Search the forums

Loading
Home › Forums › Breaktime › Energy, Heating & Insulation

Heat Source for new attic bedroom

Tisme's picture

Heat Source for new attic bedroom (post #192136)

Tisme on Sat, 08/07/2010 - 16:48
in

Our 12-yr old grandson has come to live with us (may the gods be kind).  Soooooo, having designed our modest ranch home with attic trusses above the garage, I am finally finishing it off - with protective wall/door - for his bedroom.  Unfortunately, I never thought about a heating source for this future room at the time the house was built.  Dumb, I know.  Anyway, so now I need to figure out the best - and as is no doubt only remotely possible - most efficient ($$$) way possible to provide heat for him.......and the dog........and visiting friends.......  The area is insulated well, is 10' x 15', has 7' ceilings (still mad at the builder about that)  is framed with attic trusses, is sheetrocked, has one good-sized window at the end of the room. The garage is "sort of" heated in the winter (we live in Alaska) but I expect little help from that.    The room will be carpeted.

Should I seek out a good quality stand alone heater or portable plug-in baseboard(s)?  I heard from a friend recently, there is a type of stand alone which gives out good heat distribution, is similar to the old fashioned radiator heaters with stove oil instead of water and is not hot to the touch.  The concept sounds good considering all that will go on with a dog plus young boys cavorting around.  However, the idea of heating oil doesn't hold much appeal for me...... 

Any suggestions and/or advice is greatly appreciated.

Kris

-A +A

Alaska always "sounds" cold. (post #192136, reply #1 of 11)

by calvin in reply to Tisme [original] on Sat, 08/07/2010 - 17:36

How much heat do you need?  If you could get the power to the room, a real electric (fastened to the wall and hard wired) would be a better choice I think than a plug in.  Perhaps safer in the long run with cavorting boys.

The stand alone I'm familiar with that have an "oil" in the chamber rather than water are ok as a secondary source-I would be wary of it producing enough here in NW Oh.

A cohort of mine has a blower type electric heater that works well to keep a big vaulted ceiling'd shop  (well insulated) about 50-.............while 0 outside.  He uses a wood stove to bring it up.  In your space it would probably be way enough.  It is not a usual electric space heater but something a bit special (sorry, no info other than that) cost 250-300.  If you need more info on that, let me know-I'll email his for information.

Best of luck on this one too.

A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.

Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.


http://www.quittintime.com/

 

I'm going to  venture a guess (post #192136, reply #2 of 11)

by DanH in reply to Tisme [original] on Sat, 08/07/2010 - 19:55

I'm going to  venture a guess that, unless the room is EXCEPTIONALLY well insuated, a plug in electric heater (about 2000 watts) will not be sufficient to keep the room comfortable.  So either hard-wired electric units (baseboard or in-the-wall) or some sort of combustion heat would be the way to go.

How is the rest of the house heated?  Can some heat be piped/ducted from the existing heating system?  (Maybe not enough to provide all the heat, but enough so that electric supplemental heat would balance things out.)


We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using Nature's inexhaustible sources of energy -- sun, wind and tide. ... I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that. --Thomas Edison

Remember, the oil style (post #192136, reply #3 of 11)

by Clewless1 in reply to Tisme [original] on Sun, 08/08/2010 - 07:35

Remember, the oil style radiator heater ... is electric ... just like a baseboard heater. A plug in versus a built in may not be the best approach, I tend to agree ... AND you may not have enough watts.

Other options: gas fired wall heater/furnace (they are actually pretty nice). Gas fired fireplace. Pellet furnace in garage and ducted up into floor. Waste oil furnace in garage?

Just trying to think outside the box a bit ... maybe it'll trigger yet another notion.

There ain't NO free lunch. Not no how, not no where!

This room sounds like it has (post #192136, reply #4 of 11)

by rdesigns in reply to Tisme [original] on Mon, 08/09/2010 - 06:55

This room sounds like it has weather-exposed walls, roof and floor (garage below the floor can be considered exposed for heating purposes.) All this means is that you need to think of its heating load as if it were a stand-alone building, which means more heat than if it were another room in the main house.

I would think about a thru-the-wall, direct-vent gas wall heater--the link is to just one mfr. (I would stay away from the so-called "ventless" heaters.)

http://www.empirecomfort.com/

It would be nice to have some (post #192136, reply #5 of 11)

by DanH in reply to rdesigns [original] on Mon, 08/09/2010 - 16:12

It would be nice to have some info on the main heating plant -- how close it is, forced air or water, what fuel, how old.  This would (1) give us an idea whether it might be tapped, and (2) let us know what fuel would be most convenient for an aux heater.


We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using Nature's inexhaustible sources of energy -- sun, wind and tide. ... I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that. --Thomas Edison

I see that two years ago he (post #192136, reply #6 of 11)

by DanH in reply to DanH [original] on Mon, 08/09/2010 - 16:15

I see that two years ago he told us the place had hot water heat.  No info on the age/size of the heating plant, though.


We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using Nature's inexhaustible sources of energy -- sun, wind and tide. ... I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that. --Thomas Edison

If you have fiberglass under (post #192136, reply #7 of 11)

by cussnu2 in reply to DanH [original] on Tue, 08/10/2010 - 07:16

If you have fiberglass under foot, I think I would start first with fixing that before anything else.  A couple inches of foam at least to start and maybe internal foam on the walls and ceilings as well.  Alaska?  I'm going with gas direct vent.  What may be as important is how to cool it.  You'll be amazed how hot it it will get even in an insulated attic room even on a 70 degree day.

garage (post #192136, reply #8 of 11)

by k1c in reply to Tisme [original] on Wed, 08/11/2010 - 22:11

Sounds like this is a detached garage.  Easiest may be taking extra electric line from the house and install a dedicated power source for electric baseboard.  I heard that residents of Alaska has some benefits from oil profits?  If your electric cost is low, electric heating would be easiest. 

Gas would be also efficient and would heat better but taking a gas line over to garage may become expensive.  If your choice is gas heat, large propane tank may be an option. 

Hope it helps.

heating over garage (post #192136, reply #9 of 11)

by semar in reply to Tisme [original] on Mon, 10/11/2010 - 20:22

I have nearly the identical situation. It is a "camping -out" room for the grandkids

Make sure you have good floor/ceiling insulation (R20 min)

I have an electric wall heater build into the wall on a thermostat. The unit has a build in fan which circulates the heat from the electric heating coils. The unit is 1500 W and produces plenty heat in short time. It is hardwired into the panel on a separate breaker

PreviewAttachmentSize
P1000519.JPG
P1000519.JPG2.31 MB

heating over garage (post #192136, reply #10 of 11)

by semar in reply to semar [original] on Mon, 10/11/2010 - 20:28

another picture

PreviewAttachmentSize
Gardenhouse_south.JPG
Gardenhouse_south.JPG1.34 MB

heatsource (post #192136, reply #11 of 11)

by semar in reply to Tisme [original] on Mon, 10/11/2010 - 20:32

You also might want to check electric radiant floor heating

Look in the net under Nuheat