nafterclifen
Well-known member
Looking for some advice/input for my home, not the garage. Hope this is OK. My small attached garage is already sufficiently heated (7,500 W electric) and cooled (12,000 BTU).
2.5 story Colonial home. Total sq ft = 2500 (1000 1st floor, 1000 2nd floor and 500 3rd floor). Existing heat pump is a York 4 ton, 10 SEER. Only one zone/thermostat on 1st floor. It's certainly less than ideal but we are not the original owners and this is the way we bought it. It works but not great.
Two issues...
1. Electric has become way too expensive to heat the entire house.
2. The 3rd floor is not sufficiently conditioned - it's always much warmer in the summer and much cooler in the winter.
I have a supply of wood but I don't have a fireplace. I am considering adding a free-standing wood stove on the 1st floor on an exterior wall. I suspect it'll heat the entire 1st floor but that's where the single zone thermostat is. So then the issue/concern becomes - how are the 2nd and 3rd floors going to react? Not even sure what is possible or feasible but in my head, I thought it would be good if there was a way to keep the existing 1st floor thermostat and add a 2nd thermostat to the 2nd floor. Only one of them could ever be active at a time. And with a flip of a switch, I could isolate the 1st floor but cutting off the supply vents with electric dampers so that the wood stove would be the only source of heat for the 1st floor. Then the heat pump would only have to supply the 2nd and 3rd floors which would be controlled by the newly installed thermostat on the 2nd floor. The hope is that this would fix the '3rd floor not sufficiently conditioned' issue since the heat pump now only has to condition 1500 sq ft instead of 2500. At any point should we choose to stop using the wood stove, we could simply flip that switch to open 1st floor supply vents, activate 1st floor thermostat and now we're back to the way we started - no wood stove and 2500 sq ft of space that the heat pump needs to condition.
Now after typing this all out, I'm starting to realize that adding a wood stove might only be a bandaid. Maybe the right move is a newer, more efficient, multi-zone HVAC system. The challenge with that is all 3 floors are finished and no attic. Only a crawlspace which is where the current utilities are (pressure tank for well, hot water heaters, air handler, etc).
Any/all input is appreciated as I'm looking increase my knowledge of options and possibilities before engaging any contractors. I will not be doing any of this work myself besides the electrical (if any needed).
2.5 story Colonial home. Total sq ft = 2500 (1000 1st floor, 1000 2nd floor and 500 3rd floor). Existing heat pump is a York 4 ton, 10 SEER. Only one zone/thermostat on 1st floor. It's certainly less than ideal but we are not the original owners and this is the way we bought it. It works but not great.
Two issues...
1. Electric has become way too expensive to heat the entire house.
2. The 3rd floor is not sufficiently conditioned - it's always much warmer in the summer and much cooler in the winter.
I have a supply of wood but I don't have a fireplace. I am considering adding a free-standing wood stove on the 1st floor on an exterior wall. I suspect it'll heat the entire 1st floor but that's where the single zone thermostat is. So then the issue/concern becomes - how are the 2nd and 3rd floors going to react? Not even sure what is possible or feasible but in my head, I thought it would be good if there was a way to keep the existing 1st floor thermostat and add a 2nd thermostat to the 2nd floor. Only one of them could ever be active at a time. And with a flip of a switch, I could isolate the 1st floor but cutting off the supply vents with electric dampers so that the wood stove would be the only source of heat for the 1st floor. Then the heat pump would only have to supply the 2nd and 3rd floors which would be controlled by the newly installed thermostat on the 2nd floor. The hope is that this would fix the '3rd floor not sufficiently conditioned' issue since the heat pump now only has to condition 1500 sq ft instead of 2500. At any point should we choose to stop using the wood stove, we could simply flip that switch to open 1st floor supply vents, activate 1st floor thermostat and now we're back to the way we started - no wood stove and 2500 sq ft of space that the heat pump needs to condition.
Now after typing this all out, I'm starting to realize that adding a wood stove might only be a bandaid. Maybe the right move is a newer, more efficient, multi-zone HVAC system. The challenge with that is all 3 floors are finished and no attic. Only a crawlspace which is where the current utilities are (pressure tank for well, hot water heaters, air handler, etc).
Any/all input is appreciated as I'm looking increase my knowledge of options and possibilities before engaging any contractors. I will not be doing any of this work myself besides the electrical (if any needed).
