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Heating a “near passive” house?

user-6850466 | Posted in Energy Efficiency and Durability on

Hi everyone, I am currently mid way through the design of the home we will soon build. Coming from a traditional carpentry background and this will be our first ‘superinsulated’ build. We are not going for passive cert. but building with passive methods and ideas.

House is 2 levels, Walkout basement with lots of south facing windows. 2800 sq ft total.

We are in zone 6B in BC Canada, and aiming for wall R40 roof R60, using the dual stud wall method with cellulose insulation.

Planning to heat the house with a wood fired boiler, and having electric as backup for when we are not home.

Question is – radiant heat in the basement slab? in both the basement and main floor? Ducted forced air via boiler water to air heat exchanger?

Thanks
-Cole

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Replies

  1. GBA Editor
    Martin Holladay | | #1

    Cole,
    The first step in designing a heating system is to perform a heat loss calculation. It's impossible to provide you any advice unless we know your design heating load in BTU/h.

    For more information on this topic, see these articles:

    Saving Energy With Manual J and Manual D

    How to Perform a Heat-Loss Calculation — Part 1

    How to Perform a Heat-Loss Calculation — Part 2

    Who Can Perform My Load Calculations?

    A house designed to approach the passive house standard needs very little heat, and the heating methods you have suggested sound like overkill. I suggest that you read these two articles:

    Heating a Tight, Well-Insulated House

    All About Radiant Floors

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