Isn't this how they used to heat homes in the1800s! No gas, of course. I have never seen a house that uses gas fireplaces in each room for heat. Is that the only source of heat? Will you have a central A/C system?

While temperatures here are very moderate, I have never seen a home here on the Central Coast that is heated this way. While I assume the fireplaces might be energy efficient, it is certainly not typical in the area.

It's a very different idea for us too. The fireplaces would be controlled by thermostats, so you would set them to come on in the morning to warm the house up(or during the night if it gets really cold). I'd be interested if anyone else has heard of this. I'm wondering if it was suggested because we already mentioned we wanted fireplaces in the great room, our bedroom and downstairs.Thanks for your comments.

chispa-we're debating the air conditioning. From what the architect said and two realtors said, it is really rare to have air conditioning there. Apparently, it may get above 80 once a summer but generally the temps are in the 60's and 70's. We are on a hill and will get ocean breezes coming in too. My husband originally wanted air conditioning, but we are rethinking that at this point.

I lived a little further south in Santa Barbara County near the coast and didn't have air conditioning. The ocean breezes and moderate temperatures kept the house very pleasant throughout the summer. You'll use the furnace more than you think so I can't imagine only having gas fireplaces.

That is a beyond odd suggestion. Have an energy rater assess the potential efficiency of the setup. In CA you are required to achieve certain efficiencies that something of this nature would not seem to achieve.

Even in San Luis, which gets warmer than Cambria, very few people have air conditioning. When it gets warm during the day, the evenings almost always cool down nicely. In a normal year, you probably wouldn't even think about turning on the air conditioning more than five days out of the year.

Do you have a metered lot purchased?
I used to build spec houses in Cambria. There is no way that you need A/C. Your Title 24 which is required in CA may have a lot to say about using fireplaces for your main heat source.
Who might I ask is your architect? Is he/she local namely in SLO County?
Go talk to more locals.
Your realtor would be a good source I'm sure and probably very willing to help.
Anita

We have a grandfathered water meter-we were hoping to build with just our water weight but it looks like its going to take forever so we dug in and bought the water meter. Gary Swuager is our architect. He's built many many homes in Cambria and quite a few throughout the county. Our realtor has built five homes with him-we'll be checking the fireplace heating out a lot more. I thought this would be a good place to start-thanks for all the input.

The important issues are energy efficiency, total cost and heat distribution.

Off hand it seems that it would cost considerably more and it would be difficult to evenly distribute the heat in the larger rooms and hallways. How would you heat the heat the bathrooms and the kitchen?

The old houses heated with fireplaces were drafty and I assume this house would be too.

I am always cold and my husband is always hot ... we would never buy a house without a modern central heating and a/c system.

I'm sorry, but I don't think it is a "different" idea. I think it is a pretty dumb idea.

I'm familiar with your area and climate, and I don't think I would want a gas fireplace in each room as the main source of heat. First, I think that would tank your title 24 calculations (and there are some FANTASTIC rebates out there for exceeding them http://www.californiaadvancedhomes.com that neither my builder or designer knew about). Second, the cost, considering that you would likely be looking at $5000 per fireplace, finally, I don't see how it can be as comfortable or as efficient as a central heater.

I asked my close friend who's a realtor in Cambria about your architect He's well thought of and he has that type of heating in his own home, she believes.

Baths might be a tad cold but the heating coils under your tile floor will make the bath very comfortable or electric wall heaters that just get used as needed. Electric rates in CA are the highest in the nation.

Did you just buy your meter? Are you up on Burton Drive. My friend thinks you may have just bought a meter she had listed.

The climate is very temperate and you definitely don't need AC. You will be using heat in the winter. If Swuagers house passed Title 24 then you shouldn't have any problems.
I'd only be concerned about the baths. .

Be sure to use natural gas that is available in most of Cambria. My DH did the planning for the Gas Co for all new construction in Cambria. He is now retired from the Gas Co.

If you have any gas related questions please ask and I will pass the question on to him.. You can email me through my member email.

I still have a house in Cambria up on Wood Drive. One day we may move back when we get tired of Wyoming.

You might post on renewable energy forum...lots of good energy efficiency advice there...

Renovator8- I seriously doubt a modern Title 24 home would be drafty.

The efficiency of fireplaces is not bad. I mean you aren't going to get 96% but 80% is definitely possible. Take away the high cost electric for distribution and I suspect it is cheaper.

I would think with Tier 5 rates, that the electric fan distribution would represent 30% of heating costs. Now with that in mind, does all fireplaces seem like such a bad idea?

Add in a tight house with 40 degree lows and distribution is not an issue.

When people build tighter homes (Title 24 requires some tightness) they can backtrack to point heating sources like fireplaces. It is talked about all the time on green building sites. Usually they are referring to mini splits but the rational is the same. Title 24 combined with 40 degrees outside means very little heat loss and very little temp gradients around the house.

A fireplace can cost $2k and if you have 8, that is well within the average HVAC budget. Sure most get a/c for that but the OP doesn't need it. I doubt we are talking large masonry work in all the bedrooms.

Think of no maintenance, no filter changes. But really think about no electric use to move the heat around.

There is no one answer to heating homes in the US. CA favors NG more than anywhere else.

MOre to think about and look into. Anitamacey-we're on Chester-nice view of the ocean on a clear day ;). We will definitely be using natural gas. Woke up to light snow again today-have so had it with this annoying winter and are so ready for California(except for leaving family and friends).

David-thanks for your input. We haven't talked specifics yet, but from our general conversations, we had strong feeling that this will be a tight house.

Thanks again everyone for all your input-positive and negative. It really helps.