Right now our house has recirculating hot water, and we're contemplating (again) replacing our house with a modular. It too would have recirculating hot water. At the moment, my system is plumbed to the water supply, and uses plain old water. Works just fine.
In tossing around ideas for the house possibilities, it appears there is enough space to put a garage under the house. So my thoughts naturally turn to, how the heck would I heat it in winter, for the few times I need to do something and don't want to work in the freezing cold? Just putting in another zone seems kinda simple to me. But if the garage is unheated the vast majority of the time, then coolant would be needed.
So the question is, what's the drawback to using coolant instead of water? I'm guessing the coolant ain't free, but I'm not sure if it needs periodic replacement. Or if the lower heat capacity means it works less well, or some other factor that I just don't know about.
[I realize I could heat with electricity, that might be easiest/best for such light usage. Not really interested in wood or pellets.]
Question #2: if I were to insulate my basement, and seal it up, wouldn't it make sense for the furnace to have some sort of intake from the outside world? I realize my contractor & heating installer would probably have the answer, but I'm not sure how to view this--seems like, when the furnace kicks on, it just draws air through every crack and crevice in the house. Which could be good (air exchange) or bad (well, it's still heat loss--that incoming air could be in the living area).
In tossing around ideas for the house possibilities, it appears there is enough space to put a garage under the house. So my thoughts naturally turn to, how the heck would I heat it in winter, for the few times I need to do something and don't want to work in the freezing cold? Just putting in another zone seems kinda simple to me. But if the garage is unheated the vast majority of the time, then coolant would be needed.
So the question is, what's the drawback to using coolant instead of water? I'm guessing the coolant ain't free, but I'm not sure if it needs periodic replacement. Or if the lower heat capacity means it works less well, or some other factor that I just don't know about.
[I realize I could heat with electricity, that might be easiest/best for such light usage. Not really interested in wood or pellets.]
Question #2: if I were to insulate my basement, and seal it up, wouldn't it make sense for the furnace to have some sort of intake from the outside world? I realize my contractor & heating installer would probably have the answer, but I'm not sure how to view this--seems like, when the furnace kicks on, it just draws air through every crack and crevice in the house. Which could be good (air exchange) or bad (well, it's still heat loss--that incoming air could be in the living area).