Some Alternatives to Conventional AC and Heating Solutions
Sometimes you buy an AC unit which starts showing defects before long. In spite of repeated repairs, replacement of certain components and regular maintenance the performance does not improve. You are drained both financially and emotionally. Under such circumstances there are smaller and cost-effective heating and cooling solutions that you can buy to meet your needs. Let’s take a look at some of them:
Wood Stoves, Pellet Stoves and Furnaces
These are a very economic source for heating homes. The wood stoves and boilers are fueled by variety of cost-effective materials like compacted sawdust, wood chips, bark, agricultural crop waste, waste paper, and other organic materials. These standalone units are primarily used as room heaters.
Wood pellet stoves that burn wood pellets can save you 40 to 60% on your heating cost. Wood pellets which are compressed sawdust are an easily available fuel in all regions of North America. Wood pellets are not heavy and they burn cleanly. They are quite economic compared to heating devices that run on gas, propane, or oil.
Besides wood pellet stoves you also get wood pellet furnaces and boilers. They use large hopper to dispense wood pellets automatically for burning. However, you should buy these furnaces of appropriate sizes according to the dimensions of your room to heat it up effectively. If you buy a too big appliance you will have to tone down the intensity of fire which actually wastes fuel and also causes air pollution. Pellet stoves are available in the range of $1,700 to $3,000; furnaces and boilers can cost more. Homeowners who use pellet stoves and furnaces as ordinary source of heat, burns two to three tons of pellet fuel per year. However, a conservative estimates states that investing on a pellet boiler can generate a return on investment (ROI) of 49% per year for more than 15 years.
Thermal Massing
Although it may not sound very effective, thermal massing serves well in moderate climates. This is a passive way of heating your house. You have to ensure that enough sunlight enters your rooms during the day and the heat get stored in a concrete wall or floor. Houses built with concrete and brick can take advantage of this property of the materials to heat their houses. Timber have low thermal mass as result cannot store much heat. The stored heat is released during the night when there is no sunlight which keeps your rooms warm. Most houses have concrete on the exterior walls which also store heat but it is easily lost. You will need to use thermal masses along the inside spine of a house to use it as a heat source.
Electric Baseboard
Electric base board heaters are generally used as secondary sources of heating a house where a central heating system is used as primary source. However in small spaces like cabins, basements, etc. it can be used as a primary heating source. In houses fitted with electric baseboard heaters, you can find them at a few inches from the wall and floor. They are covered with wooded blocks. These heaters do not need to be plugged to the electric sockets to power them. They are meant to be hard-wired with an electric line. So you will need an electrician to install them. They heat up quite quickly but it takes some time for the room to get warm with heat produced by the heater. This is because the heat is not blown around the room with fans. It works on the principle of radiant heating. Baseboard heaters have absolutely noiseless operation. As there is no blower fan, the hearer does not spread dust, pollen, and other contaminants around the room.
Some more tips
Always make your ducts on the inside walls rather than the outside walls. This is also true for placing heating elements. Locating them on the exterior wall will lead to loss of 20 % of heat.
Houses with cathedral ceiling can haves skylights fitted to it. Install a ceiling fan that can reverse its direction just beneath the skylight. In summer the ceiling fan will pull the warm air up, which will vented out through the skylight. This will cool your space effectively. With temperature sensors this job can be done automatically.
Always paint the roof of your house with light colors, if you live in hot and tropical climate. Dark roofs store heat coming from the sun and make rooms beneath them hot. Color the topmost rooms of the house that are exposed to sunlight with light colors. This will make them cooler.