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December 27, 2009

Hydronic Air Heat in Brownstone?

I am mid-renovation on a 1905 Park Slope double duplex brick townhouse and am having a central A/C duct system put in. Palone Bros have suggested we install a hydronic air heat coil so we can get our heat through the ducts as well. (Not 'forced air'!) This way we can have a separate thermostat from the lower unit (we're on the upper unit) and, perhaps, remove the radiators once we know we're getting all the heat we need... Anyone who knows this system first hand please let me know your thoughts! (Mrs Limestone are you out there? Your reno blog on BS mentioned you were installing this system... Wonder how it worked out?)

Author's Comments

Thank you Master Plvmber, for your knowledge, and thank you bklyndoug for your first hand experience.

I am still on the fence: I am now being led to believe that we can balance the heat in the house by partially closing the radiator valves on lower floors so less hot water goes through those radiators and more hot water (or hotter water) can get up to the higher floors. If we can find a happy medium this way we won't need the extra heat boost from the hydronic heated air and skip complicating the system. (and save the money)

Any thoughts on my chances of succeeding in valve tweaking of the hot water rads?

Also, perhaps by moving the thermostat from the 1st floor to the 2nd or 3rd floors (the middle of the house) it will be easier to get the house into equilibrium?

Posted by: js at December 29, 2009 1:51 AM in response to Hydronic Air Heat in Brownstone?

Responses to Author's Forum Comments

Hot water heating systems are very flexible and adaptable to changing heating demands. There are any number of heating controls available to customize and fine tune the way the water is heated and distributed.
You say you are in mid-renovation. Quite honestly, this is kind of late in the game to be trying to sort this out now considering how many options you should be looking at.
Has anyone mentioned adding an outdoor reset control, like the Tekmar 260, to modulate the water temperature through the system? It could save you 25% on fuel usage and effectively takes the bad thermostat placement out of the equation.

Posted by: Master Plvmber at December 29, 2009 7:56 AM in response to Hydronic Air Heat in Brownstone?

Master Plumber - In steam heat, partially open valves often leads to leaks at the radiator/supply pipe connection. Does the same hold true for hot water?

If it were a steam system, another suggestion might be thermostatic valves on the radiators. They replace the pressure release valves and vary the amount of steam allowed to enter the radiator when the heat is on. The more steam allowed in, the faster the radiator heats up and provides more heat to the room. Conversely, as you describe above, reducing the amount of steam being delivered to some radiators can increase the amount going to others because of the pressure differential. There are also low tech options like vari-valves which essentially do the exact same thing without the thermostat. I don't know if there are similar options for hot water, but I'm sure Mr. Master Plumber can enlighten us here.

Posted by: JimHill at December 29, 2009 8:59 AM in response to Hydronic Air Heat in Brownstone?

You can regulate the flow of hot water through a radiator using common shut off valves. Steam being a gas which then turns to liquid, is less cooperative. To regulate the flow of steam in a 1-pipe radiator, you have to control the rate at which air is vented. Thermostatically operated valves do a good job of this though with some degree of room temperature fluctuation.

Posted by: Master Plvmber at December 29, 2009 9:27 AM in response to Hydronic Air Heat in Brownstone?