Hydronic (hot water) Heating.

Hydronic heating is widely used. Most homes in the north use it with either a natural gas or oil hot water boiler (furnace). It's not used in many cases when there is a central A/C system installed because a forced air system can be used for both heating and cooling so it's more cost effective to install and maintain. If you don't have to worry about a central A/C system the cost of a hydronic system is probably comparable to a forced air heat-only system.

Hydronic systems tend to heat much more evenly and consistantly because the heated water cools slowly and is being circulated throughout the entire system. You tend to feel less draft too. They do tend to take longer to bring a room to "normal" temps when they are first started though.

Any HVAC shop and most plumbers contractors can/will install hydronic systems.

I have had two homes with hydronic heating and I find it vasty superior to other means for overall comfort especially here in the dry southwest, my current home has (as Fishin noted above) an integrated ac/forced air system otherwise I would convert to Hydronic. An additional bonus to hydronic heating is the relatively simple installation of zone heating.

I moved into a house with Hot Water baseboard or Hydronic Heating System with a Weil McClain.... boiler. The home is 6 years old.

I have nover seen so much dust in my life. I used to have forced air. It is just me or is it because my water is very very hard. We use a Water Softner. It that causing salt to evaporate in the air? the dust looks whitesh. We live in the North so the boiler is always running!

I have hot water heat in my house. Love it. Don't know what could be causing your dust problem JackDaniels, but I doubt it's the water. The water is totally contained in the system. The heat radiates into the room.

If I were to build a new house, I'd put the radiant heat into the floors.

The heating boiler shouldn't have any effect on dust levels because it is a closed system. Hydronic heating water is never exposed to the air so it's not like it's evaporating and leaving trace minerals behind. The only place you'd get a buildup of the minerals is inside your heating pipes.

The same boiler may be producing your domestic hot water but the boiler wouldn't be introducing anything that would create the dust. If there are trace minerals (or salts) in your water you'd have the same problem with a seperate hot water heater.

One thing you could try would be to install a whole house water filter on the domestic water supply line (near your water softner) and see if that helps (although I suspect it won't make much difference).

My company has recently gotten into the design and control of commercial grade HVAC into homes. They are based on hydronics the most advanced even use it for cooling. Radiant heat is great. The downfalls are it will take the system quite a bit of time to heat up and also to cool down so it is highly recommended that you keep your forced air heating system for a supplemental system for the fall/spring season when it can be warm one day and cool the next. In your case the other downfall I can see is that it would most likely be very hard to retro fit a hydro system into a house without a lot of tearing out of ceilings and walls.

A cheaper alternative would be having your duct work cleaned annually. it is an easy operation next to nothing when compared to installing a hydro system.

buying a home with hydronic heating, has been shut off for years, home also has forced air, what are costs to get hyd. going again if problem?

also any one know where to get asbestos tested in canada? need to know quick?

gollan--

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