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Ralph Mowery Ralph Mowery is offline
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Default Heating finished basement: add hydronic zone or use AC/heat pump?


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Hi.

I'm finishing my basement (open floor plan, 800sqft, walk-out, full height,
cinderblock walls, no water issues, in New York). It will have 2" EPS
insulation on interior of cinderblock walls, covered with sheetrock. I
have hydronic radiators in main floor of the house (oil-fired boiler) and I
also have just installed a mini-split A/C & Heat pump system for all rooms
of house with capacity for one more unit of 18,000BTU. I'm going to install
that last one to air condition the basement.

My question is: should I rely on that mini-split to heat the basement, or
should I install a new hydronic zone for the basement and install some
baseboards?

I just don't want to be done and then have to tear open walls to install
pipe and baseboards if it's going to be too cold to watch tv and hang out
down there.



My question is how cold does it get where you are at ?

If many days below about 25 to 30 deg F , that mini-split will probably not
be able to make enough heat, especially at 25 and below. For the southern
half of the US they usually work fine in many areas, but it does not get
below 25 for too many days.