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02/03/2004 4:28 PM
I moved into my home about 2 years ago. It has a radiant heat system in the ceiling of the 1600 sq ft home. Energy Kinetics is the model. It was oil and the oiltank was bad so we had it converted to gas (uising the midor energy misor burner). My problem is that it seems inefficient and I'm not sure why. My gas bill in the winter is around $220 here in Oregon where gas is pretty cheap and the winters never get below 20 degrees. My ceiling and floors are insulated but walls aren't and windows are single paned. What is the cause of the high gas usage? My friends with similar homes and forced air have cheaper gas bills. Is it the ceiling heat or a system problem? From the Energy Kinitecs website it is supposed to be VERY efficient system. Any ideas? Jacob

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02/03/2004 8:36 PM
I am assuming you ar referring to the Energy Kinetics System 2000 www.energykinetics.com. I'm not sure if that's more fuel than you should use. I would find out if the gas burner that is installed is approved by Energy Kinetics. Call EK at 800.323.2066 and ask for Mark Young in technical support. He may be able to help find a qualified Energy Kinetics contractor in your area. Warm Regards, www.climatecadvanced.com

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02/04/2004 3:28 PM
Theres no one in my area that works on energy kinetics systems. I did call someone there and ask about the conversion burner. He said that people have used it with success but he doesn't sell it. Perhaps I should just insulate better and see what my energy bills do. THanks for you input.

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02/04/2004 11:26 PM
That gas bill doesn't seem out of line given your insulation. Without fixing the insulation, I wouldn't bother looking further until you fix it. Insulation will have a tremendous payback, since it's relativly cheap, and gas is never getting cheaper.

weezbo

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03/04/2004 9:22 PM
here is something that occured to me... oil fired boilers leave residues on burned surfaces,if the boiler wasnt cleaned extremely well there is some chance your bills are out of line with your previous expenditures to heat the home because it is being insulated with soot in the fire box.(the spiral thing on the other end of the burner):))system 2000 have some condensation problems with oil heat thats the white stuff you see looking really good on the center of the spiral like something was pouring out of it over time.it is due to the way the chamber is formed.gas is clean burning basically ...not much need to do lots of cleaning, oil on the other hand has maintinance issues. oh by the way gas and oil keep going up while we aint looking.

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