Economical & efficient heating system for mod ranch with crawl space in Maine

Posted by annesmusic on August 16, 2006, 11:29 am

New to this board, but could use some advice here...
We just bought our first home 2 weeks ago and know nothing about
heating systems. The house is a 1987 modular ranch (not mobile), about
1,300 sq ft. on a slab with about 3 - 4 ft crawl space over that and 9
floor vents. There is an extremely musty smell coming from the floor
vents. My husband tried to open the vents and clean under them into
the ducts a bit--he found some remnants of insulation inside the vents
while he was at it--but that didn't help the smell at all.
So we went into the crawl space and found that there aren't actually
any ducts running under the house--it appears to be just insulation
that is taped together to form ducts. The insulation under the floor
joists also needs to be replaced.
We have very little money and small children, so our options here are
limited. As I see it, here are our options:
1. Remove all of the insulations and "ducts" ourselves and install
real ductwork and new insulation ourselves. Not sure how big of a job
this is or if we are even allowed to do that kind of thing--permits,
building code, etc.
2. Hire an energy contractor to remove all that stuff and install new
ducts.
3. Remove all that stuff ourselves and either hire someone or on our
own install tubing for liquid radiant floor heating since we'll have
the joists exposed underneath anyways. We have a propane burner for
our hot water heather and an oil furnace for the FHA heat. Would we
need another water tank for radiant heat? Any idea on cost?
4. Hire a plumber to install baseboard heating--but would we need a
boiler?
5. Some kind of solar heating system?
We don't really want to do wall heaters because of two toddlers in the
house--I would be concerned about keeping them away so they don't get
hurt or burnt--plus they're an eyesore.
Either way, we need to remove what is under the house or seal off the
vents to keep the smell out of the house.
Any advice from you experienced home-owners, do-it-yourself-ers and
contractors would be GREATLY appreciated!

Posted by v on August 16, 2006, 4:38 pm

On 16 Aug 2006 08:29:15 -0700, someone wrote:
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Yup! But ya gotta start learning somewhere. Too bad it was AFTER you
had made the purchase.
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Huh? Wow! Ya sure? It's not insulation around flex ducts is it?
show/hide quoted text
Why do you think that? What is wrong with it?
show/hide quoted text
If you have very litle money, why are you listing options that require
new baseboards, or new tubing, that would both need a new boiler?
Since you already have a hot air furnace, why not use that and only
fix what needs to be fixed, which you say is the ducts, but have them
checked out.
It may not be like you are saying.
Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file.

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