New residential construction hydronic project

Like checking yourself out in every mirror you pass, we can’t stop looking at pictures of this hydronic project!

This new residential construction cottage project for Kevin Mooney Construction brought us to Havelock, Ontario, just north of Campbellford. We installed a brand new high efficiency, zoned boiler system with an indirect water heater and in-floor heating. Included was a hydronic air handler to both deliver central air conditioning in the summer, indoor air quality year round and serve as a secondary, quick heating source. Now, let’s get into more of the specifics:

• When dealing with new home construction, it always starts with a system design session with the builder. This is where we take into consideration the homeowner’s desires, make suggestions on how to best achieve them, and deliver a project estimate to allow for proper budgeting.
• Once the design and design options were settled on, we started with the installation of the core boiler system, or the engine of the design if you will.
• A brand new Triangle Tube Instict Solo boiler system was the first component of the installation.
• This project leveraged in-floor heating versus radiators to deliver the heat. As such we proceeded with running PEX tubing throughout all of the flooring connected to Uponor stainless-steel manifolds.
• The customer did not opt for all of the boiler extension products available, but we wanted them to be able to upgrade in the future. As a result, we also roughed in bathroom towel warmer connections to future proof the system.
• This was a zoned system, meaning individual temperature control for different rooms, which required the use of several Taco 0015e3 ECM high-efficiency circulators and Tekmar controls and thermostat to allow for both setting and monitoring zone temperatures and remotely controlling the system over WiFi.
• We then installed a Triangle Tube Smart 316 indirect water heater to provide potable hot water for the home. With an indirect water heater, as your home is being heated, your domestic hot water is being heated at the same time, thereby, consuming less fuel and conserving energy.
• The next phase was to install a hydronic air handler fitted with both a water coil for heating and cooling coil for air conditioning in the summer. Because this is a cottage application, not a full-time residence, the air handler heating component allows the homeowners to use forced air heating to quickly bring the home to temperature as the radiant in-floor heat slowly gets to temperature.
• An outdoor Napoleon air conditioning compressor was also installed and connected to the coil inside the air handler allowing for central cooling.
• Finally, we included a vanEE heat recovery ventilation (HRV) system to facilitate fresh air exchange throughout the cottage. This is an important step with new highly insulated homes. Because of the tight envelope, indoor pollutants like VOCs from outgassing of paints and construction glues cannot escape. The HRV ensures that these potentially harmful gases are removed from the home and replaced with fresh air from the outside.

So enough of our rambling, take a look at the finished product: