THE OWNER BUILT HOME & HOMESTEAD
(Page 11 of 15)
January/February 1971
By Ken Kern
The heating problem is not simple. Consider operation with just one type of fuel-consuming appliance, the oil burner. When a "high-pressure" oil burning unit is used (such as that produced by the Carlin Company), about one gallon of oil per hour is consumed. But the Williams' Oil-O-Matic model, a "low pressure" type, requires just half this amount per hour. And now the Iron Fireman Company comes up with a "Vertical Rotary" burner which requires even less, or about one-third gallon per hour.
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Electric power companies advertise the advantages of the "all-electric house"—the freedom from handling fuel and ashes, and the extreme simplicity and flexibility of operation. But with electrical rates at 3¢ per kilowatt-hour, heating costs will be about six times as much as with fuel oil at 16¢ a gallon. Where natural gas is available the cost differential is even greater. I do not mean to rule out the use of electricity for domestic heating. In regions where electrical rates are low, or where there are very mild winters, or in cases where an intermittent, quick-return type of heat is desired, electricity may offer inducements in cost and performance.
*As there is a wide price variation from city to city, actual local prices should be substituted for reliable comparison.
The factor of climate, of course, is of importance in heating. But air temperature is only one of several important climatic measurements. Relative humidity, solar radiation, and air movement should be taken into account. For instance, it has been found that a wind of only 15 miles per hour may increase the heat loss from a window surface by 47% and from a concrete wall by 34%. So heating plans have a close relation to windbreaks and wind baffles.
CLIMATE AND HOUSE HEATERS 2000 degree-days*—intermittent types of heat; stoves, portable heaters using gas or electricity; central heat likely to be troublesome. 4000 degree-days—space heaters popular; baseboard radiation very satisfactory; electricity and bottled gas often used; heating limited to living room. 6000 degree-days—central heating desirable, though often replaced by space stoves; hot-water heating systems popular; electric heat impractical.8000 degree-days—heat required in every room preferably central system; periphery usually sufficient to permit use of steel baseboard radiation. 10000 degree-days—central heat required in every room; periphery of house likely not long enough to permit adequate heating by baseboard radiation; electrical heating prohibitive in cost.
*The heating engineers' "degree-day" is based on difference between outside temperature and 65° F., counting by hours.
Heat is transferred in three ways; by conductors (e.g., the warm floor), by warm air, and by radiant panels. Rather than attempt to solve the heating problem through one type of heater alone, you might combine the best features of each, including the radiative and conductive effects of the heat-circulating fireplace, as well as the radiative effects of solar heat. Hot-air convection heating, which is quick-acting, can compensate for the time-lag typical of hot-water panel heating.
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