need advise on boiler heat and HVAC's

[lilac]

Hi,

We just bought this house 2 months ago and discovered that we have moisture problems on all of the windows.

I live in a two story home that has moisture on the windows upstairs. My window seals are also cracked in some places and I have moisture between windows therefore. Upstairs we have a RH of 41 and outside temperatures of -22F. Once again I have no kitchen fan or bathroom fan upstairs. We did install one in the downstairs bathroom.

For heat we have a boiler system that when we had it looked at seems to be in good repair and working efficiently. The air exchanger to the unit has been unhooked and we plan to hook it up again when we get a manual to the unit. We also had an energy audit done on the house because it was built in 1965 and the house is not all that air tight with 2.89 air changes per hour at 50 pascals.

We are presently working on the upstairs bathroom and will install a fan there. We also plan to install a fan in the kitchen.

What I want to know about is how an HVAC work with a boiler system. The guy I talked to said I have to install ducting to both bathrooms and the kitchen fan and then back to the furnace. The layout of this house would mean running it throughout the whole house and this is not acceptable. I can't see boilered homes running that much ducting thoughout their whole homes this doesn't make sense. Is this how boiler systems work or did I talk to the wrong guy? Please advise.

Thanks

[cmajerus]

you can get what they call ductless mini split systems, they hang on the wall, and pipe out to the condensing unit.

better than window units and less remodeling needed than duct systems.

[Moose]

What kind of air exchange unit is there now? How was it hooked to your boiler? You could try using fans to move air around the rooms, should help with the condensation, temporarily, anyways. Sounds like a real fixerupper.

[johnsp]

Never heard of an air heat exchanger hooked up to a boiler? You have radiators, baeboard, or warm air vents?

[Roscoe]

Never heard of an air heat exchanger hooked up to a boiler? You have radiators, baeboard, or warm air vents?

ahhhhh wet coils maybe................

[lilac]

I don't have an air exchange unit at present. All their is is a hole in the wall for one. At some point I think the previous owner decided to unhook it.

Do ductless systems work as well as ducted systems? If not what can I do to improve the system?:rolleyes:

Yes this is a fixer upper house, just like I like them. It is actually in a lot better shape than my old house. Everything here is fixable it is just a matter of doing the work, finding the time, and finding the right solution.

[cmajerus]

do they work as well? Of course not, you have to rely on circulation to cool the entire home.

Are they an excellent choice for a hot water heated home? Absolutely! Go heat pump w/ inverter technology( mitsubishi, fujitsu, diakin, ect)

In mild weather that the boiler would overheat the space, you can use the mini split to heat the house as well as cooling, you can go with a multi head unit and cover multiple rooms and floors with one outdoor unit.

[skippedover]

To those of us who know what we're talking about, your post makes no sense at all. You say you have a boiler. Okay, what make, model? You say you have an exchanger but no ducts. So what is the boiler attached to? What is the distribution system? Is it cast iron radiators? Copper finned baseboard? Cast iron baseboard? Copper finned or cast iron convectors? These are all heat exchangers but all designed to have hot water from the boiler circulated through them. Normally there is some sort of heat in each room in the home, especially bathrooms!

As for HVAC, let me first point out that the first letter in that acronym is H for Heating. It doesn't necessarily say "ducted systems". But that's what the general public seems to see in HVAC so let's address that. If you're talking about a water-to-air heat exchanger, we generally refer that as an air handler. An air handler generally requires a duct system to be attached to it so it can distribute the air to desired locations. Otherwise when it's activated, it'll just blow warm air into the room in which it's located.

So your post mentions, potentially at least, 2 different distribution systems, one being water, the other a ducted system. Perhaps if you could be more specific, we could be more enlightening in our comments. :D

One final comment. If your post figure is correct and your home is leaking at a rate of 2.89 air exchanges PER HOUR, that's a huge leak rate. The ideal leak rate should be between 7-11 exchanges PER DAY! 2.89 per hour means the total volume of air in your home is replaced 69.36 time per DAY! I do blower door tests frequently and I've never seen a house that leaky. In fact if I did, I'd have to assume there were a couple of windows open somewhere during the test! And if the rate is 2.89 times per day, that's way, way, way too tight. No wonder you get moisture on the windows! Open the windows for crying out loud. You need the fresh air. So decide which leak rate it is and it'll change the way you look at your HVAC system (including the boiler, which is also heating).