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libby in ohio
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# Posted: 29 Mar 2012 04:45pm
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Can you offer your opinion on heating my small backyard cabin I hope to start building next month to be used as an artists studio? I think I've decided against a woodstove because it will be too hard to pop in and out of for brief chunks of time (friends say it takes 1/2 hr to get it going and that may be all the time I have between getting dinner on the table and 4 kids). Thinking about a $430 vented natural gas heater (run a line from my house about 30 ft away). BUt then my brother in Sweden told me to think a heat pump. this is the smallest (ok, cheapest) I found:
Klimaire 9000 Btu 13 Seer Mini Split Ductless Air Conditioner & Heat Pump 115v with Free Installation Kit ($558 on Amazon)
The advantage is its efficient and I am already running electric, no matter what.
Anyone have experience or thoughts on this topic?
Thanks-
Libby
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 29 Mar 2012 05:12pm
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Heat pumps are good in many climates. The big questiuon is how many BTU's per hour capacity would be needed to do the job. Unless you know or can determine that you are guessing.
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Rob_O
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# Posted: 29 Mar 2012 06:58pm
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What is the lowest outside temperature for your area, and what is the lowest temperature at which that unit will be expected to work?
As the temps fall, there is less heat available and that 9K BTU unit will probably only make 7K when temps are in the teens. If that's not going to be enough, you will need to supplement with electric or gas heat
You can do some rough estimates on the amount of heat you will need using this calculator.
Let us know what you come up with and we can be more helpful
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PA_Bound
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# Posted: 29 Mar 2012 08:33pm
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I have a heat pump on my house. Not my favorite form of heating, but the benfit of also providing AC in the summer is hard to beat if you have the electrical capacity. Are you planning to turn the heat way down (or off) when you're not using the studio? If you are, then a heat pump may not be the best choice. It's best when the thermostat is kept mostly the same over the season (set it, and forget it). If ypu plan to turn the thermostat down or off when you're not there, electric baseboard or gas may be better.
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libby in ohio
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# Posted: 29 Mar 2012 09:28pm
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Thanks for the responses. Lowest temp in my area (not including this winter which really never came) is about 10 below. I live in a very woody area and we don't have air conditioning in our house (with no complaint) so I think this would be used ore for heat than AC. My plan was to turn it up and down based on me being in it or not, so it sounds like a heat pump is not so appropriate.
A lady at work today was giving me lots of good reasons why she loves her pellet stove, but that seems like another one I'd want to be running most of the time.
People also tell me to hook up a propane tank to a lil buddy (?) but it seems like a no-brainer when I'm only 30 ft. from my natural gas in the house. Any ideas how much that might cost (if we dug the trench?) Does the gas co. or a private plumber deal with this?-
thanks-
Libby
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