Buildings

Creating Warm Spots

Q: I am in the market for a heater to create a warm spot for my mother in a house I am buying. My brother has told me that I need to buy a ventfree gas log. I have also investigated a vented, gas-fired stove that seems like a better choice to me because of the fumes that I think might accumulate in my house.

If you had an elderly mother who needed a warm spot in a house, what would you get (I have a masonry fire place in what is to be her living room) so that she wouldn't want the thermostat at 80 degrees?

A: First of all, we'll assume your brother, like thousands of others, has simply been taken in by advertising and actually believes that turning your mother's room into a chimney has somehow been made safe and healthy by the wonders of modern technology. By definition, the heater will be on a lot. Like many elderly people, your mother feels cold under conditions that younger folks are perfectly comfortable in. In my view, sitting in front of an unvented fire for long periods of time is risky business.

Before deciding on a heat source, I would take a careful look at the room itself. What's most important in determining whether people feel comfortable are the surface temperatures surrounding them. A cold wall, floor, ceiling, or window can literally "suck" the heat right out of your body and make you feel cold. Actually, your body will radiate heat to colder surfaces, and the colder the surface, the faster your body radiates heat to it and the colder you feel.

Make sure the walls, floor, and ceiling are well-insulated with no gaps, voids, or compression. If the windows are old and drafty, consider replacing them with tight-fitting, energy-efficient windows. Install heavy drapes to keep down the radiant heat losses at night. And if there are any places where cold outside air can leak into the room, seal those up.

Next look at the existing heating system. Is all the heat that's supposed to be coming to that room actually getting there, or is lots of it leaking out through gaps and seams and holes in the ductwork? Have the ductwork sealed with mastic-not with tape. Next look at the registers themselves. Are they blowing air directly on where your mother will often sit or lie down? Having air blow directly on you, even warm air, makes most people feel cool. You can change the registers to point the air in a different direction if needed.

Now, finally, it's time to look at getting some extra heat into the room. If the room is tight and well insulated, with warm surfaces and no drafts blowing directly on your mother, the amount of heat needed should be pretty small. If you have natural gas available, a gas heater installed inside the masonry fireplace or mounted on a wall can be a good choice. Be sure to get a unit that is a "direct vent" or "power-vented" and "sealed combustion" model. These are efficient and make it almost impossible for combustion gasses to get into the room with your mother.

Another option is electric radiant heat. Radiant heat panels can be mounted on the ceiling or walls, so they radiate directly onto your mother's favorite chair, desk, or bed. These can be operated like lights-only turned on when she is in the room-and can be very cost effective. Instead of heating the whole room, you're heating your mother.

Another type of heat that could work well in this situation is electric hydronic heat. These are individual units typically mounted near the floor. Filled with a fluid, which heats up, the unit radiates heat and heats the air in the room. Individual thermostats can control them, or several can be wired together on one thermostat. Your mother's room can be kept toasty warm without running the rest of the family out of the house or into the poorhouse. The big advantages of both kinds of electric heat are much lower up-front costs and total elimination of combustion fumes.

To make your mother comfortable in the winter, first make sure she's surrounded by tight, well-insulated walls, floor, and ceiling. Eliminate any drafts from doors, windows, or the heating system itself. Select a heater that is properly sized for the room. And please, don't make her live in a chimney. It took our ancestors tens of thousands of years to figure out that they needed to get the smoke out of the cave. Let's not forget that lesson.