Natural Gas Forced Air two-zone system w/ RSF Opel3 tied in

[lumbajac]

Hello - just finished having a subcontractor install my brand new heating system. The home is self-built new construction two story of about 2080 sq.ft. The heating system consists of a natural gas forced air system with an RSF Opel 3 tied into the forced air ductwork with the optional central heating kit consisting of a blower blowing heat from the fireplace into the ductwork for distribution. The fireplace central heating kit "dumps" heat into the 1st zone only since that is all you can do according to the manual. I had two thermostatically constrolled zones installed... Zone #1 for the basement and 1st floor, plus zone #2 for the 2nd floor. The fireplace central heat kit ties into zone #1 only. The thought was that heat rises and so will rise to the 2nd floor slowly and naturally from the basement and first floor. I didn't want to blow extra heat from the fireplace directly upstairs through ductwork anyhow thinking that this would be too much heat being directly distributed to the second floor when it will slowly and naturally rise there on its own. I thought it would be better to let the heat rise from zone #1 (basement & first floor) since I have a large switchback staircase in the middle of the house with a large ceiling fan that can help pull heat up if needed.

I am looking at living in the home for 15-20 years max. I also designed the house with all necessities on the first floor so that if I decide to stay beyond 15 years, I could close off the second floor by installing an inulated door at the bottom of the staircase. I would then only heat the first floor, thus another reason for the two zone system. In the meantime, I hope to heat my new home primarily with the wood fireplace, having the natural gas furnace kick on only to support the fireplace when needed... such as on very, very cold nights or in the early fall or late spring when the fireplace heat may be a bit much. Some are telling me I wasted my money having two thermostatically controlled zones installed and should have simply went with 1 zone for the entire house... effectively having the central heating kit of the fireplace "dump" heat into the ductwork for the entire house. Others are telling me I wasted money on the Opel3 saying I could have bought a whole lot of natural gas with the thousands of dollars spent on the fireplace.

I've always tried to look at 2 scenarios in designing the heating system for my new home - my hopes of heating primarily with wood as-well-as the resale potential of this house so was doing what I thought was best to accomodate both. I don't think I went wrong whatsoever with installing the RSF Opel 3 as it is both a beautiful and functional fireplace... should be excellent for both my heating needs as well as resale appeal/value. But, after paying a few hundred dollars extra to go with a high efficiency furnace upgrade with variable speed blower (that hopefully shouldn't come on too much with the fireplace burning) and close to a couple thousand extra for the two separate theromstatically controlled zones vs. one whole-house zone, I am having some people tell me I wasted my money. It could be that they don't see the grand scheme of things with what I am trying to accomplish. Or, that they are correct.

In closing, did I go wrong with having two zones installed since I plan to use the fireplace to primarily heat the house? Was my thought of dumping heat from the fireplace into the basement and first floor through the zone #1 ductwork and then allowing it to rise to the second floor naturally and slowly a more correct thought or incorrect thought? Simply looking for peace of mind one way or the other. If I did good with my system design then great. If I wasted my money then I guess I'll do a few side jobs and try to recover my money for peace of mind.

 

[Chappy]

I just want to say I just did the same thing to my house 2000sq ft 3 story house. Fireplace is located on the main floor central ducting heat with the big blower blowing wood heat downstairs while heating downstairs my main level and my third floor will be heated instantly the fireplace is only about 7ft from the third floor.My only concern was what kind of burntime with burning birch firewood am I going to get. I also have a lot of poplar because we do live in poplar country I was wondering if I will get at 7 hours of burntime. Putting 4 or 5 4x4 logs in it should burn most of the night right or am I wrong?

 

[Chappy]

I have the same kind of unit as you, only my heat will be dumped in the basement which is only 800sqft. Main floor is where the fireplace is located so my heat will automatically go upstairs,while the heat will distribute throughout the main floor.800 on the main level 800 sq ft in the basement and about 700on the third floor.I think this is great but I was just wondering what my burntime is going to be if I am using Birch to burn for the night with a thermostat tied in to my central blower downstairs so it stay about 70 to 72 degrees on the main floor and dump a lot of heat into the basement because you dont want to be to warm when your sleeping upstairs on the third level.I think I will get at least 8 hours of burntime dont you think? Most of my wood is poplar and Birch so even if I mixed it to burn Birch wouldnt be that expensive to burn. I had an old glowboy which was rated for about 30,000 btus before my new install This one will be double that with the option to send heat all over the house. I just used to use my summerfan from my furnace and it worked good only problem I had was that I had to fill the frickin thing every hour..

 

[lumbajac]

Yeah, not sure about burn time with birch... I have yet to fire my unit up and probably won't do so for another month yet.

My main issue with my system is that my HVAC contractor persuaded me into a 2-zone system, 1 zone for upstairs and basement and a 2nd zone for 2nd floor. Not sure I needed that now that I look back on things so I'm kind of ticked off about spending the extra $2000 on the zoned system.

Hopefully in the end the 2-zone system will have been worth it, but I think I could have gotten away with 1-zone.

 

[daleeper]

Chappy and lumbajac, give us a report on this winter's heating. How have your Opel's performed so far. Also, did either of you go with the catalytic option?

Report time.

 

[Chappy]

My opel 3 ran burned so good our winter was minus 30 to 45 most of Jan to march furnace was kicking in for about 10 minutes in the morning wife and kids kicked it in just to take the chill out. When I came home at 630 am I lit it up usually just throw a couple pieces of kindling with some wood and the way it went. Burntimes only had softwood like pine or poplar and on two big splits and one quarter went to bed at 7.30 am woke up about 12.00 noon full of hot coals. I work nights so my wife kept the fire going until 11.00pm and I would throw more wood in it in the morning. I burned only 3 full cords and I still have at least a half cord left and I would say this winter was one of the coldest winter in about 5 to 6 years. Compared to my old fireplace I would have burned an extra 2 full cords because you had to fill it every hour. The heat system that is used downstairs is great never had it so nice in my house. Temp in my house most of the winter was 74 to 78 degrees in the morning without burning on a 30 below night it still would be 68to 70 in my house. So I really could have used just the fireplace if I used it throughout the night. My furnace bill average including hot water heater was 50.00 dollars a month in the summer it is 40.00 dollars so all it costed was 10.00 bucks a month to cut it in for 10 minutes a day some days we didnt have to still nice and warm in here. I didnt go with the catalytic converter I went with non catalytic converters up here Just crumble to pieces within two years and the non are still fine after 5 to 7 years thats why I did that. If you get a 5 to 6 hour burntime I think that is good for burning softwood. I cut about 2.5 to 3 cords of maple last fall so I will be able to tell you this winter coming up if I will get a longer burntime yet. I found if you season poplar for one year outside and stick it in the shed after that than if you have lots leftover it burns excellent. As for pine I burn jackpine as well I was getting longer burns for jackpine 4 5 by 5 logs at least 5 hours burntime. This fireplce was 7.000 dollars and will be paid for in 3 years I think that is way better than putting all your money into a brand new natural gas furnace that will be running the whole time wearing out parts and paying full price for the parts after 3 years. I asked how much it was to replace the computer board on the new furnaces they told me $2,500 dollars that is crazy.