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      11-21-2021, 09:56 AM   #168
vreihen16
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Drives: 2015 BMW i3 BEV
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Location: Orange County, NY

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Quote:
Originally Posted by nyalpine90 View Post
how are you heating the house
In the early planning phases for the Garage Mahal barndominium in South Carolina, I am leaning toward a central AC and heat pump system. With no ceiling and minimal walls, a long exposed plenum through the rafters will add a nice industrial touch to the inside and keep the system simple. I'll probably use point-of-use electric hot water, but have a few years to research the options.

My immediate disaster is that the oil-fired boiler in our current house is pissing a small stream of water all over the basement, to the point of rusting the side of the boiler's case out. The boiler also provides our hot water, via a boilermate tank. Our well water eats through copper pipes, and I'm amazed that the boiler and boilermate have lasted 18 years without springing leaks.

Our house is small, and a 60K BTU boiler is overkill. (Our central AC is an 18K BTU inverter "ducted" ductless heat pump for sizing comparison.) We're not freezing yet because the heat pump is running, but the lack of a warm shower is getting to me after two days now.

I'm trying to get a price on a Navien combi-boiler install and propane conversion while we have the opportunity to upgrade away from oil. I like the idea of having propane for adding a backup generator in the future, and the on-demand tankless hot water isn't a concern when our longest pipe run in the house is less than 15 feet.

It's not in crisis mode yet because the heat pump can keep up with anything but a polar vortex dip, but we only have a 100A electric service so I don't have a quick/temporary hot water fix while we figure out what we want to do long-term.....
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2015 BMW i3 BEV, Giga World (Lodge interior), Tech/Driving Assist Packages, 30K miles
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