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Heating and cooling

Archetype Sustainable House at the Living City Campus
Heating and cooling

Heat pumps: Ground source or air source, which one makes more sense?

Comparing the performance of air source and ground source heat pumps at the Living City Campus Archetype Sustainable House.… The Sustainable Technologies Evaluation Program (STEP) is run out of The Living City Campus at Kortright, ON, where you can find The Archetype Sustainable House (ASH). The two houses act as a ...

Reducing the need for air conditioning
Heating and cooling

How to keep homes cool without air conditioning

Some techniques that will help you reduce your A/C needs, and certainly help you stay cool in the absence of having one.… While it's true that no matter where you live, be it urban, suburban or rural, the hottest days and nights of summer may have you dreaming of coolers climates. However, those living in dense urba...

Solar Radiant Heated Floor Slab Kit
Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

Solar heated radiant floor with radiant heated hot water

Ecohome’s new demo house will be a slab on grade with Solar radiant floor heating powered by air tubes heated with air solar panels - Ingenious!… Ecohome is in the process of building our next demonstration low energy house, and to do so we have partnered with a company that manufactures frost-protected shallow foun...

Air-heated radiant concrete floor
Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

Air-heated radiant floors

A comeback for radiant floors heated with air tubes… Radiant heating systems are very common in concrete floors now because they provide a very balanced and comfortable distribution of heat. Those systems are most commonly hydronic, meaning heated liquid is pumped through tubing in the concrete which then radiates t...

How radiant floors work
Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

How to design for thermal comfort in a home

Factors far beyond just air temperature affect how comfortable a home is, and if you design for comfort you will end up with a more durable and efficient home.… Have you ever noticed that at times you can feel cold in your home even though the air temperature is exactly where you like to keep it? That's because, con...

High efficiency fireplace
Wood stove and biomass heat

Choosing the right wood stove or fireplace

Making sense of fireplace and wood stove specifications and knowing how to choose the right one for you.… Reading the specifications of a wood stove can be rather complicated. So let's shake loose the important points from all the technical jargon and make the process a bit more enjoyable. Below is an example of ...

Wood pellet stoves that don't need electric ideal for off grid operation
Wood stove and biomass heat

These wood pellet stoves for off-grid heating don't need electric to operate

Short of a wood stove, pretty much all heating systems require power to operate. So in the event of an apocalypse (zombie, climate, asteroid, etc) these two pellet stoves can keep you warm when the power goes out.… These Wood Pellet Stoves need no electric! Burning wood to heat a home does not make you an eco-ter...

Ductless mini-split air source heat pump
Heat pumps, geothermal and AC

How heat pumps work - video

Heat pumps can heat a house three times more efficiently than other forms of heat. When paired with a heat pump water heater you can significantly drop the cost of heat and hot water in a home.… The Edelweiss House has a radiant floor to keep our feet comfortable but we rely on a Mitsubishi Mr. Slim ductless mini-sp...

Radiant floor heat in a bathroom
Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

Radiant heat in a slab-on-grade floor - video

Radiant heated floors add comfort to a home and can help you heat more efficiently.… DIY radiant floor tube installation Video building guide episode 1 - slab on grade There is some debate in performance building circles as to whether or not you can add enough insulation below a concrete floor to eliminate the nee...

Radiant floor tube installation
Delivery: radiant, forced-air and decentralized

DIY radiant floor tubing installation video

Installing a hydronic radiant floor system in a slab-on-grade floor… WATCH MORE VIDEOS Here in the fifth video of our series we are laying down tubing for our radiant floor. We have a 10 zone system, allowing floor temperatures in each room to be controlled independently. HePex tubing was provided by Uponor, ...

What is a heat pump
Heat pumps, geothermal and AC

Heat pumps: what they are and how they work

What is a heat pump? An energy efficient home heating system that can save you some money. Read on to find out how they work and if it makes sense for you.… When it comes to residential heating and cooling systems, few types of systems are as energy efficient as heat pumps. But what exactly are they and how do they ...

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