hot water coil(heat exchanger) up to attic into air handler so i have central AC and heat?2) I am not familiar with whats involved with the air handler option. Can i use existing air handler to install hot water coil, or do i need to replace airhandler with one with a built in hot water coil?3) While I know hydronic baseboard is more efficient in heating vs a direct fired forced hot air furnace, what would be more efficient in this case since my senario is hydronic baseboard vs hydronic coil in central air handler? Again this is not going to be a direct fired furnace.Thanks.
This Site Might Help You. RE: Hydronic baseboard heat VS hydronic water coil inside air handler? Hello, I have a single story ranch with unfinished basement. I have central AC in my home. The air handler is located in the attic. There is existing hydronic baseboard throughout main floor, but it all needs replacing due to damage. Boiler in basement also is going to be replaced. My question...
IMO radiant heat feels more natural and cozy because the radiator retains a center of warmth which does not completely fade away by the next cycle. The heat of forced air is swirled violently against every cold surface, losing heat, then shuts off abruptly, sometimes resulting wildly fluctuating temperature. If you already have holes and unfinished areas in your floors, I would replace like for like.
The advantage of forced air systems is that you have air filtering capability year round. Baseboard heat doesn't have the problem with drafts. Hydronic systems are usually more expensive and you have the possibility of a frozen water coil in an attic air handler. A boiler is not anymore efficient than a forced air furnace if you select models of equal efficiency. The other loses such as in the HW piping or the duct work is probably your biggest loss. Boilers usually cost a lot more than furnaces. Although you can add a HW coil section on to the existing system, it is not a good idea. A unit that is factory designed and built is the only good choice. There has to be controls to change the fan speed and a water leak monitor. If you are not going to use any hot water for the house except for in the existing forced air system, then the best choice is to replace the A/C air handler with a high efficiency furnace in the attic with an A/C coil. Then you don't have any boiler or water piping to worry about. Only by looking at your system can anyone tell if there would be any other problems.
