Are you in the process of choosing a new heating system for your home but have absolutely no idea where to start? Whilst the contractor that you ultimately employ to install your system will do their own calculations of your needs, no one will understand where exactly you need to most heat better than you. Here is how you can judge your own home heating needs:
Step 1: Choose the first room that you need to keep warm. Take all relevant measurements (in feet), then multiply the length of the room by its width and its height. The answer is the room’s volume in cubic feet.
Step 2: Take note of the number of windows and doors in the room, as well as how much insulation it has. If you have what can be considered a ‘normal’ amount of these things, multiply the volume by 5. If you feel that the room has an above normal amount of windows and doors or a below normal amount of insulation, you will need to multiply the volume by 6.
Step 3: Determine whether the room faces north or not. If it does, you will need to completely disregard the above step and instead multiply the room’s volume by 7.
You will need to repeat the above calculations for each room in your home, then add together all of the answers to receive the grand total. This should give you a fairly good idea of your home heating needs; you can compare it with the results calculated by the contractor whom you have employed to install your home heating system to judge whether it will be adequate or not.