This is a rather big one, and I'm hoping I'll get a bit of discussion
going on this, as there's lots of angles to this, and I frankly am
curious to know what other people have come up with.

I have several rooms/zones in the house, which can be somewhat
independent from other areas in the house as far as heating goes, and
I'm wondering what my options are. I was thinking, for example, if I
knew I was going to be in the basement all day, I could turn down the
main furnace to say 68, and then use a supplementary heater to bring
just the basement up to 72.

I should add, that my basement tends to be colder than the rest of the
house, so to get my basement to 72, I would have to crank the regular
thermostat to 75 or so (which I would never do), so I would need a
supplementary heater in the basement one way or another.

What I'm looking for is a comfortable solution, that is somewhat
energy efficient. I have a high-efficiency gas furnace right now, but
I'm thinking adding electrical space heaters might actually reduce my
heating costs if I used them correctly.

Also, I don't want this to be a pain to manage. That is, I don't want
to have to walk around the whole house and adjust the vents/
temperature guages each time I switch rooms. So, what I need for that
would be some integrated smart controllers... (Am I going to far
here?). OK, while I'm dreaming, heating/cooling the zones based on
time of day, and days of the week would be nice...

I'm curious to hear what other people think / know about this

John

"John" wrote in message
...
This is a rather big one, and I'm hoping I'll get a bit of discussion
going on this, as there's lots of angles to this, and I frankly am
curious to know what other people have come up with.

I have several rooms/zones in the house, which can be somewhat
independent from other areas in the house as far as heating goes, and
I'm wondering what my options are. I was thinking, for example, if I
knew I was going to be in the basement all day, I could turn down the
main furnace to say 68, and then use a supplementary heater to bring
just the basement up to 72.

I should add, that my basement tends to be colder than the rest of the
house, so to get my basement to 72, I would have to crank the regular
thermostat to 75 or so (which I would never do), so I would need a
supplementary heater in the basement one way or another.

What I'm looking for is a comfortable solution, that is somewhat
energy efficient. I have a high-efficiency gas furnace right now, but
I'm thinking adding electrical space heaters might actually reduce my
heating costs if I used them correctly.

Also, I don't want this to be a pain to manage. That is, I don't want
to have to walk around the whole house and adjust the vents/
temperature guages each time I switch rooms. So, what I need for that
would be some integrated smart controllers... (Am I going to far
here?). OK, while I'm dreaming, heating/cooling the zones based on
time of day, and days of the week would be nice...

I'm curious to hear what other people think / know about this

John

The first thing you might want to try, is having the forced air system
balanced, so all the living spaces are heated evenly. If there were separate
zones on the existing system, you could find a way to control them however
you like, but that not being the case, you'll need to add supplemental heat
to areas that you want warmer than others. Electric heat is 100% efficient,
so dragging a portable unit to the basement or wherever, is not a bad
solution. If you're always in the basement or wherever, every Tuesday from X
to Y, you can use an appliance timer to control the heater

In article , "RBM"
wrote:

"John" wrote in message
...
This is a rather big one, snip

The first thing you might want to try, snip

I think the first thing he should try is ditching google groups, if he
wants to trigger a lively discussion with many participants.

On Jan 7, 11:25*am, John wrote:
This is a rather big one, and I'm hoping I'll get a bit of discussion
going on this, as there's lots of angles to this, and I frankly am
curious to know what other people have come up with.

I have several rooms/zones in the house, which can be somewhat
independent from other areas in the house as far as heating goes, and
I'm wondering what my options are. *I was thinking, for example, if I
knew I was going to be in the basement all day, I could turn down the
main furnace to say 68, and then use a supplementary heater to bring
just the basement up to 72.

I should add, that my basement tends to be colder than the rest of the
house, so to get my basement to 72, I would have to crank the regular
thermostat to 75 or so (which I would never do), so I would need a
supplementary heater in the basement one way or another.

What I'm looking for is a comfortable solution, that is somewhat
energy efficient. *I have a high-efficiency gas furnace right now, but
I'm thinking adding electrical space heaters might actually reduce my
heating costs if I used them correctly.

Also, I don't want this to be a pain to manage. *That is, I don't want
to have to walk around the whole house and adjust the vents/
temperature guages each time I switch rooms. *So, what I need for that
would be some integrated smart controllers... *(Am I going to far
here?). *OK, while I'm dreaming, heating/cooling the zones based on
time of day, and days of the week would be nice...

I'm curious to hear what other people think / know about this

John

I have forced air and do similar, so I cut in a 3 big vents on my
600sq ft basement that I open only when i want heat. I also open an
additional return. Its all sealable so it works. Heat rises, , cutting
off the basement only saved me 15% with a R20 basement wall and im
Zone 5, to - 20f. So the comfort lost may not be worth the cost if the
basement is insulated and sealed. Or else use a wood stove or electric
heater in the basement. a wood stove would do it well