been doing a lot of searching and reading on here.

I'm sure that I won't have enough info to get an exact answer as I don't even have a finished set of plans...

 I'm in the early planning stages of an 1800sf chalet style house in upstate ny (zone 6), design temp -6F, beopt is saying 23.5 kbtuhr, electricity is $.12 kwh, there is no NG available.


28x40 with walk out basement to use as garage, 12-12 roof (icf basement and first floor)  plenty of glass in the east wall (gable end with lake view) and good amount of glass in south wall (very little in north or west walls)   open floor plan with vaulted ceiling over great room (east half of building) for financial reasons, I will be doing as much as possible myself (have built plenty in the past, no problems with framing/plumbing/electrical, and have installed 2 hydronic systems) 

I've never liked forced air, and always wanted radiant, local geo guy said its a no-brainer around here (don't know anything about him or the work he has done).  but reading on here has me convinced its not as simple as plumbing in a boiler and injection loop. 

Warmboard claims to be the perfect solution (gave me sticker shock lol)  floors where going to be hardwood/tile.

any info/suggestions would be great!

Thanks

heat loss....?

Joe, I am assuming the 23.5K is his heat loss of 23,500 BTU's on a -6 design day.
I personally think radiant is a bit more difficult than running a boiler loop because it does require proper loop spacing and circuit length and zones to have it operate as specified. You can probably install it yourself but have a professional design the system.
Many companies make 2 and 3 ton water to water ground source heat pumps that could take care of your heating load and you can install backup electric heating elements in a storage tank as a backup/supplemental heat if wanted too.
Not sure what you are looking for since you made a statement then asked for suggestions, what specific suggestions do you want? Overall it sounds like a good feasible plan.

System design would be professionally handled (by someone who does it for a living), My main questions was operating expense vs oil or propane..

IE with electricity rates the way they are here, does it make any financial sense to go geo with radiant heat?

I understand that lower water temps help keep the efficiency up, that being said, would you use warmboard, concrete on top of the wood subfloor, or something else?

warmboard is good but expensive. I prefer the rehau paupanel for their performance, but they are not cheaper. they are easier to install than the warmboard, which claims it does not need subfloors. product quality of both are excellent.

Somehow I glossed over heat loss. Geo is definately less expensive to run than oil or propane. Radiant is a seperate issue from that. Loss is low enough that operating cost calculations are worth looking at to best choose a heat plant.

With your low heat load, an open floor plan and the cost of warmboard, consider putting radiant tubing only where you will really notice the warmer floor. It's too bad there aren't more choices in air to water heat pumps.

I was asking because there seem to be several threads on here that make it seem that radiant adds a lot of complexity to a geo system.

Do any of you have recommendations for a professional in the central NY area (between Albany and Syracuse very close to Cooperstown for you baseball fans)

Even though I have a mechanical engineering degree I would like someone who does this for a living, involved with the design work.

Thanks

You're probably too well insulated for radiant to give you a toasty toes feeling much of the time.
What about ductless minis for heating/cooling and radiant mats in the bathrooms?