Radiators to Forced Air (heat)

[purplepenguin7]

I just moved into a new house that is fairly old (possibly 100 years) with a new-ish extension.  This is my first SFH so hopefully I am using the right terminoligy for everything.

The house currently has gas radiator heat in 4 zones.  The seller added central AC just before listing (previously using wall ac). I was wondering if we could change the radiator heat to forced air through the AC ducts that were newly installed.  I googled and it seems semi easy? Although I'm sure its situational and house dependent.  Has anyone ever done something similar and have a rough idea of how much work i'd be looking at? 

[archiethedragon]

what is your motivation for changing?

[purplepenguin7]

Jan 11, 2022 13:24:16 GMT -5 archiethedragon said:

what is your motivation for changing?

the house seems hard to maintain a consistent warm temparture that we had with our previously forced air/central heat.  Plus my H likes the cycling forced air better rather than just the steam heat from the radiator. 

[deadwing]

You should be able to use the same ducts. I have added central AC to a house with forced hot air heating and converted a house from baseboard heat to forced hot air + central AC. In both houses, the same ducts were used by both the forced hot air and central AC. Ducting is a big part of the cost, so already having those in place is huge.

If you have any specific questions, I'll try to help. I also replaced the furnace in my first house prior to adding AC. I feel like this is an area I'm experienced in.

[purplepenguin7]

Jan 11, 2022 14:31:36 GMT -5 deadwing said:

You should be able to use the same ducts. I have added central AC to a house with forced hot air heating and converted a house from baseboard heat to forced hot air + central AC. In both houses, the same ducts were used by both the forced hot air and central AC. Ducting is a big part of the cost, so already having those in place is huge.

If you have any specific questions, I'll try to help. I also replaced the furnace in my first house prior to adding AC. I feel like this is an area I'm experienced in.

thank you! I don't know that I have any specific questions other than the extent of work.  Did you feel like it was better to go from baseboard to forced air?

[deadwing]

Jan 11, 2022 15:28:13 GMT -5 purplepenguin7 said:

Jan 11, 2022 14:31:36 GMT -5 deadwing said:

You should be able to use the same ducts. I have added central AC to a house with forced hot air heating and converted a house from baseboard heat to forced hot air + central AC. In both houses, the same ducts were used by both the forced hot air and central AC. Ducting is a big part of the cost, so already having those in place is huge.

If you have any specific questions, I'll try to help. I also replaced the furnace in my first house prior to adding AC. I feel like this is an area I'm experienced in.

thank you! I don't know that I have any specific questions other than the extent of work.  Did you feel like it was better to go from baseboard to forced air?

I hate baseboard heat.  It looks awful and takes up precious floorspace (my house is under 1000sqft).  The furnace that went with the baseboards was over 20 years old and in need of repairs.  I am massively heat intolerant, so installing central air was a priority.  I felt like if I was adding ducting and the existing furnace wasn't in great repair, I might as well go all the way and convert to forced hot air heat.  Doing both in one go was about 20% cheaper than I expected based on doing the jobs separately in my previous house. My good friend thinks I'm nuts for getting rid of baseboard heat because she loves that and wishes she had it in her house.  So, it's subjective.  For me, it was worth it and I'm happy with the result.

[purplepenguin7]

Jan 11, 2022 15:53:08 GMT -5 deadwing said:

Jan 11, 2022 15:28:13 GMT -5 purplepenguin7 said:

thank you! I don't know that I have any specific questions other than the extent of work.  Did you feel like it was better to go from baseboard to forced air?

I hate baseboard heat.  It looks awful and takes up precious floorspace (my house is under 1000sqft).  The furnace that went with the baseboards was over 20 years old and in need of repairs.  I am massively heat intolerant, so installing central air was a priority.  I felt like if I was adding ducting and the existing furnace wasn't in great repair, I might as well go all the way and convert to forced hot air heat.  Doing both in one go was about 20% cheaper than I expected based on doing the jobs separately in my previous house. My good friend thinks I'm nuts for getting rid of baseboard heat because she loves that and wishes she had it in her house.  So, it's subjective.  For me, it was worth it and I'm happy with the result.

good to know!  I hate them too.  We've only been here for 2 weeks but we keep kicking and knocking off the covers.  It's driving me insane already and i'm looking around at all the ac vents like why can't we just get heat out of these! I think I'm going to call the company who the seller used to the do ac and ask what they think.

[themoneytree]

Our house is 150 years old and has radiators (and central AC). When we were walking through with the home inspector I mentioned thinking about the doing the same thing. He said we should keep the radiators. This is our second winter in the house and he was so right.
The heat is the best we’ve had and the radiators are beautiful fancy ones. I’m so glad we kept them. They are more efficient and put off great heat.

The only downside is that they take up wall space…. but as the ones we have are decorative, we are ok with that.

I wouldn’t consider changing them out now. I would likely not have kept them had they been baseboards. Our sunroom has baseboards and they are meh.

[Deleted]

When we had a house with forced air heat, I hated it. It could never keep up on the super cold days, and the back-up heat was super expensive when it kicked on. We now have electric baseboards, and while it stinks losing wall space, they are located strategically under windows so it's not too bad and it is a nice even heat and reasonably priced. The only other real downside is that it is a dry heat so we do have to run a humidifier. When I had a house when radiator heat, that was my favorite, I miss it.

[InBetweenDays]

Nothing to add about changing to forced air, but the lack of consistent/warm temperature in your current house may have more to do with the efficiency of the house than the heating system. If it's 100 years old - do you know how well it is insulated? Does it have new windows?

[ellipses84]

Jan 12, 2022 12:51:50 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

Nothing to add about changing to forced air, but the lack of consistent/warm temperature in your current house may have more to do with the efficiency of the house than the heating system. If it's 100 years old - do you know how well it is insulated? Does it have new windows?

That’s my thought too. Or the radiators are old and not working well. From a controls standpoint, it’s nice to have a central system, but you may find it can’t keep the house warm if it’s an insulation / old windows issue. Did you confirm your attic is insulated? Have an HVAC contractor come out and see what you have and give you some estimates for a few recommendations. Simple/cheap fix vs. middle option vs. complete overhaul. You may be able to put in central heat and have the radiators supplement it, especially if they are controlled room by room.